For those of you who are new to me…welcome. I’m Cole Burden. By day (and often night), I’m an actor and singer, but I also co-own a company with my husband, Caleb Dicke, called SimplifyNYC. Together, we help families facing one of life’s most emotional challenges: letting go. Sometimes that means decluttering homes filled with decades of accumulation. Other times, it means clearing out estates so they can be sold, honoring both the memory of the person who lived there and the family left behind.
I also wear another hat as a member of the One Global Advisory team at Compass, led by the brilliant Kelly Robinson. In real estate, I see firsthand how a home’s contents—what we love, what we save, what we leave behind—intersect with the stories we tell and the spaces we create. And almost every project, whether decluttering or selling a home, circles back to the same question:
“Is this valuable?”
It’s a deceptively simple question, but one loaded with emotion, nostalgia, and hope. Clients point to a cabinet, a box, or a painting, and want to know: is there treasure here, or just stuff? After years in this world, here’s my insider’s guide to answering that.
Jewelry: The Golden Rule
If you want the quick answer, here it is: metal, gold, and silver always lead the pack. Jewelry is universally considered valuable. In fact, many antique buyers won’t even consider looking at other items until they’ve asked: “Do you have jewelry or silver?” That tells you everything you need to know.
Art: The Signature Test
Art is a close second. If you’ve got a signed and numbered lithograph, or an original Hockney your grandparents bought on a whim—then yes, you’re in the territory of real value. The key here is provenance and rarity. Most people already have a sense when they own valuable art. It doesn’t usually hide in the attic unnoticed, although when it does, that is a very exciting day.
Furniture: The Harsh Truth
Here’s where it gets tricky. For many of our clients, the hardest realization is this: most furniture isn’t valuable. Unless it’s mid-century modern by a pedigreed name like Herman Miller or Knoll, chances are slim. The heavy, dark antiques that once filled dining rooms across the Northeast? No one wants them now.
That said, we always invite Doyle’s or Christie’s to walk through for our clients, just in case. Every so often, there’s a curio cabinet from 18th-century France that surprises us. But the truth is, if it’s Restoration Hardware, West Elm, or even Pottery Barn, it’s usually destined for donation rather than auction.
Clothing: The Mirage of Value
Fashion is even more elusive. Anyone who has tried consigning knows how tough it can be. Shops like Buffalo Exchange or The RealReal are selective, and even the best pieces lose value astonishingly fast. Yes, a pristine Chanel bag or an untouched Hermes scarf will always find a home. But most designer clothing, your once-cherished Manolos included, just doesn’t hold up in the resale market.
Many clients initially believe they will sell clothing themselves on platforms like eBay, but the reality is that most items sit in closets or storage bins, waiting for “someday.” You can, of course, hire someone to manage the process, but that costs money and requires significant time and energy. More often than not, our clients discover that the greater value lies in releasing the clothing altogether, creating space instead of accumulating even more. It is a liberating shift from trying to squeeze dollars out of old fashion to reclaiming peace of mind.
So, What Really Matters?
Here’s the bottom line: most homes don’t contain a hidden fortune. Beyond jewelry and select art, there are only occasional gems in furniture or clothing. And that’s okay.
The real value, I believe, isn’t always in the resale. It’s in the joy that objects bring you while you live with them. Which is why I tell clients: buy things that make you happy. Curate thoughtfully. Consider every item you allow into your home, not as a burden for some future decluttering session, but as part of the sanctuary you’re building right now.
Because when the time comes to let go…whether it’s downsizing, moving, or closing a chapter…you’ll want to know that the things you owned truly served a purpose. Some will be passed on. Many will be donated. And a few just might surprise you with their value. But if they brought you joy, they were already worth it.
