I landed my first appraisal gig! Yay! Go ME! Wait..what?? Bassetts’ Estate Sales doesn’t do appraisals. That’s true we don’t, but our team member, my dad, Tom Bassett does do appraisals. So, here’s what happened. My dad was doing a presentation for St. Paul Methodist Church for their senior group. Well, this is right up my alley, a group that fits my business’ demographic! He invited me along to do a little presentation of our new business. Makes sense right?? Now some of you may know, and it’s highlighted on our website, that my dad is an antique appraiser. He’s been at it for over 30 years! His presentation at the church was about spring cleaning and talking about the items in your house that may hold value or not as much value as you might once have thought. The information was great for the group, it helps them decide what items they could sell or donate or keep. It was a great presentation, we had some good laughs and met wonderful people! I gave my plug for Bassetts’ Estate Sales at the end and totally nailed it!! However, with the crossover of my dad’s business, Bassetts’ Appraisal Service, the impression we gave is that I, Amy Truell, as Bassetts’ Estate Sales, also does appraisals. Now, I’m pretty knowledgeable on collecting, antiques and buying and selling, but I don’t have the experience that my dad has in this field. I can definitely see the confusion that our new business would offer the same services as my dad’s business, but we do not. But why don’t we?? I’ll get back to that and answer that question.
I received a call Tuesday from a lovely lady that attended the presentation a few weeks ago. She has some perfume bottles and a stereoscope viewer and cards (hundreds of cards actually). Sounds like a nice collection! She asked me to come and give her an appraisal to find the value of their collection and what to do with the items. Again, this is not my forte but I agreed and we set up a time to meet. I immediately call my dad! “Hey daddy, I have an appointment for us to do an appraisal, Thursday at 11, can you do that??” I wasn’t going into this alone. One, I didn’t want to continue giving the impression that my business does appraisals and mislead this sweet couple. Two, he’s the expert, of course I’m bringing him! The meeting went smooth, we looked at their items, they paid us for our time and we came up with a solution for their challenge…what do we do with this stuff??? Yes! This is my business mantra, our passion and our reason to provide this service. “Challenge…Accepted.” I realized I had a reason to be part of this appraisal deal. The couple didn’t want these items in their home anymore and they just didn’t know what to do with it. We suggested we take the items, store them until we can sell them at a future sale. Win Win! They get the items out of their home and can make a buck and we are helping them alleviate some of the clutter. This is how I can use my business in the appraisal service my dad offers. Although, we do not offer the appraisal service we can work together to help people!
This experience got me thinking. Why can’t Bassetts’ Estate Sales offer appraisals as one of our services? Well, here’s the deal – I am not quite full of the knowledge my dad holds to do this as adequately and thoroughly as he does it. BUT, I have now made it my goal to be able to offer appraisals within our business in the coming year. I plan to continue shadowing my dad, doing more research and looking at the market for antiques, coins and jewelry. Let’s face it, my dad is not going to do this forever (though I wish he could) so who better than his wonderful, amazing daughter to take the reins and continue his passion and knowledge! So, there you have it folks, appraisals will be a part of Bassetts’ Estate Sales in the near future. For now, if you have any items or an entire estate that needs to be appraised contact my dad, Tom Bassett. His website is www.ctomrun.com and his phone number is 402-484-8143. He charges a small fee per hour to review your items and prepare an appraisal for your personal records. And his humor is always free!
