How Auction Estimates are Calculated

ARTSY recently published an excellent article by Martin Gammon, "What Auction House Estimates Really Mean - and What They Can Tell Us." 

The setting of auction estimates is often seen as a mysterious, but it really has a lot to do with understanding the psychological state of the seller and buyer, and may or may not well reflect the actual potential market value of the objects up for sale at auction.

This article is the best I have seen that explains the process of how auction estimates are set and what they really mean.

The Value of Items You Inherit

In recent years, I've been getting more and more queries from people who have inherited mounds of things from family members who traveled to or resided in Asia decades ago, before, during, or soon after World War II. Only sometimes do these items have significant monetary value. In most cases though, their value is cultural and historic. Please don't throw out your stuff if it cannot be sold without first determining if it is worthy of being preserved in a library, archives, or museum collection somewhere.

How to Preserve and Organize Old Photos

The Washington Post has an article that is a good, simple guide to helping people preserve and organize all their old family photos. See it here.