If you’re a fan of the Antiques Roadshow, you won’t want to miss this event! The Harmony Area Cancer Support Group will host an antique appraisal fundraiser on July 4, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Fillmore Central High School in Harmony featuring author and antiques expert Mark Moran.
Bring your antiques to get them appraised for only $15 per item (two item limit). All items to be appraised must be registered in advance. Register by dropping off payment at Kingsley Mercantile or First Southeast Bank of Harmony with your contact information and a listing of the antiques you’d like appraised. Proceeds go to the Harmony Area Cancer Support Group.
“We’re thrilled to have Mark here to help us raise money for local Cancer patients,” said Ann Mraz, president of the Harmony Area Cancer Support Group. “He has a national reputation and has helped a lot of people get an accurate value of their antiques and family heirlooms. He’s also very entertaining and makes it fun for the spectators too. Even if you don’t have any antiques to get appraised, come by and enjoy the show.”
Moran bought and sold antiques for more than 30 years and is the author or co-author of more than 25 books on antiques and collectibles. Back in 2011, he found himself looking for something new to do and wanted to use his knowledge to help in some way. This antique appraisal idea was the result and he now does about 130 of these fundraising events a year throughout the Midwest.
“It’s great when you are able to use your expertise to help others,” Moran said. “And it’s really fun when someone brings in something that ends up worth much more than they ever imagined! I encourage you to find a couple of things that you’ve been wondering about and bring them in. You never know what they might be worth.”
When asked what was the most valuable item Moran ever appraised during one of these fundraising events, he described a painting by Harry Aekman. “The gentleman bought the piece for $5 at a yard sale. It was a painting of a 1950s “pin-up girl” that looked like something you’d find in a calendar of that time. I told him it was worth $10,000, maybe more. He had a hard time believing me, but the next year, he put it up for auction and it brought in $16,000!”
The Cancer Support Group was organized in the late 1980s by Marietta Dennstedt and Roseanne Barker to provide financial help for local cancer patients going through radiation or chemo. They established a memorial park in 1992, which was revitalized in 2016. The Hegg and Dowe families gave park benches in memory of loved ones. The Kingsley family gave an evergreen tree in memory of Roseanne Barker for the Love Lights a Tree. The park is located in Harmony at 1st Street NE and Main. It has signage with 166 names of Harmony and Canton residents that have lost their lives to cancer.
Moran is available to make home visits for people with big things or fragile things (or a lot of things). House calls are $75 an hour and there is no mileage charge if within 10 miles of the Harmony appraisal event site. To arrange, call (715) 281-5060 or email moranm1953@gmail.com.
Acceptable objects for the July 4 event include: paintings, drawings, prints; furniture (photos of large pieces may be sent to Moran in advance via email moranm1953@gmail.com); ceramics, pottery, vases, glassware; vintage photographs, tintypes, ambrotypes and daguerreotypes; advertising posters, lithographed tin, paper and figural objects, folk art, carvings, quilts, weathervanes, windmill weights and “outsider” art, toys, dolls, windups and mechanical banks, metalworks, clocks, also pocket and wristwatches; costume jewelry, musical instruments, books and sporting memorabilia.
Excluded items: all weapons, including swords and knives (though folding knives with advertising are accepted); traps (like leg-hold), Nazi memorabilia, coins and paper money, fine jewelry, including precious gems, Beanie Babies. Questions about objects not covered here can be submitted to Moran in advance to determine if they are appropriate.
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