Example estimates
What a result looks like before you upload anything. Each example shows the range, how sure the estimator is, and what would move the price. These are worked illustrations, not live prices or other people’s items.
1964 Kennedy half dollar, circulated
$14range $10 – $20
High confidence — a common item with a liquid market
A common date with no mint mark, worn but undamaged. Its value comes from the metal, not from rarity: 1964 is the only year Kennedy halves were struck in 90% silver.
What moves the price
- 90% silver content sets a floor that moves with the silver price
- Tens of millions were struck, so a circulated example is not scarce
- Grading costs more than the coin is worth at this level
Old does not mean rare. For common silver coins the melt value is the answer, and that is fine to know.
1989 Donruss baseball common card
$1range $0 – $2
High confidence — a common item with a liquid market
A base card from the late-1980s overproduction era. Cards from these years were printed in enormous numbers and sit in storage by the boxful.
What moves the price
- Print runs in the millions, with supply still far above demand
- Only key rookies and high-grade examples break out of this range
- Grading fees would be many times the card's value
A whole box of these is usually worth more as one lot than as singles. The estimator says so rather than flattering the collection.
Pyrex Butterprint mixing bowl, 1950s–60s
$70range $35 – $160
Medium confidence
A sought-after mid-century pattern. Condition decides almost everything: dishwasher fading, scratches inside the bowl and chips pull the price down fast.
What moves the price
- Pattern and colour — some patterns have a dedicated following
- Bright, unfaded print with no dishwasher dulling
- Size, and whether it completes a nested set
In vintage kitchenware, two identical bowls can differ fivefold in price on surface condition alone.
Omega Seamaster Professional 300M, 1990s, no box or papers
$2,400range $1,800 – $3,200
Medium confidence
A widely traded reference, so the market is liquid and the range is reasonably tight. Missing box and papers costs roughly the price of a service.
What moves the price
- Exact reference number, which decides the model
- Full set with box and papers typically adds 10–20%
- Service history, and whether the case has been over-polished
On anything this valuable, treat the estimate as a starting point: have a watchmaker confirm it is genuine before money changes hands.
Teak-veneer dresser, unbranded, 1970s
$180range $60 – $400
Low confidence — the photos leave key questions open
Mid-century styling without a maker's label. The wide range reflects how much local demand varies and how little the photos reveal about construction.
What moves the price
- A known designer or maker's label would multiply this
- Solid wood and dovetailed drawers beat veneer over particleboard
- City buyers pay more; shipping cost limits the market to local pickup
A wide range is honest information. Checking the drawers for a label is the single step most likely to narrow it.
1960s hardback first edition, no dust jacket
$40range $15 – $90
Low confidence — the photos leave key questions open
For most 20th-century firsts the original dust jacket carries the majority of the value. Without it, a first edition often sells for a small fraction of the jacketed price.
What moves the price
- Presence and condition of the original dust jacket
- True first printing, confirmed on the copyright page
- Ex-library stamps and foxing lower the price sharply
Photograph the copyright page. Edition statements decide the price more than the cover does.
What these examples are for
Every one of these is chosen because it illustrates something that generalises. The point is not that you own a Polaroid SX-70 or a Morgan dollar; it is that each case shows a kind of reasoning you can apply to whatever you are actually holding, and most of them turn on the same handful of principles.
The first is that identification outranks condition. Knowing exactly which version of an item you have — which printing, which mint mark, which reference, which year of manufacture — changes the answer more than the difference between well-worn and pristine, because the versions can be orders of magnitude apart while condition typically moves the price by a multiple. Several of the examples below show two apparently identical objects separated by a single detail.
The second is that working order and completeness are priced separately from appearance. A camera that looks immaculate and does not fire, a boxed set missing one accessory, a clock with a replaced movement: each is worth noticeably less than its photograph suggests, and each is the sort of thing an estimate from images alone will flag as something to check rather than something it can settle.
The third is that a wide range is information rather than evasion. When the estimate spreads out, it is telling you that the photographs leave a question open — authenticity, an unreadable mark, a variant that cannot be distinguished from this angle — and that closing that question is worth more than any further research into the general market.
How to read a result
Start at the bottom of the range rather than the top. The low figure is the one you can rely on, because it is what the item fetches when the buyer is cautious and the sale is quick, and it is the number that survives if the condition turns out to be worse than the photographs suggested. The typical figure is the realistic expectation. The high figure describes a good day with the right buyer, and treating it as the price is the single most common reason items sit unsold for months.
Try it on your own item
WorthRange is free, needs no account, and every result links to real sold listings so you can check it yourself.
Estimate an item