Instead of bringing in your antique to be appraised, the appraisers have put their prices on the hotel's antiques.

Claudia Miller, one of two appraisers for the fine arts section of the sale, says there's something for every pocketbook.

"From a $2 sheet to a $28,000 painting."

Miller, her sister, Cathy, and her brother, Frank, are fifth-generation sellers of hotel furnishings. Selling off products from resorts undergoing major face-lifts has become a big international business.

"When we started, we had no competition," says Miller. "Today we have lots of competition."

The Ritz-Carlton, Kapalua, although it is only 13 years old, has closed for a massive renovation. The $95 million rebuilding project is expected to be done in December.

For the past week, Miller and her partner Donna Einhorn have been pricing the fine arts part of the sale. That part opens Saturday. But, said Miller on Thursday, there's no way she and Einhorn will be done that soon. They haven't even seen all the items yet.

She expects to stay here three weeks. The furnishing and fixtures sale, which began Thursday in a packed ballroom, will last even longer.

"If you come back, every day will have something different," says Miller.

Her brother, Frank Long, says the gross sale will "be in seven figures."

One of the most expensive items tagged so far is an oil painting by the 19th century Frenchman Paul Narcisse Saliers, called "Twin Boys." It shows two youngsters in pleated sailor skirts.

"The first thing, everybody thinks they are girls," says Miller, but boys in skirts was the custom then.

One boy holds a trumpet and the other a toy whip. In the background, the turrets of a chateau imply that the boys live in a castle.

Price: $28,500. Plus, it's supposed to be haunted.

Miller started appraising in 1965, and today she is certified by both the American Society of Appraisers and the Appraisers Society of Appraisers.

There are many subspecialties, such as real estate, business-technical, personal property or commercial. Miller worked her way up in the personal property line.

Her great-great-grandfather was an auctioneer in Dayton, Ohio. The Great Depression created an opening for selling the contents of hotels, and that was the origin of International Content Liquidations Inc., though not under that name until the 1960s.

Long, the president, says there are a number of ways a hotel owner can dispose of his furnishings.

In an auction, "he can dispose of everything in a day."

Or he can sell everything to Long, who resells it. Or the owner can keep a stake in the outcome, or retain options on items.

Long declined to say what arrangement his firm has with Gencom, the hotel's new owners, on the grounds that it is proprietary information.

Kim Kessler, the Ritz-Carlton director of public relations, said there are 25,000 items for sale, and the expected gross will be over $1 million.

On Thursday, guest room furnishings were on display: $300 for a king size bed, for example. Plus lamps, TVs, chairs, you name it.

This includes a lot of local art. Hundreds of prints of Fred Ken Knight watercolors, which graced every room, are available for $20 each. The hotel has the originals, too, but those will cost "a couple of thousand."

Not in the sale are the hotel's seven grand pianos and some of the fine art, which is being held back for decorating the updated version of the resort.

However, besides hotel furniture for a few hundred dollars, the fine arts sale will include several pieces from the George III period (1760-1820) with prices around $10,000-$20,000.

It is not, Long emphasizes, an auction. There's a price on each item, determined by Miller and Einhorn.

Their job was made easier by the provenance records the hotel acquired along with the paintings, ship models and furniture, along with valuations from the early '90s.

Prices are generally lower – in cases much lower – than the previous owners paid in around 1993, Long says. The devaluation occurs despite the advances in valuations for many collectible items and antiques in the interim. It's a balancing act between getting a good return and getting a fast one.

Sometimes, Long says, an owner just wants to get his stuff off his hands. Long then may buy the whole lot.

There is also, now, a "nostalgia market" for hotel items, Miller says. Monogrammed towels or knives and forks sell briskly to people who may want to remember good times had at the facility.

Miller expects Ritz-Carlton bathrobes, for example, to find a brisk market.

International Content Liquidations is on the verge of becoming a six-generation family enterprise. Miller's daughter and a niece are finishing college, and she expects one or both to join the firm.

"It's ironic," she says. The hotels turn over ownership, but the company that sells off the furniture goes on and on.

For more information, visit www.iclsales.com.

Harry Eagar can be reached at heagar@mauinews.com.

THE RITZ-CARLTON, KAPALUA LIQUIDATION