***We compiled and updated our best advice on how to rescue your antiques and collectibles and are making it available to our readers as a free PDF download here.***

There is always good luck and bad luck, and it doesn’t seem fairly distributed. Some people had good luck last week. A woman won the Powerball lottery for $336 million after taxes. Another woman in Texas sold what her family thought was a Norman Rockwell print for $1.6 million. It was an original sketch.

But thousands of Texans had bad news, the worst flood ever. Many are commenting on how lucky they are to be rescued from the rising water. Collectors are involved with their things more than most folks and have more clutter (we call it our collection). In this flood, the house and its contents are gone for many. Will collectors, after escaping flood waters and managing to create a new life, start to collect again? Will the familiar friendships, searches, and fun of collecting become an even more important activity? We wish them well and realize the stress they will be under for the coming months.