July 21 is your chance with an Antiques Roadshow-style event at Wollongong Art Gallery with two experts from Lawsons Auctioneers and Valuers on hand.

Adam McDonald (star of Aussie Pickers on Foxtel) will be one of the experts appraising objects, collectables, heirloom jewellery, furniture, art and knick-knacks.

“I’ve seen collections of false teeth, I’ve seen collections of belly button lint … there is a collector for everything,” he said.

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Mr McDonald explained he stumbled upon the lint collection when he visited a man’s house to look at early Australian racing bicycles and noticed a massive jar was sitting on a sideboard.

“He said ‘that’s my belly-button lint from the last 25 years’,” he said. “The most interest thing was it was all the same colour – it’s all just a bluey-grey.”

It’s been 12 years since Mr McDonald swapped life as a bricklayer for auction rooms and is now the lead auctioneer at Lawsons. He said to become a valuer takes years of experience and fossicking for hidden gems in various locations.

“You can’t get it from books, you’ve just got to immerse yourself in it,” he said. “On my days off I go to other auctions, I go to flea markets, I go to garage sales … it’s all just leg work, you’ve got to look around and talking to people.”

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People keen to get a price on a treasured item can either bring it or a picture of it to the gallery and see Mr McDonald or his colleague Adam Thwaites. They will be going appraisals from 12pm to 3pm.

“It’s those sort of things that have been kicking around your house, or kicking down the generations for ages,” he said. “We can tell you what they’re worth, and if you want to sell it what’s the best way to sell it.”

The event has been organised as part of the Gallery’s 40^th anniversary celebrations and will also include artisan stalls.

People eager to have their collectables seen will need to get a ticket on the day and wait in line. 

Object d’Art Fair, presented by Wollongong Art Gallery Friends, Saturday July 21 from 10am to 3:30pm. Entry is a $2 donation.