Poll of the Day > Doing an Estate Move Right Now

(+) Yeah! (+)

Found a stuffed bear on a shelf. The auction lady said she didnt want it. Well I noticed a gold ring under the fur at the neck. So I twisted the head and it unscrewed. Inside was some fabric stuffed on top of a plastic bag inside a jar. Inside the bag was a ton of gold mens jewelry. A ring, necklace, a Seiko watch. Not sure of the value, but the lady was right there and she said at that point that she did in fact want the bear.

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Surprised there wasnt a gamecube stuffed in there too

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And that bear's name?

Albert Einstein.

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Now Im thinking I shouldnt have given it to the lady I gave it to because she runs an auction and it was for the public trustee.

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Naw my dude, keep it, just remember that some other bidder will literally get it for less when you found it fair and square.

Estate sales are sad to be honest, I remember this lady whos entire house was filled with antiques that her and her husband started collecting since the 50s and since they had no kids you know other people will make a small fortune off of her since her husband at the time was already long gone.

I remember an organ from the 1870s that used to play in a saloon in the old West that she had that was in impeccable condition!!

That gave me a different perspective in life and not to hold on to much to material stuff, say for example if you gave it to the auction lady she would then part it out and make a small fortune off it than just the teddy bear since the person alive has passed and may the Rest In Peace!

As a former cable guy I have been to houses were the owners were alive at the time of a repair and I came back for an install when they passed away, then I also went to a guy who furnished his mansion with estate sale furniture, the dude was living large since he did mentioned how much money he made from buying stuff for cheap and asking a pretty penny once he found the real value of an item!

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It wasnt for auction, though. Its for the family to do what they want with. If it was for auction I would have taken it. We did get to keep a bunch of stuff thats relatively old (to most of us). Stuff from the 50s-80s. I found a set of those yellow Tupperware measuring cups everyones parents have. They still have the sheen on them like theyve never been used or seen a dishwasher. Took a complete encyclopedia set that was going into the garbage. Funk and Wagnalls is the name. Found a harmonica that was made in Germany that looks really old, complete in box. I found receipts from the 80s, and a phone cable with a note that said Broken Do not use. For example only. 50 long. Stores have only 25. That kind of thing makes me sad, because theyre older and dont realise those things are fading out and newer tech is coming in. If theres no demand for 50 cables, very few companies will manufacture them. The newest thing I found in there was from 2018... and the fridge was still full. Nobody had said a respirator might be a good idea.

Another thing that hurts me is throwing out things that are still good to use. All kinds of cooking pots and pans. Also, I walked back into the house at one point and said Wow I feel really bad for the guys who have to sort this garbage out. At which point I was informed that nobody sorts it. They just pay three times as much to dump it. So I said Which bank does planet Earth deposit that money into? Im not even close to being an enviro, either.

The man has died and his wife is in a retirement home with dementia. It doesnt seem like her kids can be around to oversee everything. They might be really old themselves. Found a photo dated circa 1913, and it said grandma and grandpa with names and other info. The people looked to be in their late 30s or 40s. These people had almost everything CIB with receipts, tagged or otherwise marked out with all kinds of info. It was crazy. If they had video games, it would have been a serious score.

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@LDN

(lowercase)

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zebatov posted...

@LDN

(lowercase)

It is sad, you would be surprised how much the families sometimes just keep the pictures but like you mentioned dump everything else. It definitely gives you more meaning on life as a whole, sometimes we just hoard all this stuff and someone else will find treasure trove of items in the future. I have been fortunate enough to find house with games and retro action figures, this dudes family legit kept all his toys in the attic within boxes so sometimes walking in for example an old house you might have no idea what they have.

Where I live the city does take over estates 9/10 and auction everything on thursdays, so they might do the preview in the morning and get a chance to bid in as is, say a cabinet but you bid on the cabinet and since you cant look inside you never know whats possible to be found, safes are always big money but in your case look at the teddy bear no one would ever suspect to take it just because, they were smart.

Theres always value in retro goods now believe it or not, never underestimate the market, you could legit get paid on stuff the family doesnt want for sure, but since it was for the family you did the right thing, they might have found some massive sentimental value on the stuff hidden, I remember someone telling me, if my kids went through my house they will be happy since she hid money everywhere, like in books, furniture, picture frames etc.

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