I got a call one afternoon from some local folks that attend my estate sales. They were wondering if I had any old keys that might fit an old trunk. Although I make it a point not to store or collect a lot of things, keys are something that I do accumulate, as they are often useful in my business. I took my box of keys and drove over to their house. They showed me two beautiful old humpback trunks and then they told me the story……
Her uncle was a bachelor who had lived in a four story Victorian home on Queen Anne hill in Seattle for 70 years. They had never been very close but would exchange Christmas cards, and they had visited the home a few times. She was very surprised, that when her uncle passed away, he left everything to her.
They had driven over to attend the funeral (in their Datsun pickup with a low canopy) and then had gone by the house. They were overwhelmed with how much stuff was there, but since they had inherited quite a lot of cash, stocks and the valuable real estate, they decided “not to worry about all the stuff,” rather than take time off from their jobs to deal with it.
She was aware that her uncle had collected gold coins, so they brought back the two large (and VERY heavy) locked trunks that sat at the foot of his bed, as she was sure that was where the coins were kept. The only other things they kept were her two favorite paintings from the many that lined the spiral staircase. They then left the key under the mat and called the Goodwill to empty the rest of the house, so it could be sold.
It took several tries to find the right keys to open the trunks, but I was able to do so… both were full of receipts and income tax records.
Postscript: I also looked up the artists on the paintings for her. Both were "known artists" whose works sell in the low thousands of dollars. I sure would have liked to have seen the others.