Tampa Bay Times

What's It Worth? Is Bullion Ever Collectible?

Everyone likes to have silver or gold in their portfolio, but 99 percent of bullion coins are just that — bullion only — and worth only the gold value. At any given time, it can be worth from 5 percent under to 6 percent over gold value. These bullion gold coins are minted and sold by most countries. South Africa has krugerrands, China has pandas and Austria, Mexico, Canada and other countries mint 1 oz. coins from their reserves and sell to investors who believe gold pricing is going up.

What's It Worth? Hallmarking – The Distinction Of Baltimore Silver

Conventional wisdom holds that America is the only country without a proper silver hallmarking system. However, this isn’t entirely true.

Hess Fine Art wins Tama Bay Times Best of the Best Award 2019. The Best of the Best Awards celebrate businesses and organizations loved by the Tampa Bay community.

Hess Fine Art - Tampa Bay's oldest & most reliable buyer of gold, silver, fine watches, jewelry & antiques. Located on 4th Street for over 30 years!

What's It Worth? To Clean Or Not To Clean

One of the most enduring debates in the world of fine art and collectibles is more nuanced than just whether or not to clean an item.

This controversial subject is generally debated in a cerebral and studious manner among aficionados, experts, collectors and academics. But often the discussion turns ugly. I have never seen fisticuffs or weaponry used, but believe me, the discussion is passionate.

What's It Worth? German Porcelain From Dresden & Meissen

The city of Dresden and the Meissen factory area are known for their fine porcelain manufacturing, going back centuries. While most pieces of this type are soft (price wise) right now, we recently purchased a nice collection (one piece of which is pictured here).

 What's It Worth? Large Items In The Age Of E-Commerce

One of our most frequent hurdles in buying and brokering estate artwork is being certain the cost of shipping the item to the buyer doesn’t equal or exceed the selling price. Recently we sold two fine-arts auction lots that our customers in other parts of the country and overseas would have been willing to pay over $500 to $1,000 for – but in each case they informed us that the cost of shipping cut them out of the bidding process.

What's It Worth? Unusual Serving Pieces

Before income taxes, and when prosperous households had help, stainless steel flatware was not only a must but also meticulously designed for a distinct purpose. These pieces required special care, and thorough knowledge of their use – as you wouldn’t want to embarrass yourself by serving a food with the wrong utensil.

What's It Worth? Artifacts From The Civil War And Earlier 

It seems like everyone enjoys stories from back in the day (or stories where I lose money). So today, we are writing about a house call we made in 1991. It involves an ad we ran for Confederate currency. Most people think that this currency is worthless, but in reality, one Confederate dollar can be worth between $5 and $100, and a $20 bill can be worth between $10-$300, and sometimes $1,000 or more.

What's It Worth? The Egg-Citing History Of Fabergé Eggs

Peter Carl Fabergé, a Russian artisan of Frencch Huguenot ancestry, made about 50 gold and jeweled eggs when he was the royal jeweler to Russian aristocracy from 1885 forward. Only 45 of them have been accounted for. The legacy of these eggs is far-reaching, and a simple internet search will unearth hundreds of stories about them.

What's It Worth? Legos. Great To Sell, Not So Great To Step On

I hate Legos. Despise them. I was reminded of them when an executive here in town brought them up after we sold a large baseball card collection for him and his retired father. He still collected them at age 40!

Yes, I played with them briefly in the ’60s. So I can appreciate them. And Legos were the first thing I ever saw traded on the internet back in 1988. I get the fascination. I hate them for another reason.