I was talking recently with someone I have known for decades and was aware that I was experienced with estate sales. She told me that when she had to clean out her parent’s high end retirement apartment in Florida last year, “It would have been hard to find an estate sale company and we only had three days. So we just loaded everything from the apartment into a truck and took it to the dump. The only things that we threw out that I probably should have kept were the sterling flatware and tea set, but they were tarnished and I HATE polishing silver. Besides, I would never use it.”
Due to the number of people that move to Florida to retire (and die) there is probably no state in the country where it is easier to find an estate sale company. Also, there is nothing more easily liquidated than precious metals (like sterling). This person had the choice of spending their time and money paying to rent a truck, loading the truck, and then paying the landfill VERSUS keeping what they wanted, making a few phone calls, and going home with more money than they came with.
I started my company with the goal of keeping useful/valuable/historical items out of the dump. After nearly forty years in the business, I have to admit to failure. Many times every year, I hear stories like this, usually ending with “Well, I wish I had known, but it is too late now.”
DON’T BE ONE OF THOSE PEOPLE!