How to Buy or Sell — Wicker, Rattan and Basketry

All baskets, from Indian and Nantucket baskets to Chinese sewing baskets, are popular. The price is determined by quality, design, maker, variety, and condition. Miniatures under two inches high and very large baskets always command premium prices. Amateurs have a hard time pricing baskets. New African, Chinese, Filipino, South American, Korean, Taiwanese, and other baskets are often made as exact replicas of old baskets. Since natural materials are used, the design is copied exactly, and the work is by hand. It takes great knowledge to tell the old from the new. As a seller, you are only worried about getting as much as possible. If you know the basket has been in your family for 50 years, you know it is old, so you can price it accordingly. If you bought it at a house sale last year, you may not have a valuable basket, and pricing could be difficult. Dealers in baskets and good auction houses can tell the difference. Rather than price your baskets too low, take them to an expert.