How much is your collectible or antique worth? If you’re a seller, what price should you assign to an item? If you’re a buyer, how do you know you’re getting a fair deal? Instead of schlepping your items to an appraiser, consider an online valuation service.
Such services typically offer DIY research tools and estimates by professional appraisers and other experts in areas ranging from sports memorabilia and books, to Native American art and even classic cars. It’s important to note, these services offer valuations, not authentications. However, for the purpose of helping buyers and sellers determine a fair price, such services can be very helpful.
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Larry Hicklen: Putting Your Passion First
Q. How would you describe yourself?
A. First and foremost, I would say that I’m an historian. To be great at the hobby of recovering Civil War relics, you have to have a passion for it–researching and discovering all of the nuanced, intricate historical details. I think most everyone in this hobby is an amateur historian in their gut.
I have a passion for Civil War history and I only focus on that time period. My degree is in chemistry; and I liked it at the time, working for both Textron and DuPont for a while. However, there’s a difference between liking what you do and having a passion for what you do.
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Civil War Themed Craft Beer
The Burnt Hickory Brewery is an outstanding, up-and-coming craft brewery located in Kennesaw, Georgia. Civil War buffs know the area as the location of the Battle of Kennesaw Mountain, where under the leadership of Gen. Joseph E. Johnston, the Confederates handed General Sherman a tactical defeat on his march to famously leveling Atlanta (or infamously if you’re from the South). In a nod to local history, Burnt Hickory Brewmaster and Owner Scott Hedeen named some of his beers after significant people and places associated with the battle.
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Larry Hicklen: Civil War Relic Hunting Pioneer
Q. When did you fall in love with this hobby?
A. It started with the Centennial Anniversary of the Civil War. I was 10 years old in 1961, and 14 years of age come 1965. Those are real formative years for a young boy. During the Centennial, the newspaper had a big section every week, and living history presentations were also a big deal. I attended a few of them, and as a 10 to 14 year old, it made quite an impression. Those were the years when I said “you know what, this stuff is cool.”
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The Complete Guide: Poison Ivy, Poison Oak, & Poison Sumac
Many of our readers are metal detecting enthusiasts, as are many of us here at RelicRecord.com. We’re in the woods, fields, and other outdoor areas in search of artifacts and other interesting items. So we thought it would be a good idea to put together a definitive guide on those pesky plants we all fear and respect – poison ivy, poison oak, and poison sumac.
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7 Things to Know About Professional Appraisals
There comes a point in every collectors’ collecting life when getting a professional appraisal will make sense—determining an item’s value for a sale, for insurance coverage, charitable donations, and estate-planning; or just simply satisfying one’s curiosity of what something is and how much it’s worth.
No matter what you collect, you can find someone to appraise it. The key however, is to find someone who’s qualified. By no means are we appraisal aficionados, but here are a few suggestions to help you get started.
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Storing Your Data
Where are we going to put all this stuff?
With potentially hundreds of thousands of pictures and rows upon rows of data, this is an important question for any new website project. With technology, there is always more than one way to do something. The same holds true for how RelicRecord.com is being built.
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Civil War Weapons: The Pike
Long obsolete among European armies, the pike, lance, and other types of pole-weapons were not widely used during the Civil War. However, that’s not to say they were not part of its history.
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What Was In That Ginger Beer Bottle?
Many relic hunters and collectors have one or more “Ginger Beer” or “Ginger Ale” bottles in their collection. Such bottles are often found in trash pits near Union and Confederate Civil War camps. The bottles were also common Civil War period crockery, often used by civilian home brewers to make homemade Ginger Beer. This also explains why bottles are found in household privy pits, as they were discarded once emptied. So I guess I’m not the first guy to drink a beer while on the toilet?
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Appraisals – How Much Is This Worth?
How much is your collectible or antique worth? If you’re a seller, what price should you assign to an item? If you’re a buyer, how do you know you’re getting a fair deal? Instead of schlepping your items to an appraiser, consider an online valuation service.
Such services typically offer DIY research tools and estimates by professional appraisers and other experts in areas ranging from sports memorabilia and books, to Native American art and even classic cars. It’s important to note, these services offer valuations, not authentications. However, for the purpose of helping buyers and sellers determine a fair price, such services can be very helpful.
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Customer Registration and User Preferences
Since this is the first post on the progress of the web application, it only makes sense for us to start with an update on customer registration and user preferences.
For someone who is interested in using the application, they will have to create a free account. We want to make this as painless as possible, while still keeping the security of our customer’s data in mind. The past few weeks we have focused on the sign up process which included the creation of registration forms and easy to follow instructions for things like password complexity.
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