Large Estate of collectibles & merchandise - need advice 3 3

[the blob]

With all those price guides I wonder if the deceased had already sold off the comics or if they are stored elsewhere,

[NoMan]

Image it's just the mood I'm in now: middle of the night, can't sleep. Buying stuff gave the guy pleasure, and that's good, However I want to know more about this person. What was his job? How did he die? If that stuff could talk I imagine the fights they could tell us, "Get this stuff out of here!" "You said you weren't going to buy anything more!"

 

Ultimately, what a burden for the family. Sounds like they just want it gone. Cleaning superman peanut butter jars? for what purpose?

 

l'm gonna try to keep my collection small and tight. Someone's gonn have to deal with it

Edited January 9, 2017 by NoMan

[shadroch]

While I plan on selling most of my stuff , anything comic related that I still have when I did is willed to The Hero Iniative. My executor has what he needs to see it gets into their hands to be auctioned off and given back to those who need it.

[rebelpk]

That is a lot of stuff...

 

A LOT.

 

You can tell he loved the Superman...

 

With all the money he spent on it, I reckon he could have had an Action #1.

 

And who knows, maybe he does.

 

Good luck with that!

[cmixer]

Can you store the best 10% off-site, & have an estate sale with the rest? People often overpay FMV because they 'think' they found a goldmine.

[MisterX]

That plastic building on page 2 -- is that Ghostbusters stuff?

[Quicksilver Signs]

That plastic building on page 2 -- is that Ghostbusters stuff?

 

Yup

[comicwiz]

That plastic building on page 2 -- is that Ghostbusters stuff?

 

Kenners RGB Fires Station HQ

[Bird]

everyone take a picture and detail the contents!

 

I also agree, the comic must be somewhere! The price guides are so odd otherwise.

Edited January 9, 2017 by Bird

[NoMan]

Can you store the best 10% off-site, & have an estate sale with the rest? People often overpay FMV because they 'think' they found a goldmine.

 

Interesting strategy. Could the opposite be a better strategy? Keep the best 10% at the house for the "estate sale", do whatever cheaply with the rest. Salvation Army? They pick up. Tax write-off.

 

If someone sees only the best, they may think this was an extremely picky and astute collector and this collector must know more then them and they buy at a much higher price.

 

But, what do I know.

[Mr.Mcknowitall]

To me, the pictures have a feel of a picked over accumulation. Nobody collects or accumulates one Hummel. Either there are more in the basement. That particular one is part of as set, and as I recall, could only be bought as a set via a reserve sign up. I guess it is possible that it came as a yard sale deal in a box or something, Maybe there are a heck of a lot more in the basement. Looking at the Hot Wheels, some of them appear to be the racing series. This series eventually ended up at the Dollar stores @$1.00-$3 each per package, whether 1 or 4 per package.

 

I don't know, the family may not be interested and just wants to dump it in one sale, but it would be very difficult to persuade me that the family has not performed even the basic due diligence, and knows generally some range of value, and has possibly already been advised of same. This has the old 409 in the farm barn in the country feel.

 

 

[Chadwick]

Kind of looks like it's been somewhat picked, I agree with the comics sentiment - they are either stored elsewhere or were already sold before he died. Maybe he personally went through the collection and sold off what he knew was worth anything, ask the widow? :shrug:

 

And those marvel stamp books? Why would he have 3 mint copies and no comics? The money has to be stored elsewhere, if there's a storage locker that he kept to himself it would be a nightmare if the fees don't get paid...

 

I would scour the house before contacting anyone, I did a website for a local coin/collectible dealer and have heard many stories of fake walls under stairways, sealed off crawl spaces, and a coin horde that was found under a house foundation.

 

This is decades of collectibles, he has OSPGs, kept boxes. He knew what he had.

 

[999ghosts]

Fun to look at the picture. Do share more picture...

 

+1 on the coins. Have thes checked out. I've seen the Disney, Marvel and Star Wars coins go for good money $100+ per coin.

 

The (priz guide) magazines a worthless. I used to sell these myself and when I stopped my store people didn't even want them for free.

 

I also recognize a bunch of the common trading cards. No value there. The Plaza card was a freebee you got when you bought a box of 100 Ultra Pro 9-sleeves pages. Thousands out there.

 

I'm sure it's not all bad as some already pointed out some of the better things!

 

Can't wait to see more picture!

[Doohickamabob]

I know a lot of people here are saying most of this is junk, but if you have the means to move stuff, and if you have storage space, why not buy it all in a lot at a very low price, and sell it off in your spare time?

 

You could slowly research everything, look up sold prices for each item on eBay, etc. Everything that sold for a low price you could donate to a thrift store. Or you could just sell certain things in large lots on eBay here and there, until everything you have left has some value and you could make some decent money.

 

I agree with what people said about the possibility that the collection already got cherry picked. I wonder if they had other dealers look at the lot, or if family members divvied up some items.

[Chadwick]

 

 

 

I'm sure you've checked on these, but just in case you haven't:

They came out in 2014, produced by the Royal Canadian Mint and Limited to 10,000 sets.

I bought one because I thought the Action 1 coin was killer. And it is. The gold coin is the big daddy tho, even without the boxes you should do well on a set, just don't take them out of the coin protector.

The last full set sale was back in October.

 

Hope this helps

[Bronty]

I know a lot of people here are saying most of this is junk, but if you have the means to move stuff, and if you have storage space, why not buy it all in a lot at a very low price, and sell it off in your spare time?

 

You could slowly research everything, look up sold prices for each item on eBay, etc. Everything that sold for a low price you could donate to a thrift store. Or you could just sell certain things in large lots on eBay here and there, until everything you have left has some value and you could make some decent money.

 

I agree with what people said about the possibility that the collection already got cherry picked. I wonder if they had other dealers look at the lot, or if family members divvied up some items.

 

and that's the kind of person its perfect for - someone with lots of time and storage. Not everyone has either let alone both but certainly when having to do that much work you aren't going to want to pay much.

 

some comments in the thread have made it clear there's some things of value. There's just so much chaff to wade through though as well.

[1Cool]

The problem I see with this kind of collection is the amount of space it would take up. Shipping comics is pretty easy but boxing up all that stuff after selling it on E-Bay would be a huge pain.

[Sqeggs]

What I don't understand is why there are so many comic price guides, but no comics. It doesn't add up to me...

 

That was my thoughts when I was looking over the photos here. Makes no sense to have comic book price guides that many when there are so few and worthless books. Why waste money on guides? There must be something you are missing in the estate?

 

It would also be a bit unusual for someone of his age to be this into superheroes and knowledgeable enough to buy years of Overstreets (and I think I saw at least one CBG) and yet have very few comics.

 

I think the OP might want to follow up with the family about the possibility of the more valuable comics being stored somewhere.

[bc]

Let's see if I can answer the questions:

 

The deceased was a butcher at the West Side Market for over 2 decades and most recently worked at a local auto dealership.

 

I told the family that I would put forth an effort to provide some guidance on their best course of action and I try to uphold my promises. Not looking to make any $$$ and I sincerely appreciate the advice & guidance offered by this diverse group.

 

I couldn't fit this stuff in my house if I tried and the thought of parsing this out is not for me as I have more than a full time job/career already.

 

The Hummel doll was a gift from a relative.

 

As far as where are the comics? Trust me, that's why I drove for almost 3 hours thru a snow storm to check it out. I'm still holding out a glimmer of hope that those are yet undiscovered upstairs or in a storage unit.

 

Judging by the dust, nothing was recently removed. Boxes were still taped closed and some containers were taped shut. Again, he could have sold valuables prior.

 

Seems they have 2 choices:

 

1. Auction house - probably quickest term, decent FMV return depending on advertising

2. Appraisal service - little longer term, better FMV return

 

Thanks for the help & advice everyone you guys rock

-bc

 

 

[KeithE]

What I don't understand is why there are so many comic price guides, but no comics. It doesn't add up to me...

 

That was my thoughts when I was looking over the photos here. Makes no sense to have comic book price guides that many when there are so few and worthless books. Why waste money on guides? There must be something you are missing in the estate?

 

It would also be a bit unusual for someone of his age to be this into superheroes and knowledgeable enough to buy years of Overstreets (and I think I saw at least one CBG) and yet have very few comics.

 

I think the OP might want to follow up with the family about the possibility of the more valuable comics being stored somewhere.

 

I was just about to type this, does his wife say he had stashes or items put away she didn't know about or had some place in the house he mentioned over others? I know if something happened to me my wife would have no idea what I'd have,where certain art is etc.

 

I'm located in NEO and I'm sure some here know decents stores etc around the area. If this was someone I knew I'd try the auction route. With the family wanting to get rid of it soon i wish it were warmer be a fun auction to go to, some man cave stuff and the Cleveland sports items are cool.

 

Good Luck, if the family does something feel free to send me a PM if it's local auction or sale.

Edited January 9, 2017 by KeithE