In this video, presenter Adam Zimmerman offers a concise, market‑focused guide to antiques and collectibles that are currently valuable and relatively easy to sell. He begins by contrasting silver flatware (sterling) with silver plate, noting that a 12‑piece sterling service can fetch $1,000‑$2,500, while most silver plate is a dead market except for rare Cristallo pieces. He then highlights gold bullion, using a Krugerrand as an example, and points out that gold prices have risen faster than silver, with a one‑ounce coin trading around $2,700 and up $800 over the past year. The next segment covers Chinese antiques—jade, coral, porcelain, amber—emphasizing age and condition as key value drivers. Zimmerman moves on to mid‑century modern furniture, explaining that pieces from the 1950s‑1990s by designers such as Carl Springer, Vladimir Kagan, Paul Evans, Herman Miller, and Jordan Nelson sell more readily than older furniture. He then discusses blue‑chip artwork, noting that prints or lower‑edition works by artists like Chagall or Picasso can appreciate like high‑end paintings if they are recognized as investment pieces. Finally, he addresses the growing interest among 30‑ and 40‑year‑olds in collectibles—sports cards, signed memorabilia, coins, and comic books—stressing that grading, condition, and provenance (e.g., a Babe Ruth card graded high) dramatically affect value. The video concludes with a call to subscribe for future market updates.
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We'll get to the better items. So I just said silver is bad, but some of the good items, the easiest ones, is going to be silver and gold. Now silver, you have a flatware set. No, I can't sell it. I can't sell a flatware set 90% of the times unless it's a Buccellati or Jensen, but I can melt it. What that means is you might have a service for 12 flatware set that could be worth today $1,500 to $2,500 on average. Could be more, could be less depending on— Francis I, Grand Baroque, that's a little bit heavier. It also could be more if it's serving pieces and all that. But in general, $1,000, $1,500 on the low, $2,500 I would say on the high, um, for a service for 12 if it's sterling. If it's silver plate, the only exception is Cristallo. Other than that, silver plate is kind of a no-go nowadays. Um, but the price of silver is pretty high. I think it's higher than it's ever been. And gold is, is even higher. It's higher than it's ever been, but percentages-wise, gold went up quicker than silver. This is a Krugerrand. Does that Anyone know what that is? Yes. Yeah, this is— and they have multiple sizes— this is 1 ounce of pure gold. Right now, I can't tell you exactly because it changes every 5 seconds depending on who's giving a speech and what's going on, but this is over what? What's the number today? $2,700. $2,700 and change. It was $2,770 at the peak either today or yesterday. How much was this worth a year ago? $19,000. Who said $19,000? That's exactly right. That's $800, and I had to look that up, so that's good. That's $800 more in one year. So people ask me in the business, okay, if nothing's worth money, what do I invest in? What's good? If you bought this in the '80s, you made a lot of money if you got $10,000. Not everyone does, but some people put their money in this. So next on the list, because I know we're going to get to the items— of the items that are doing well, um, Chinese antiques. Not as good as they were, but Chinese These antiques have potential. Jade, coral, Chinese porcelain, amber. These are items that could be good. Again, it needs to be old, but if it's old, it has the potential to, to be good. Um, mid-century modern furniture. I'm going to say this twice because this is a little scary thought. It is easier to sell something from the 1950s when it comes to furniture than the 1850s. Ooh, I was not gonna get that. Again, I could sell furniture from the 1980s and '90s Because some of it, the big designer names like Carl Springer, Vladimir Kagan, Laverne, Paul Evans is from the '60s, Herman Miller, Jordan Nelson from the '50s. These are all things that are, you know, doing pretty well. Other than that, artwork. People are not buying a $10,000 painting because it looks pretty, but they will buy it if it's a blue-chip item that has the potential to go up in value. Okay. So if you have a Chagall or a Picasso, it doesn't have to be a multi-million dollar piece. It could be a print that's worth $3,000 if it's a low edition. It will continue to go up like a blue chip item. That is what people are buying. They're not going to buy a painting because it looks pretty, but they will spend the money if they think it will go up. Even if they put it in the closet, it's a good investment, you know. And sometimes a good way to find it, if it looks like my 5-year-old did it, it's probably worth some money. But you do have to look up the art. Last thing I'll mention, just because this is a little bit of A new thing. People in their 30s and 40s are investing in collectibles. So people tell me, I got a Mickey Mantle signed ball. That's great, but we want that ball signed when he was playing. If you have a signed— when he went around signing all these things in the '80s and '90s, it's probably not going to be worth so much, a few hundred bucks. Playing days could be a lot more than that. I had a Babe Ruth card the other day that I saw in actually Levittown, and condition is everything when it comes to this stuff. So that Babe Ruth card is worth $1,000 to $1,500 if it comes back as not a good grade. A good grade, meaning if they send it in to get graded, it could be worth $10,000, maybe $15,000. Mm-hmm. So when it comes to coins, cards, comic books, the grade is important, the condition's important, and definitely older, usually older, I would say '60s and earlier, like the Spider-Man, the Superman, things like that. And that's pretty much it. Please subscribe so you don't miss any future videos.
