Eli5- How antiques appraisers (like the ones on Antiques Roadshow) know so much?

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I was watching the show tonight and one of the appraisers mentioned that when online searches fail, that’s when they can come to appraisers to get more information. How do the appraisers know or obtain this information? How are they able to estimate prices and give such detailed descriptions of the history of an object? This has always mystified me.

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Anonymous 0 Comments

If you watch enough Antiques Roadshow, the appraisers will sometimes mention how they consulted with other appraisers on the floor or did research beforehand (before the segment was filmed).

I believe there are two types of Antiques Roadshow appraisals – one is you just bring in your junk the day of, and the other is if you think you have something really special you can submit images of it and they “preselect” you – I would imagine so they can do research, etc.

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