I have a few pieces of furniture that I've considered selling, including a hope chest with Murphy 4250 stamped on the back. I'm hoping someone knows what it might be worth? Any information / history about the brand in general and/or the model # specifically would really be appreciated!
Add your voice! Click below to answer. ThriftyFun is powered by your wisdom!
Murphy is a good name brand for furniture and also for hope chests. Today young girls no longer are interested in buying a hope chest for the future and starting to save for the day they get married. That seems to be a long past tradition and not one that was carried on after the 1980s or so. I know my mom was into this when I was growing up and thought it was necessary to have one but I disagreed with her on this one.
People are still interested in buying these but not for hope chest but to store blankets in or other items. On average the basics sales price a person gets when selling one of these is $135 to $150 tops. I know people say you can get more for these but when you look at the ones that have sold most people are only making $135 and still need to pay the PayPal fees.
I read an old post you responded to you about the stamped numbers on old cedar chests - if I remember correctly, I believe you had said that the stamped number served as both a manufacturing number and the the date the chest was made? For example: my Murphy Hope Chest has 4250 stamped on the back - meaning that it was built in 1950? If I'm getting this wrong please correct me - I'm just trying to ascertain as much accurate information as possible about the history of the brand, and a lot of the information I've found online is conflicting.
You're correct about there being a lot of confusion about the numbers on the Murphy Cedar chests as they may or may not relate to the year of manufacture.
Cedar chests are slow sellers but usually sell for several hundred dollars when they sell.
Here is a copy of a comment made in 2018 in answer to someone about a particular chest. This listing had been posted for a while before this comment was made and this is 2 years later and the chest has not sold.
"Here is a nice chest that has been listed (and relisted) for some time but you may want to place a watch on it to see if it sells.
There is a lot of information in some of the past postings:
www.thriftyfun.com/
www.thriftyfun.com/
www.thriftyfun.com/
Cedar chests are so out of fashion that it is difficult to even find one that has sold within the past several years.
I did find a chest like yours that sold in 2016. The selling price was $230 with pick up only. The location of your chest will be a big factor in the final value of your chest.
It is rare that anyone ships one of these as it would be very costly - probably as much or more than the cost of the chest.
If you live in an area that still has room for pieces like this (and not an area where people move frequently) and you the area has cold weather where it is necessary to store blankets, then you may be able to sell your chest for a similar price.
www.ebth.com/
I have noticed in the past that it appears the chests with cushion seats may not be as popular - this may be due to the fact cushions may not seem as clean as wood tops?
You might want to list your chest on sites like Craigslist, USA4Sale, Facebook Marketplace, offerup, letgo and list it as pick up only.
You can always start your price higher and best offer considered. If no one makes an offer after a few weeks than you can lower the price.
You will need several good pictures such as the one that sold.
It seems that a lot of people are holding on to there Hope chest.
This murphy chest is one of a few that was sold $300 , More and more people are holding on to this brand and passing to the next generation . The value depends type, and condition from
Great piece!
It looks like your exact chest sold on Facebook marketplace last year for $50 in Utah: www.facebook.com/
That would be the current (values haven't changed much) if you are in Utah. If you are located somewhere else, you may fetch more or less.
Furniture values are regional and very supply and demand based.
With the recent COVID situation and a lot of people purging, there may be a glut on the market where you are, which will drive the value down. If there are few, it may drive the value up if there is a high demand.
You can always start high...if it was mine I would start at $250 and take base offer, which may be as low as $10-25.
When you advertise it, people don't care so much about the year as the style--this is a traditional, colonial style, mention the brass color pulls with the fan in the description--those are the things people care about.
Also, be sure to list any flaws and if it has any smells--and I mean any--even if it is still a cedar smell--any smoke, basement, musty, etc.
These are hard to sell because so many have held odors so just be aware that they may pull the value down if yours has any type of smell to it!
Thanks for sharing!! Post back how your sale goes!
Add your voice! Click below to answer. ThriftyFun is powered by your wisdom!
