Having been an Executor when my parents died, as many on this list will
have been, it can be very difficult clearing a house and putting a value
on things. There were several items that we listed on ebay, (not lace)
but we had to weigh up whether to list each item at what we thought it
might be worth, and pay a higher listing fee or to start low and hope
that the bidding would take off. We opted for the latter, and even then
only a couple of things sold, without much interest to increase the
price. Those things that didn't sell, of course, we lost the cost of
listing.
I've also been in the situation of having two of my students die, and
having their stash to clear, at the same time trying to impress upon the
children/husband that they should at least keep one or two things, even
though no-one of the present generation was interested in making lace.
When you are faced with an Estate to clear and you have no idea of the
value, you have the choice of keep, charity shop, sell or bin. Ebay is
one way of possibly getting what something is worth, and of selling it
to someone who wants it.
It might seem horrific that someone would sell, on ebay, lace made from
a pattern published in a magazine, without credit to the designer. But,
if they only knew that their Uncle - or Client (remember often the
Executor is the family solicitor) - made it, and hadn't a clue who
designed it, they wouldn't be able to give that credit.
Rather than be "stunned", I would feel a little sad that it didn't gain
a lot of interest and command a higher value, but be glad that someone
who wanted it bought it (even if that person was a dealer themselves who
would possibly sell it on), and that the maker liked the design to spend
time making it - I'm sure Jane Read knows as well as I do that you can
have many patterns published but it is rare that you hear whether or not
anyone has ever made lace from them.
If we said that no-one could sell the lace we'd made after we died, what
would happen to it - would it get stuffed in a box in an attic, or be
thrown out? Sometimes museums are offered lace from Estates. More often
it is a case where, if you have a funeral to pay for, and the deceased
had few savings, what they did have needs to be sold.
I doubt my daughters and grandchildren will keep everything I've made
over the years, my main hope is that Great Great Grandmother Harriet
Banner's cross stitch sampler, in a frame I think made by her father (it
has hand made nails in it, and he was a nailer in Bromsgrove,
Worcestershire) is kept in the family. It will be 190 years since she
finished it in November this year. It would be nice to think some of my
work will still be around in 200 years' time, but I doubt it!
--
Jane Partridge
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