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Antique Questions Forum / How to proceed with parent's estate

« on: February 18, 2012, 02:41:59 pm »

I'm an only child who has inherited a 2500 sq ft Victorian house filled with period furniture, glassware (Depression, Carnival, EAPG), china and porcelain, framed art (mainly prints), knickknacks (Occupied Japan & others) and lots of miscellaneous collectible items. After my mom passed, I contacted an auctioneer that was highly recommended to me. He came with a truck & trailer, loaded up with oak furniture and other items. However, he was unable to sell much and what he did went for a tenth of their real value. After retrieving the unsold items, I tried to get an estate liquidator or antique dealer to help clean out the house, but a consensus of their opinions was that my inheritance was not "high end" enough for them to bother with. I guess unless you have Chippendale, Duncan Phyfe or Louis XIV furniture, it's just junk. This past summer I tried to have several estate sales on my own (not every weekend), but it is slow going and a lot of work for a middle-aged couch potato to have to lug the items for sale in and out each time (I have to do it alone). I even advertised on Craig's List, a local classified ad magazine and in the local paper, but one weekend I sat there and not one car stopped and I'm on the main street, so people can see the sale as they drive by! I am in a quandary now what would be the best way to proceed. If anyone wants to see some of what I'm dealing with, I've made a Web page with photographs of many items in the house and a link to it can be posted here, if needed. Any suggestions appreciated. Thanks.