Hello everyone!

I've been going over these baskets and my goodness there is a lot of stuff you can get in one of these, but I began wondering how you can figure out what the basket is worth by itself; especially after its discontinued, or its design changes, or it is tarnished or broken in some way. I had no idea that figuring out your Longaberger basket worth is almost as deep a subject as those old Antique appraisal shows that are on T. V. sometimes. As it turns out, the value is based on a number of factors such as the year it was made in addition to the stain used, or whether or not your basket was part of a popular collection, or even whether or not the basket still has its accessories like a liner or a protector, a tie-on, or lid of any kind.

Another factor is the possibility that your basket might even be signed by a member of the Longaberger family depending on the year it was made. If your basket is based on a collection, then that almost always increases its value, and of course the better the condition, the better the value. To save you some time, and thanks to the diligent work of some Longaberger basket enthusiasts that have dedicated web sites to it, I did find a list of their baskets considered to be part of a collection.

These include: All-American Collection, Bee Baskets, Booking-Promo Baskets, Christmas Collection, Collectors Club, Crisco American, Easter Series, Employee Baskets, Father's Day, Feature Baskets, Foundry Collection, Good Ol' Summertime, Heartland Collection, Holiday Hostess, Horizon of Hope, Hostess Collection, Incentive-Award Baskets, J.W. Collection, J.W. Originals, May Series, Mother's Day, Pumpkin Series, Shades of Autumn, Special Events, Sweetheart Baskets, Tour Baskets, Traditions Collection, Tree-Trimming Collection, and Woven Traditions. There are also specialty baskets that the company calls "Feature Baskets" which include the Boo Basket, the John Deere Basket, and Grandma Bonnie’s Two Pie Basket.

It kind of goes without saying as in most collectible items that older baskets are worth more than new ones. You can actually figure out the year your basket was made simply by looking at the bottom. Color weaves and non-stained baskets are also occasionally considered valuable, as well as minor flaws in the weaving patterns, which serve as visual reminders that the product is hand-made. As it is with collectible toys, or packaged items, the contents of Longaberger basket packaging and whether or not they are still present helps determine value as well, this can include information on its production, care cards, or official collector cards.

For those serious Longaberger Basket collectors, getting your hands on a Longaberger basket with Dave's Longaberger's signature on it is the equivalent of a George Lucas signature is to a Star Wars fan, Once you determine all of these attributes and get an idea of your Longaberger basket worth, you can go to the following link and appraise it yourself to figure out the high market value.

Wow, I had no idea these things were that big, to tell you the truth all I knew about Longaberger was that they had been around for quite some time but I wasn't aware that baskets were one of those things that people collected, at least not in the way people collect baseball cards or cars or something. That was a pretty extensive list of things to keep an eye on for those interested in collecting Longaberger baskets. Coincidentally, I was just reading an article about an hour ago talking about collecting as being a timeless financially smart thing to do, because as long as you choose the right things they only go up in value as things change.