What's it worth?

Following on from the comment left on my last post, (Help!What's a Dinkie Doo?), I'm always being asked, "What's it worth?". An item is only worth what someone is prepared to pay for it. I can make a guess based on my experience of selling similar items, but it is only a guess, and with eBay in particular, I'm not always right. I quite often list items on eBay that I would expect to sell for only £10-£15, only to see them sell for £150+; a couple of weeks before or after and the same item would struggle to reach my estimate. If two people want something badly enough and they have the money to spend, then the sky's the limit; the problem for me as an eBay seller is finding those two people at the same time!
This enamelled earrings and brooch set is by the illustrious arts and crafts designer/jeweller, Bernard Instone. I'm a great fan of Instone's enamelled jewellery, the enamelling isn't of the same high quality as that of the great Norwegian silversmiths like Marius Hammer or David Andersen, in fact in comparison, Instone's enamels look quite amateurish; I've yet to find an Instone with perfect enamelling, there always seems to be a tiny flaw somewhere, but that's probably what I love about his work. The brooch isn't a particularly rare Instone piece and I would expect to sell similar Instone brooches for £30-£50, with the matching earrings; which are rarer, I would expect to get £80-£100. This set actually sold for £103, which is close enough to my estimate; I may be biased, but I think they're worth more. On a recent visit to the antique jewellery counter in Liberty's of London, I saw the same Instone brooch, (just the brooch), marked up at £380; "Yeah I wish!".