Estate Sale

Awesome Estate Sale!!!

This is one of the nicest ones we have done this year…

Fri. Oct 12 - Sun. Oct.14

64 Grand View
San Francisco
9:00am - 5:00pm

2 sets of Sterling Flatware, Other Flatware - some sterling hollow ware, 3 Vintage Plated Tea Sets, Baby Grand Piano, Prints, Antique Furniture, Limoge China – other china, Pier Mirror, Books, Bedroom and Dinning Room Furniture, Pottery, Baccarat Crystal Stemware, Much Vintage Linen, Vintage Clothing, Nicely Carved Camphor Chest, Lamps, Furs, Rug, Collectibles – House Is Packed

This is an unpicked through 40 year accumulation of personal property – no items have been added to this estate…

Website: www.finesf.com

Estate Sale

Fri. Sep 7, Sat. Sep 8, Sun. Sep 9
9:00am-5:00pm
176 Merced Ave.
San Francisco, Ca.

3 Clocks, 1940’s Dinning Set w/ six chairs, 2 Lay-z- Boys, China, Art, Large Bronze by Emile Laporte, 18 pieces of California, Glass, Prints, Persian Runner, LP’s, Collectibles, China Cabinet, Bedroom Set – other furniture, Collection of S.F. Shriners Memorabilia, Pool Table, Kitchen, Garage…

Free advice from an Estate Liquidation Professional.

If you need a lawyer you hire an attorney.
If you are sick you hire a doctor.
If you want to sell your house you hire a realtor.

But if you inherit personal property you think you can do you own estate sale, or worse, out think a bunch of dealers who buy and sell estates, antiques and collectibles everyday.

Here is a story.

A woman goes to an antique fair somewhere in California. She has a picture of a table that she shows a dealer. The dealer makes an arraignment with this woman to meet her later in the evening.

He buys the table. He likes the table, but he does not know precisely how valuable it is. He starts asking around. One of the major auction houses likes the table too; they thought that the table was worth several hundred thousand dollars. He does some more checking with another major auction house. This auction house likes the table too; they think the table is worth even more than the first auction house.

The dealer goes with the second auction house where the table sells for more than $1,000,000.00

Morals of the story:

1. If you are a person who has inherited personal property, hire a professional to look out for your interest, rather than their own.
2. If you are a dealer or an estate liquidator – help your clients – take their interest into account. Having a success like the one above, but on behalf of your client rather than yourself will establish you firmly as a leader, and a trusted go to person in the estate liquidation community.

Ways to avoid the above:

1. Call 3 estate liquidators.
2. Ask them for references.
3. Check their references.
4. Do not shop for their services by fee alone.
5. Each estate liquidator will give you free advice: write their advice down.
6. If you decide to do your own sale; follow some of the advice that you were given.
7. Don’t pre-sell your best stuff to dealers; combine those items into your sale; it will make your sale much more interesting.

Here is a handy list of estate liquidation questions.

We get questions everyday about estate liquidations and what to do with stuff – here are a few.

Question #1

“I have an original invitation to the opening of the New York and Brooklyn Bridge for May 24 1883, this item in very good condition. Would you possibly be interested in auctioning it, or selling it for me? Also would you have any idea as to its value?

Thanks Dale

Answer: I think someone local to you, a dealer in ephemera would be a good place to start. Also this is a perfect eBay item check with a local eBay affiliate. You might also try Swans Auction house in N.Y.

Question #2

“I am having trouble identifying this signature. It is from a landscape sent to me from Germany about 1943-1945. Can you help?”

Barbara

Answer: I don’t know, maybe one of our readers do.

Question #3

“A very good friend of mine just lost her husband and they live way up in the foothills. There are tools, machines, compressors, generators, junk, pieces of carpet, riding mower, etc. I sent some people who do estate sales and they said there was not enough valuable stuff for them to do it. Sharon looked at me crying and said I don’t know what to do. I could run it myself and advertise with no problem. I just need a guide to tell me what stuff is worth. It all runs, Can you help me?”

Answer: Readers – do any one of you know of a pricing guide that would be helpful for this woman?

Question #4

I am looking for a reputable estate sale company in the Chicago area. Do you have any you can provide? Donna

Answer: I don’t. If someone from the Chicago area drops me a line and provides me with some references I will be happy to pass it along to you.

Martin Codina

Your Big Job as an estate liquidator is to Care.

Dear Estate Liquidators,

I know you want the stuff; the big treasure - the find. But if you ever stop caring about the people who call you, and sort only for what they can do for you, and not what you can do for them - you will be missing the point of why clients call you in the first place.

They call because they need service. They call because they are confused. They call because they have trouble. They call because they need your help.

The day you forget this, is the day that bells will toll the decline of your business.

Two Clients I saw this week:

The Gun Collector:

In a middle class suburb of San Francisco, my partner and I went to see a man, who we were told by his step daughter, had a collection of 800 antique Colt pistols.

We were very excited on the way there. We imagined that we were about to discover the mother load of antique firearms. Here is what we found instead: An interesting collection of 80 Colt Commemorative Black Powder pistols. They were nice. They had value, but they were not the mother load of Colt pistols we had been led to believe would be there – so big deal. It is what it is. Your clients have what they have, and at least for me that is OK.

Here is some back ground about this client. A few months ago this client and a woman where driving on his motorcycle when a bee distracted him and he lost control of his motorcycle. He was severally injured and his passenger was killed.

The man we were talking too about his stuff was still bandaged, confused, and full of remorse. Because he was still confused he tended to ramble a bit.

Estate Liquidators this is not the time to push for the consignment. This is not the time to try and buy. This is not the time to become impatient. This is the time to listen and offer compassion.

What we found out was that this man was fascinating. Will we do business? I don’t know, we might; only time will tell.

The Caring Daughter:

In 1986 a woman for reasons not completely known to me put all of her things into a storage locker in a little place called Livermore Ca.. She paid her monthly storage bill for 21 years. I got a call from her daughter about a week ago. The daughter told me that her plan was to ship her mother’s possessions to the old Alameda Naval Air Station which has now been converted to civilian purposes.

Her husband had a connection to one of the business’s there. She told me that her mom was a collector of glass, silver and antiques. She also told me that there had been an appraisal done before her mom had put everything into storage that stated the value of her possessions to be worth over $20,000.00. She wanted to know if I could help her find the best way to liquidate this property. I said that I could.

When I got there, what I saw was a lot of average household furniture and accessories. My client was surrounded by half empty boxes and furniture. As a side note she had broken her wrist the day before and searching through her mother’s boxes with this impairment was painful. Here is what she said at least three times in a row. “I just don’t know what to do.”

I looked around at her boxes, the furniture, her mother’s lifetime of accumulations and I knew that there was not $20,000.00 worth of personal property there. I also knew that there was not much that I could do for her. The financial value wasn’t there. There was no real fee to be made.

My first advice to her was for her to donate her mom’s things and then go back to Los Angeles where she lived. Then I remembered a small regional auction house not far from the Alameda Air station that would probably be happy to receive this consignment of property. So I gave her the name of the company and I even called them on her behalf.

Here is my point:

The treasures we seek as estate liquidators will come. We just don’t know when or where or from whom they might come. Treasures happen when we are consistently of service to our clients.

So begin today by accepting your first treasure – the gratitude from clients to whom you have given compassionate service.

My name is Martin Codina and I an estate liquidator who loves my job.

Picasso Redux

Here is an email I received last night from the man who asked me to research his “Picasso Painting” click on the link to read that post first and then read Mike’s email.

Hi my name is Mike,

My wife and I are the one’s who inherited the Picasso painting. Wow we were very excited, when we read Picasso’s signature. I just knew we had something. I made a lot of phone calls, asking around.

I met this art dealer he took one look at the painting and said it’s the real thing. Before I even knew what was going on, he and his lawyer had a contract they wanted me to sign giving him a large percentage of the sale (RED FLAG).

I started looking around on my own. After talking to a number of people I met Mr. Martin Codina, best move I ever made. He seems to be a man who loves’s his work. It’s not about the money (all the work he did for us never charged a cent) it’s all about the find.

When we found out the painting was a copy Martin, was as disappointed as we were. We learned a lot from Mr. Codina. He’s not just an estate liquidator; he treats you as a friend. I have a lot of respect for him!!!

Mike

Pick a Professional - or be picked by a pro!

“It’s not like it use to be.” “All the deals are gone.” “All the best stuff has already been found.” I hear these comments all the time from dealers, mostly from old guys who have been in the antique trade for years. They think all the frontiers have already been explored, but have they really?

Let me tell you a few stories.

1. Two years ago I went to a garage sale where I found a book by William S. Burroughs called The Naked Lunch. I bought it for $5.00 and sold it for $450.00.

2. Last year I went to a sale conducted by one of my main competitors. I purchased an old mask there that had been made in Papua New Guinea . I bought it on the last day of their sale for $25.00 and sold it for $850.00

I could go on and on…

If you are someone who is just getting into the trade, or are someone who wants to become a picker, try following these two links: Getting started as a picker and One pickers Strategy

Here are a few niches

1. Persian Carpets: Very few estate liquidation companies, or antique dealers and even fewer homeowners understand Persian carpets; weather they are old or new and how much they are really worth. Here is a guy that does Thomas Cole. But don’t bother him with just any rug, he is a busy guy.

2. Old Paper: This is what people all over America are throwing away every day. In the trade it is called ephemera. Here is an interesting info link to Marty Weil’s ephemera blog site.

3. Books: The strategy of most estate liquidators with regards to books is the blanket pricing strategy. What I mean by this is that they will price all hard cover and soft cover books for a set price. This is not a great strategy for maximizing the value of their books, but it is an effective way to “get rid” of a lot of books. As a picker or a collector you can buy some great books from these companies. However please note my company Fine Estate Liquidation does not follow this blanket pricing strategy. We choose instead to sort through books and research the ones we think have hidden values. Try this site for researching book values - ABE

The people who are making it in the antique and collectibles marketplace are the ones who are flexible enough to bend to its vagaries.

Homeowner Alert: Find professionals in your area who are willing to work for you on a contingency basis. Find an antique ally; someone with years of experience who is willing to help you sort through your possessions and sell them for what they are really worth.

Estate Sales vs. Yard Sales.

Which will be your weekend’s main event?

In the corner on my left, wearing the purple trunks and claiming to contain all the treasure collected over the lifetimes of several generations, is the Estate Sales Bomber.

And in the corner on my right, wearing the yellow trunks, looking lean and thin, is the hurriedly trained, Yard Sale Scrapper.

Folks, these two fierce opponents have squared off countless times, over countless weekends, and neither of them seems to be a clear winner.

So before you get ready to rumble this weekend, please read the following public service announcement.

Estate sales are two or three day in-house sales events. They are for lack of a better description, windows into peoples’ lives. Generally speaking what you find at an estate sale is everything that was wanted by the people who lived in the house where the estate sale is being conducted. In other words what you find in an estate sale is “stuff” that was wanted.

Yard Sales are more or less disorganized sales events merchandising the unwanted cast off “stuff” of its sellers. But don’t let that description fool you, they can contain treasures of significant value. Remember, these sales are usually being conducted by people who, because they are not professionals, often don’t know the value of what they are selling.

So where do you the consumer go to find gold? Well, in the words of a miner, I once met as a young man “Gold is where you find it.”

My name is Martin Codina and I am an estate liquidator who loves his job.

Take a peek at “Take A Boo Emporium”

Martin and Andrea Swinton own Take-A-Boo Emporium, an antique shop located in Toronto, Canada.

They’re more than antique dealers though. This couple understands how to use the internet in a way that provides free, highly useful and relevant information; while letting the public know all about their wonderful antique store, and antique related services.

Here is just a bit of what you will find there.

Radio Show

Cleaning Silver

Types of Silver

Flea Market Do’s and Don’ts

Fake Tiffany Buckles

My name is Martin Codina and I am an estate liquidator who loves his job.

Garage and Yard Sales Tool!

Here is a resource: It’s called weekendtreasure.com

This site is loaded with a ton of information about where garage and yard sales in your area are.

Do you want to conduct your own yard sale or garage sale? Then visit this site and click on their “Tips and Tricks” and “Links” tabs - and get loads of useful information about how to set up and conduct a successful sale. You can also post your sale on their site.

These guys are fun. Check out their videos.

http://www.youtube.com/weekendtreasure

My name is Martin Codina and I am an estate liquidator who sometimes goes to garage sales and yard sales.