is there a free or cheap way to get things appraised?

I've had things that I wanted to put an approximate value on when I was thinking of selling it. What I did was go to eBay and do a search of the item and see what it's usually selling for. For example, I had an album from the 70's, and even though it was popular back then, it just wasn't one of my favorites. It was in good condition, jacket good, no scratches, etc. So, I did a search on eBay to see what people were willing to spend for it. Boy, was I ever surprised to see it went a few times in the hundred dollar range! (Far more than I would have thought!) Since then I've done other searches like that for friends too. One thing to note is that no matter what something is worth (in an appraisers eyes) it's only going to bring in what the public is willing to pay for it. I've done that too with some old coins & old McCoy vases I had. For those I looked up online for sites that had free price guides to look at. Their online price guide included the worth if it was scratched, or in perfect condition, etc. You'd be amazed at what you can find online as far as figuring out the worth of something. I don't know that jewelry can be figured out as easily, but most other stuff is easy. Also, depending on what it is, you can go to the local library and get an up to date price guideline book. I did that with some other things I had and it gave me a good ball-park figure. Good luck!

Are they really unique things? Can you give us an example, so we can give you a specific site? I usually use eBay as a guide as to how to price things. I look up my item, and look up items that are being sold with only a few minutes left. That's usually a good tool to measure how much they'll actually go for (more or less). I don't know if that counts or helps..But that's what I do!

a free and easy way is check ebay for the going rate.