CLawA

Home/Carolyn Law

About Carolyn Law

This author has not yet filled in any details.
So far Carolyn Law has created 15 blog entries.

The Heirloom Dilemma

Almost every family has at least one heirloom, “something of special value handed down from one generation to another.” But what does “special value” mean anyway? To whom is it valuable? Is it valuable in [...]

By |2022-05-18T15:45:46-05:00May 18, 2022|

The Case of the Ugly Teapot

Sometimes an object comes your way that’s a real headscratcher. When that happens, the basic problem is to figure out what it is. You can’t move on without that. And when the only clue you [...]

By |2022-04-19T09:15:48-05:00April 19, 2022|

When Sears Sold Hope

One really neat bonus of being an antiques appraiser is the everyday “show and tell” I stumble into. When people learn that I am an appraiser, they often share with me the story of some [...]

By |2023-05-26T10:51:02-05:00March 15, 2022|

Seller Prepare: A Cautionary Tale

The IRS defines Fair Market Value (FMV) as the “the price that property would sell for on the open market.” That seems simple enough. In the case of antiques, for instance, any old thing is [...]

By |2022-02-12T15:36:56-06:00February 15, 2022|

I Live in a Thermostat Museum

The other evening (a very cold one) my furnace malfunctioned. It wasn’t a catastrophic breakdown, but it did require an emergency call to the HVAC guy. When he arrived and asked, “Where’s your thermostat,” I [...]

By |2022-01-14T08:33:19-06:00January 14, 2022|

Things and the Genealogist

Genealogy is the story of families, but sometimes a family story is attached to a family thing, and alas, a lot of the time the story (to put it diplomatically) is not supported by the [...]

By |2021-12-18T13:01:33-06:00December 17, 2021|

House Museums Bring It Home

Almost every city and town in the world has at least one house museum. They come in all shapes and sizes, from palatial mansion to the most humble cabin. It might be a property of [...]

By |2021-11-16T08:10:56-06:00November 16, 2021|

Into the Woods

A few months ago, I posted a piece on this blog about my “appraiser’s toolbox,” in which I laid out the essential equipment of my trade. Today’s post is a sort of supplement to that, [...]

By |2021-10-17T09:16:16-05:00October 17, 2021|

The Potter’s Thumb

Many years ago, I bought a large mug at a pottery shop for local artisans in St. Paul, Minnesota. It was on the discount rack, priced about $5, I think, well within my graduate-student budget [...]

By |2021-09-30T09:48:35-05:00September 15, 2021|

The Mark of Good Silver

 Silver for domestic use is always an alloy, never pure. What we casually call "silver" is never really silver in the pure sense, and there are different levels of silver content found in many different [...]

By |2021-03-22T10:27:08-05:00August 15, 2021|
Go to Top