Antique appraisal to help the Glenn House

Wondering if your great aunt's jewelry or grandmother's silver is worth more than sentimental value? Want to find out if that painting you picked up at a yard sale could be an unidentified masterpiece?

You can get questions like these answered at the Glenn House Antique Appraisal on Oct. 9 at the Cape Girardeau Career and Technology Center, 1080 S. Silver Springs Road.

The appraisal is being held by the Historical Association of Greater Cape Girardeau to raise money for the restoration of the Glenn House. The association is a not-for-profit organization that runs the Victorian-era house as a museum.

"We did it about five years ago and it was very successful," said association member Bill Port. "The reason we're doing it is that it's a great fund raiser."

Appraisers from the St. Louis-based auction and appraisal company Ivey-Selkirk will appraise furniture, silver, porcelains, glass, jewelry, Oriental carpets, fine art, bronzes, sculptures, Asian decorative arts, gold coins and decorative arts.

According to Port, the appraisers are participating in the event free of charge, with hopes that they will find some rare antiques they can purchase and sell in one of their auctions.

"They do these types of things within a reasonable radius of St. Louis," Port said of Ivey-Selkirk.

There will be rules for the appraisal in Cape Girardeau, mostly for time reasons. A maximum of two items per person may be brought in for appraisal and there will be a 300 person limit for the event. Also, the appraisers will not look at Nazi or similar memorabilia, weapons of any kind, clothing, books, stamps, autographs or non-gold coin collections.

Fund raiser for homeItems that will be appraised, however, will be separated into categories and looked at by an appraiser that specializes in that category. People will be given a certain colored ticket that corresponds with the items they brought for appraisal.

"It's great fun and people seem to enjoy it," Port said of the antique appraisal. In addition, the money from the ticket sales will help pay for the restoration of the Glenn House, which Port said should get underway in a few weeks once money from the Cape Girardeau Convention and Visitors Bureau is made available.

Port said the association has already hired a contractor for the restoration project, which will include work on the house's roof, gutters, railings, front porch and outside paint.

kalfisi@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 182

Want to go?

What: Glenn House Antique Appraisal

When: 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Oct. 9

Where: Vocational Technical School, 1080 S. Silver Springs Road