In the Sea and Harbor Museum, people from the neighborhood were allowed to have antique items appraised for free today. So it was a coming and going of packed and bagged IJmuiden residents. “Because you never know”, says a woman with a painting under her arm.
A recently inherited bronze botter, crockery removed from the attic, statues of unknown origin, a naval battle in oil paint: the appraisers at Veilinghuis De Eland & De Zon were busy with it.
Emotional value
Only a few pieces were left to be auctioned soon. Most visitors left the museum with matching items as they had entered, usually because they felt the appraised value did not outweigh the sentimental value. “Then I’d rather take it home,” the man looks at his bronze botter. “I’m attached to it and it doesn’t get in my way.”
Another man does leave a tableware of presumably Scandinavian origin for the auction. “Not because I get a lot of money for it, they estimate something like 400 euros, but more because we are a bit tired of it.”
A resident of IJmuide with an image of two embroidered tigers says with a smile that he had hoped in advance to be able to buy a villa in the south of France after the valuation. “But that’s not happening. It will be a spot at the campsite on the Veluwe.”