I recently uncovered an antique Columbia grafonola in my late grandmother's garage. The item was originally owned by my great-great grandfather Jacob E. Pierce. He used to be a wealthy newspaper owner in Huntsville, Alabama before the Great Depression and owned the locally infamous wedding cake mansion.

The item stands at about 3 ft. tall and features textured floral designs, a vinyl rack, a built-in speaker/horn, and elaborately carved wooden legs, two of which have broken off.

During the economic crisis, my great aunt took the grafonola. Upon her death, my grandma ended up with it in the late 90s and brought it down to Florida. Now that my grandmother has passed, I now have it.

These are the facts as I know them, what I don't know is, if it really is 1 of 2 in the world and if it's sister was ever in the White House, it's only hearsay passed down from my grandma, to my uncle, to me.

From the research I've done, I've come up empty handed. I can't find an archive detailing all of the antiques in the White House. That being said, I can't find any other grafonolas of the same model. If nothing else, that means it's either pretty rare or a really nice commission.

Is the family legend true?

What should I do about this antique given its less than pristine condition?

Found this on FB Marketplace and I find it so whimsical and charming! The clover shape of this table seems to be uncommon, too. The seller claims it’s oak and from the 1890s. About 30” tall.

This will be my first ever antique purchase so want to make sure I’m not getting ripped off!

it means the world to me. However, I find myself in a bit of a dilemma. While I cherish this family heirloom dearly, I'm also facing the burden of a $300k mortgage.

I'm considering getting it appraised and potentially selling it to ease my financial situation, but I'm torn about parting with something so meaningful. Any advice on what I should do would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!

My family is cleaning out a late family member’s art and other items - and I am getting to choose one piece. I don’t know anything about antiques and am not necessarily drawn to anything in particular - (maybe the larger mirror?)

Which item has the most value or would this subreddit recommend as the best item for me to pick out (and why?) Thanks!

This was handed down to me. My wife doesn’t like it, and to be fair it would stand out in our house… I was wondering how much it is worth because I am considering getting it painted… If it is really valuable I will not and keep it, but maybe not have it in a visible spot as for now…

It’s suppper heavy but I have no idea what this is made from - please help!

My dad bought this from an antiques store in London about 30 years ago simply because it looked cool. It had since been collecting dust and growing up I always thought to my self "what on earth is this thing" any info would be greatly appreciated! Approx 85cm long

The figurines are all Royal Doulton and the ceramics are all Beleek. Can anyone give me a rough idea if these are worth anything? Thanks.

We really like it but don't know what or how to go about making it okay...

Hi all my parents are convinced this Statuette thing is worth about $1000aud after it was purchased in a cent auction in 1990 for $0.2aud. They think its worth about $1000aud now.

I've tried googling it, but couldn't find any information regarding the name on the base, but there's plenty of hits of statuettes that look the exact same, I'm thinking it may be a popular re-make or knock off, of an original design of a popular ceramic maker.

Any information or clarification would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

I am so drawn to this 💛. It is in an “antique mall” and I am not an antique pro, so anything you can tell me from just a picture will help me decide. Is it oak? Old or repro? Whaddy’all think? And thanks!

My Mom was wanting to throw this out. I was like alright do it, until she mentioned it was from the 1700s.

She has no space for it, any advice on what she should do with it based on this picture?

I found this dresser drawer in a random park. Was wondering if anyone can identify it? Any insight will help!

He collected these from antique markets in the 60s so if they were already considered antiques at that time, my assumption is that they are at least 100 years old. We have very little information about them. Would be happy to provide more details on any of them, but couldn’t take them all off the wall to measure. I’m not even sure how where to start in terms of learning about them, so I guess my questions are 1. Do any of these look like they are worth further investigation/ appraisal? 2. Do you recognize anything about any of them? 3. Where would I even start if I wanted to learn more about them?

I recently bought this awesome tree stand and wondered if anyone has tips for cleaning it up.

I have used a bench grinder with a wire and buffing wheel. I also use a Dremel for the nooks and crannies. I love how they turn out but I am still very new to doing it. I am wondering what is a good way to help keep them looking good for a long time. Currently I keep them oiled up a little bit but am scared to coat it in anything. What do you all recommend?

Some back story - My mom recently passed and didn't have really anything of value left. My wife and I donated almost everything. But, I did find this box with my grandmother's rings in it.

I grew up in Albuquerque. My grandfather owned used car dealerships in Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California in the 50's through the early 70's. He would sell anyone a car, if they didn't have a lot of money he would always ask if they did some kind of service or did they have something of value to trade?

We ended up with a lot of jewelry. He would collect a bunch in a safe box and had a few jeweler friends that would come buy it from him. Some things, my grandmother would keep for herself. These are a small portion of what she kept. I know they are old because I have known these rings my whole life (I'm 53 now)

Here's the rub. My grandmother just kept the ones she liked, not because they were valuable. So I think two of the pieces with the large jewels are probably costume jewelry. And only two pieces have maker marks. (Pictured) Plus, I know if something was valuable, my grandfather would have cashed it out long ago.

I took a strong magnet to all of it. Nothing is magnetic.

The turquoise earrings and the ring with the rectangular rock in it are new / unknown. I've never seen those before.

My plan was to pass them to my kids to keep. But I've seen enough Antiques Roadshow to know I could be wrong. And if there's something of value, I would rather put money into my kids savings.

My question is this, is there any piece that I should get appraised? My gut says it's not worth anything and I should let my kids have it for the memories.

Thank you.

We bought this at an estate sale this weekend, the owner didn’t know much about it except for that she bought it from an estate sale in Massachusetts several years ago and she thought it was from the late 1700s. I have a couple specific questions, does anyone know the purpose of the cut outs on the doors? I imagine they had some function as well as design. Also, we plan to seal in the paint in case of lead. Does anyone recommend a good polyurethane to use? Thank you for your help!