How do I tell hand quilting from machine quilting?

Look at the back. Hand stitches vary a little and often do not mirror the front exactly. Machine stitches are even, and you can find where a line starts and stops. A yarn tie at the block corners means the layers are tied, which is a comforter, not a quilted stitch. Say the one you see.

Does polyester batting mean the quilt is new?

It means the fill is a later material than clumped cotton batting. That is a reason to drop a nineteenth-century claim. It is not a year, and it is not an insult. A polyester-batt quilt can still be a quilt someone wants. Comp it with quilts filled the same way.

There is a date embroidered on it. Is that the year?

It is a date someone stitched or wrote. It may be the year the top was finished, a later addition, or a ballpoint mark from a sale. Photograph it, quote it as written, and do not promote it to a documented year unless the cloth and the stitch agree. A date that fights the batting is a date you explain, not a date you hide.

How much is a vintage quilt worth?

A quilt is the stitch that holds the layers, not only the patchwork. Hand quilting and machine quilting are different work. Stains and a cut-down edge are the condition.

Collectibles Thrifting Journal

A patchwork quilt is three layers, a top, a batting, and a backing, held together by stitches. The blocks are the pattern: a log cabin, a double wedding ring, a nine-patch, a flower garden. The quilting is the second pattern, the lines that cross the blocks, feathers or a grid or an outline of each piece. People price the top and forget the stitch. Hand quilting and machine quilting are different work, and a quilt can be hand-pieced and machine-quilted, or machine-pieced and hand-quilted. Those are four combinations. A home sewing machine has existed long enough that an old top can still be machine-pieced. Old does not mean every stitch was made by hand.

A comforter tied with yarn is not a quilted quilt. The ties are the tell, at the corners of the blocks, and they are a different object. Cotton batting clumps, beards through the cloth, and migrates to the edges. Polyester batting stays puffy and even, and it is a later material, a reason to stop calling the bedcover nineteenth century. Fold lines that have shattered, brown stains from a wooden chest, and a binding that was replaced are the condition. This page is a cotton patchwork bed quilt. A crazy quilt of silk and velvet with embroidery is a different object. This page will not price either one. Measure, name the stitch, and compare sold listings of that kind of work.

What to look for

Hand or machine quilting: Turn it over. Hand quilting varies a little in stitch length, and the thread on the back may not match the front spacing exactly. Machine quilting is even, a lockstitch, sometimes a repeated pantograph across the whole top. A backtack or a buried knot of thread at the start of a line is a machine. Say which you see. Do not count stitches per inch for a title unless you counted them.
Pieced or appliquéd: Seams that join patches are piecing. Cloth laid on top of cloth and stitched down is appliqué. Either one can be hand or machine. A seam allowance that is perfectly even for yards is a machine habit. A running stitch with a wobble can be a hand. Describe the one in your hands. The block name, if you know it, is extra. A wrong block name is a return.
Batting and backing: Look at a worn edge or a split seam. Cotton batt that has lumped is the older fill. A smooth, springy polyester batt is later. The backing fabric is part of the quilt. A replaced backing is a repair. Say so. Feedsack prints on the top are a twentieth-century cloth clue, not a precise year.
Stains, folds, and the binding: Brown chest stains, bleeding red cloth, and breaks along a fold are condition. The binding is the strip that finishes the edge, sewn by hand or by machine. A binding that is new, a different cloth, or missing along one side is the edge you have. A quilt cut down to remove a hole is a cutter. Measure width and length in inches. A crib quilt and a bed quilt are not the same search.

What moves the price

The stitch you can show: Hand-quilted tops and machine-quilted tops comp in different piles when the buyers care, which on older cotton quilts they do. A tied comforter comps with tied comforters. Do not borrow a hand-quilted price for a pantograph you can see from across the room. The photo of the back is the proof.
Cloth and size: A named block in sound cloth, a faded utility quilt, and a quilt made from polyester double-knit are three markets. Measure. A lap quilt is not a bed quilt priced by the inch. Signature squares and embroidered dates are part of the object. A ballpoint date is a later mark. Photograph it and do not treat it as proof of the year the top was pieced.
Damage: Shattered folds, holes, animal chew, and dye bleed. Some damaged quilts sell as cutters, cloth to be cut up. If that is what you have, say cutter. Do not wash a fragile quilt to hide a stain for the photo. The stain is the condition. Washing can be the damage.
Completeness of the edge: Original binding, replaced binding, and no binding. An edge that is raw because someone trimmed the quilt is an altered quilt. Buyers who hang quilts care about the edge. Buyers who want a bedcover care about holes in the middle. Show both.

Where to sell

eBay and quilt dealers: Block name if you know it, hand or machine quilted, measurements, and the stains in the title. Photos of the front, the back stitch, the binding, and the worst fold. A heavy, stained utility quilt may belong locally. Read the fee before you box a blanket.
Local: The right market for musty chest quilts, for cutters, and for a buyer who wants to see the stitch in person. Air it out and still say musty if the smell remains. Do not ship mildew.
Keep: A sound quilt you will use on a bed is a successful find. Not every log cabin is inventory. The sewing machine guide is the tool that may have pieced it. The stitch you can see is still the quilt.

What a photo can settle

The full top, with a ruler or a note of the measurements, the back so the stitch shows, a close view of hand or machine thread, the binding, and the worst stain or shatter. Worth can see a patchwork top. It cannot tell hand quilting from a machine if you only shot the blocks from across the room, and it cannot smell a chest. The back of the quilt is the honesty.

Questions

How do I tell hand quilting from machine quilting?: Look at the back. Hand stitches vary a little and often do not mirror the front exactly. Machine stitches are even, and you can find where a line starts and stops. A yarn tie at the block corners means the layers are tied, which is a comforter, not a quilted stitch. Say the one you see.
Does polyester batting mean the quilt is new?: It means the fill is a later material than clumped cotton batting. That is a reason to drop a nineteenth-century claim. It is not a year, and it is not an insult. A polyester-batt quilt can still be a quilt someone wants. Comp it with quilts filled the same way.
There is a date embroidered on it. Is that the year?: It is a date someone stitched or wrote. It may be the year the top was finished, a later addition, or a ballpoint mark from a sale. Photograph it, quote it as written, and do not promote it to a documented year unless the cloth and the stitch agree. A date that fights the batting is a date you explain, not a date you hide.