• missporkpie@gmail.com
  • Great Malvern, England
Blogging
Cash In The Attic: Smart Tactics For Making Money By Clearing Out Your Loft

Cash In The Attic: Smart Tactics For Making Money By Clearing Out Your Loft

You may be all too familiar with putting off jobs like clearing out the attic. However, what you may not realise is you could be sleeping on some great opportunities to make some real-life cash! In fact, many people’s attics, and other clutter filled storage spaces are jammed with items they think of as trash, but others see as treasure. Read on to find out what, in particular, to look for. 

Silverware 
Silverware is nearly always a good find. This is because even if the piece itself is damaged or dented, it can be melted down to extract the precious metal used to make it. Something that pretty much guarantees you will get at least some money from selling it.

The most important thing about finding silverware in the attic or in another space in the home is checking to see whether it has hallmarks. These denote where it was made, and the quality of silver it was crafted from. Something that means you can quite quickly discover its value and verify its authenticity. Which should make it a much easier item to sell for maximum profit. 

Stamps 

In the age of smartphones and computer consoles, stamp collection has a bit of a bad reputation. In fact, it is often seen as quite dull. However, back in the day when there was no TV, podcasts, or Youtube, it was quite the fashion to collect stamps. 

What this means is among the treasures in the attic, you are reasonably likely to find stamp collecting albums or even loose stamps that the owner had not yet put in. Of course, the good news here is that some stamps can be worth an absolute fortune. With a mint condition Penny Black from the Victorian age earning as much as £3000 at auction. 

With that in mind, think very carefully before chucking any stamps into the rubbish pile. In fact, if you think you may have something of value, visiting stamp dealers to get them valued is your best bet. The reason being that if they are worth a significant amount, they can be offered to specialist collectors in an auction, where they should make the highest prices possible. 

Paintings 

The thing about art and painting is that they may look like nothing at all, yet still be worth an absolute fortune! In fact, their critical issue here is not the subject, style, even the skill, but the provenance. That is who they were painted or created by. 

In fact, if you can dig out a dusty old rough sketch by an artist like Disney from your attic, you will get far more money than a large fully finished piece from an unknown artist.  Just as long as you can get it verified. 

Of course, verifying a piece isn’t so easy. In fact, recruiting experts to help to determine whether the signature is genuine is often needed. Sometimes tests to see whether the canvas, paper, and paints are from the right period can help a great deal too. Although, if you have historical documents that come along with the piece such as a letter or certificate, you can skip this and go for a faster and profitable sale.

Join the discussion!

Verified by MonsterInsights