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"What's
It Worth?"
Doylestown's Ivankovich has a good idea
by
David Campbell, Bucks County Herald Staff Writer
He
has about a half-dozen websites and 20 books to his name.
He's
an appraiser, auctioneer, author and homedownsizing specialist.
Yet, Mike Ivankovich, with his expertise and everything, isn't
a fixture on TV.
"I
don't have the face for (PBS') "Antiques Roadshow,""
he chuckled.
Ivankovich's
voice, however, is being heard loud and clear over the radio airwaves.
WBCB 1490 AM picked up "What's It Worth? Ask Mike the Appraiser,"
which airs 9 to 9:30 a.m. Fridays, nine weeks ago.
It is Ivankovich's first radio gig.
"The gist of the show is to help my listeners understand
what their stuff is worth and how they can figure it out,"
said Ivankovich, a Doylestown resident.
"What's It Worth?" is broken into three segments: Ivankovich's
selling topic of the week, Q&A and "potpourri,"
whatever is on Ivankovich's mind.
"My problem is," Ivankovich admitted, "I have too
much content for a half-hour show. I want to take it to an hourly
show, but in order to do that, I need to get some sponsors to
help me cover it."
Ivankovich, 63, has spent a considerable time - 35-plus years
- in his line of work.
"I'm all over the place," he said. "I've written
20 books in my areas of specialty, from home downsizing to collecting
early 20th-century hand-colored photography to preserving and
conserving your prints.
"I tell people I probably hold the record for writing books
that have made me the least amount of royalties," Ivankovich
joked.
His mug may not show up on the boob tube, but Ivankovich's face
is ubiquitous in these parts. He's the fundraising auctioneer
for, among others, Doylestown Hospital, the Heritage Conservancy,
Gilda's Club and the Travis Manion Foundation. He said he'll probably
do 40 fundraising auctions this year.
"I've been an auctioneer for Alderfer (Auction and Appraisal)
for a number of years," Ivankovich added.
"I've been running my own auctions for 25 years."
Ivankovich said as he aged he's drifted more into art and prints,
which require a little less heavy lifting. As an auctioneer, he
said, he was tasked with "schlepping the furniture out of
the houses [and] into the auction hall," thus he refers to
auctioneers as "glorified movers."
Ivankovich continues to wear many hats.
"As an appraiser," he said, "I help people understand
what their things are worth. As an auctioneer, I help them convert
what they no longer want or need into cash. As a home downsizer,
I help people deal with their stuff, and their stuff is defined
as antiques, collectibles and general household contents. And
as a fundraising auctioneer, I help raise money, for good causes."
Ivankovich said the most common question he is asked is: "What's
it worth?" So it's no surprise that's also the name of his
radio show.
"I talked to a couple stations and this one (WBCB 1490 AM)
just seemed to be the best fit," Ivankovich said. "There
are not a whole lot of radio stations in this area that are looking
for my kind of content, and WBCB was very receptive."
He has no idea how long he'll stick with the radio show, he said.
Right now, he's just enjoying the ride. It's been only nine weeks.
"I'm going to do it as long as I feel like I'm getting business,
and it takes a whole lot of time to build up listenership, so
I'm into this for the long term," Ivankovich said. "How
long? Nobody is forcing me to do it. I'm doing it because I want
to. I have so much content. Every time I turn around I've got
some more things I could talk about - and I do like talking."
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