Dear Lee,
Declutter time is tough. But your sister Kim said I had to start pruning my collections. I talked to auctioneers who specialized in advertising collectibles, but for the past year, auctions want items over $500 or $1,000 or even $10,000 for art. And they want to advertise a prominent collection in a large catalog. I selected a national online and on-land auction gallery that was nearby and that I knew well. It specialized in prints and posters and my store had many unframed signs.
Our basement “country store” was the set for parts of our three TV series and some things were bought to show on TV. So from February to September, Rachel Davis, owner of the auction gallery, came on Fridays for about four hours and we selected what to sell. The TV props went first. Then I decided I would keep food-related items and get back to the country grocery store idea. All tobacco, medicine, and auto-related things could go. We searched drawers, shelves and boxes and found some long-forgotten treasures—a large Waterman’s Ideal Fountain Pen banner, a Bunker Hill Breweries beer tray, a wooden Cremo cigar humidor, a Kleenex Cleansing Tissues display, and many others. Then, finally, each piece was pictured and described, catalogs were sent, and ads placed in collector papers, announcements posted in emails and social media, and a few interviews invited bidders. It took eight months. See pages 44 and 45 for the sale report.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.