Hi again! Well, just got back from the antique shop... (actually there were two appraisers there). They were floored that I only paid $5 for him! The one that knew the most about him told us that he was created in the early sixties, and pretty much verified his Polish "breeding". When this lady walked in and saw him, she immediately began petting his face and said, "Oh how wonderful! I haven't seen one of these in YEARS!!! Isn't he just BEAUTIFUL!!!" After she finished with her evaluation, the second lady told me that in his current condition, one would normally expect to pay approx. $25-40. After cleaning him up and patching him, and adding a tail (found a real hair tail on a carousel shop (THANKS Rachel) for $25), she said that given his age, style and such, he would easily be worth over $200. She also said after cleaning him up, the real hair tail would help his value and be worth the money spent.
As for cleaning, she suggested a powdered carpet cleaner called "Capture" that will gently remove ANYTHING (including car oil/grease from white carpet she had). Rub or brush it in give it a day or two and gently vacuum it off with the brush attachement. She also mentioned Dryel Dry Cleaner, but was unsure about the heat part... hair dryer maybe? I'm gonna try to find the other stuff. As for his boo-boo's she said that patching them would be a good idea, and would add to his appeal and would not take away from his value. She also said she would do nothing to his wooden parts, including repainting his muzzle.
I think that pretty well covers everything that she said if I remember anything else I'll post it. So... whatcha think?
