Antique Appraisal

Old tools, old motors, old radios — and a patient eye.

We appraise the kind of antique that turns up in a 518 estate, a barn cleanout, or a grandparent's workbench — vintage hand tools, small motors and mechanical pieces, and tube-era electronics. The single Stanley plane gets the same hands-on attention as the packed estate shelf. Nothing sufficiently old or under-noticed is beneath notice.

Send us what you have Write to us

What we look at

Three specialties. Plus whatever you find next to them.

Estate work surfaces a wide variety of antique and vintage pieces. The categories below are where we have the deepest read — a box of unattributed finds gets the same careful look as a labeled maker's piece.

Vintage hand tools & trades

Hand planes, spoke shaves, brace-and-bit sets, hand-cranked augers, draw knives, levels, and the heavier joinery tools that survived the workshop bench. We look at condition, period markers, maker's marks, and how the tool was actually used.

Small motors & mechanical antiques

Hit-and-miss engines, stationary motors, belt-driven shop machinery, antique fans, and the small mechanical pieces estates turn up in attics and barns. We identify the maker, the era, and where the piece sits in the market today.

Vintage electronics & test gear

Tube radios, ham transmitters, vintage test equipment, early consumer electronics, and the era of equipment that was built to be serviced. Period-correct components and original chassis matter here, and we know what to look for.

Estate finds & mixed collections

A box from a grandparent's garage, an attic full of unattributed pieces, an estate lot too varied to price by the item. We sort, identify, and put a written number on what the collection actually is.

From the bench

A sample of what comes through the shop.

The kinds of pieces we see most often on a 518 appraisal — hand tools that earned their patina, motors that still turn over, electronics with their original chassis. Real-job photos land here as the photo library grows.

Hand planes & spoke shaves

Small electric motors

Tube radios & test gear

Notes on what we don't list here yet

Specialty attributions, restoration histories, and the full market context for each piece ship with the deeper write-up. We'd rather show you a real appraisal in person than quote a number we haven't earned. Bring something in, or invite us out, and we'll do the work in front of you.

How it works

From first call to written estimate.

Bring it in, or we come to you

Single pieces come to the shop. Larger lots, full estate shelves, or anything that won't travel get a site visit. We work around what the item actually needs — disassembly, lifting, a clean bench — and bring the right tools for the kind of object it is.

A real appraisal, not a glance

We identify the piece — maker, era, period-correct components, restoration history — and read its condition. Where it matters, we open it up. The written estimate covers what the object is, what it isn't, and where it sits in the current market.

A number, in writing, with context

You walk away with a written estimate and the next steps that make sense for the piece — keep, restore, consign, sell privately, or route to a specialist auction. We don't take a cut on what we appraise. We appraise so you can decide what to do with what you have.

Appraisal inquiries

Have a piece — or a whole estate — that needs a patient eye?

Tell us what you have. A short description and a couple of photos is plenty to start — we'll come back with whether we can take the appraisal, what it would cost, and what the next step looks like.

Or write to barcia-estate-trade-co@polsia.app.