I’ve taken old photos, scanned them, and put them on Ancestry, so that anyone interested in that person can find them. I’m talking ‘old’ as in late 1800’s, early 1900’s. But I would never throw them away.
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My mom was very organized and had many end-of-life reference files for me to reference. (When reviewing after she was gone, I saw that she had even contacted some of the home care services that I considered a few years prior, when I as planning for a long vacation.). The files had many clipped ads for haul-away services, silver buyers etc. They were a bit outdated by then, but to me it does seem encouragement to let go of most of her things (which in many cases were from her parents). I sent some to my sister, but I want to wait til she can visit in person before doing major purging of the family items.
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I don’t need (or even want) any of these local auction items. But I do like the concept for dealing with estate items - https://www.auctionninja.com/blue-spruce-estate-sales/sales/mid-century-delight-in-longmont-12.html?Page=12
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I just don’t see how anybody makes anything substantial with this kind of thing to make this worthwhile? No big ticket items from what I can see. Seems a little sad but maybe I’m missing something.
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I peeked at the auction site listed above. There is still over a day left. Most items remain low until the last hour of bidding. So an item may only indicate $5 now, but could rise to $50 in the last hour. I’m guessing money is made due to volume, and a few larger ticket items.
I used to enjoy these types of auctions. It was a great resource for new homeowners AND more sustainable (recycle, reuse). Yes, sad, but I’d be fine with my children clearing out my home this way. Take what they want, and let someone else deal with the rest.
I never understand how antique stores make a living though. Whenever I browse for fun, I’m ovewhelmed with so much!
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I find it inspiring, actually. I think my mom needs to see the listings so she can stop telling how me how valuable all of her clutter is! She keeps telling me how lucky I am since all of her stuff is worth a mint and I keep telling her she is delusional. A million items at $1 each might be a million dollars but what a nightmare!
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It is possible that the really valuable items were already cherry picked by the dealer for other sales methods. I suspect this family hired a dealer to help with the overwhelming clean-out chores, not expecting to make much money off the deal. It could make more sense, financially and ecologically, than tossing stuff into a dumpster.
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Oooooh…. my first link went to Page 12. There were bigger items starting on page 1 - https://www.auctionninja.com/blue-spruce-estate-sales/sales/mid-century-delight-in-longmont-12.html?Page=1
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That was definitely our motivation. Dad got about $8,000 from the estate sale. He was disappointed because there really was a huge amount of stuff. But the company cleaned out everything and left the house spotless. I told Dad I could not even imagine what it would have cost to have someone do all that work!
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Agree that auctions can provide such a benefit to families needing to clean out - the logistics and time are so much.
Cleaning out my parents’ house of furniture/items involved multiple yard sales, many, many FB Market posts. It was a labor of love in many ways as my brother and I curated the items from our childhood home (reviewing old mementos from my parents before putting a cabinet up for sale, e.g.). But it took well-over two years to do it (working the occasional weekend). My parents were depression-era savers. 
Not everybody has the desire or flexibility to do that. While cathartic, it was also kind of painful and, honestly, I can see the upsides (in retrospect) of doing things somewhat quickly.
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I wish that my H would be a little more involved in the clearing out of my mom’s home so that he could see how much it is APPRECIATED that she had paired down and doesn’t have a whole lot of excess. Because that is something we should be aiming for as well to a degree - but we clearly are not there (I should say I am there - he is not!!!)
He wasn’t involved much in clearing out his parents home because the house and general contents was left to his 3 sibs (H got the cottage that he always cared for and his sibs didn’t and didn’t want - until they decided they did…) and with that split his sibs got pretty ugly. He was happy to step back.
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Another advantage to a professional is that he/she will be able to pluck out the one or two items of high value which most lay people can’t do. Mom has a “silver” drawer-- the kids think it’s worth a fortune, the local meltdown place quickly goes through it and offers $500. Someone from one of these estate sale places will take the time to pick out the Hester Bateman serving set (worth $2K) and a signed Tiffany pastry tong (another 2K) and then get $600 for everything else. So you’re paying for the expertise to tell you “this is worth more than melt”. AND for the expert to tell you that NOBODY wants the Hummel plates, the Lladro figurines and the Waterford salad bowl which mom saved an entire year to purchase.
The truth really hurts in these situations- but if you need to leave a house “broom clean” before a sale, ripping off the bandaid is sometimes the only way to go…
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This. As some of you know…I volunteer at a terrific Charity thrift store. We receive boxes and boxes of things that folks do not want when their parent estates are being settled. Just recently, we got a box of Hummel figurines. No one wants those either…or the set of Limoges China, or any collector plates (even Norman Rockwell ones).
An estate person is the perfect dispassionate person to help sort through all of this.
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Thankfully my aunt happily took all of the Hummels and one of the sets of china. My niece took the other set and the cleaning lady the third. We donated the rest (yes there were way too many sets of china!)
I feel badly for my cousins when their mom passes because she was way way too much crap but thankfully that won’t be my problem.
More worried about my H’s two elderly aunts who never had kids or married. Both are borderline hoarders. We will be pushing hard to have a company come in and manage the estate sale.
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You had me at Limoges… I know it’s out of style, but swoon-worthy!!!
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I know where you can get a service for 12 with serving pieces (a couple of pieces have chips…but not too many) for $75.
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If there’s a gravy boat (the last time I served gravy, George Bush was president) you’re on!!!
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China is in abudance at second hand shops around us. With most under $50 for service for 8. And some of them I think will throw in a china cabinet for free. LOL
Hummel nativity set became an issue for us. Brother walked away with it from one of our house cleaning sessions. Sister wanted it and asked for it to be returned. Brother did so. But bought one online. Looks like they are a couple hundred dollars (some are listed much more than that but not sure what differences may exist or if any actually sell for those prices). Apparently the camel is something of a hot item.
In the end, we cleared as much out of my parents house as we could. First dibs to siblings/grandkids. Next to a couple charities. Pickers came and took/bought some things. But in the end, 40 yard dumster was needed to get rid of everything else. There is a limit to what you can do. Some items we no doubt could have found someone somewhere who could use various items. But cost of locating said someone and getting said item to said someone wasn’t worth it. You do what you can and then move on.
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There is a gravy boat….two serving trays, a serving bowl, and a covered casserole. I think $75 is good for just the serving pieces…but there are also dinner plates, salad plates, bread plates, soup bowls, little bowls, cups and saucers. Sugar and creamer (Sugar is missing its lid).
Price started at $100. Now it’s $75. Wondering if it will sell at the half price sale we are having soon.
Really…no one wants this fancy metal trimmed china.
I’ll take a picture tomorrow!
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finger bowls- I love it!!!