Although some people may actually term themselves as collectors of specific items, everyone is really a collector of some kind. This may simple be due to an interest in historical items or rare jewelry, but it can also start as a basic gift and slowly turn into an accumulation of related wares.
At Heritage Estate Sales, we had begun working with a Los Angeles client who had recently decided to just downsize everything, now that her children were grown. Part of her process was also to make a clean start by relocating to her dream destination of Australia, and she wanted to make sure that she was traveling light during this move. As a result, she also felt that an estate sale would be the ideal way to handle her property affairs before she left.
The Start Of The Story
During our initial consultation with this client, we also performed a walk-through of the home in order to begin getting a sense of the inventory and of any staging that we would need once the actual estate sale would be held. In one of the rooms, we found a ceiling to floor display case that was filled with salt and pepper shakers in all shapes and depictions.
As we were examining this collection, the client began to laugh, and had stated that she didn’t actually collect these, but apparently other people were under the misconception that she did. Based on the size of the collection, this was apparently a fairly widespread false belief.
The client went on to explain that her late husband had traveled quite a bit for work, and when they were first married, he had brought her the slightly humorous gift of an ornate salt and pepper set when he returned from his first business trip after their wedding. She stated that it had started out as an inside joke between the two of them, but as the collection grew, her other friends just began to assume that unconventional salt and pepper sets where her thing.
Moving Forward
With the accumulation of the collection, the client just wanted to keep the original set that her late husband had gifted her, but felt that the rest of the massive lot could be left behind. As it turned out, we were able to move some of the collection piecemeal, but actually ended up with a buyer through our Ebay store who purchased the bulk of the lot. While the client was certainly happy to have cleared out her estate with such ease, she was also delighted that someone who would appreciate the collection had acquired it.
At Heritage Estate Sales, we have been through countless properties in the Los Angeles area, and have encountered similar situations with large lot collections. Along with being able to show clients that they can trust our knowledge for handling estate sales, we are also capable of using a number of means to ensure that the most beneficial and profitable result is achieved for the client.
We are always happy to bring this peace of mind to the table, and encourage people to contact us before their next estate sale for a smooth transition into a new life.