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It's kind of odd to me how hard people lament that "kids these days" aren't much interested in acquiring too many material things, or perhaps more accurately, in being weighed down by possessions. It seems to me that in most cases that'd be considered a virtue. Biblically, certainly?
I don't see much *good* (ie sterling) silver stuff very frequently...only at auctions. Everything else is just plate. So I think the good stuff is still definitely wanted.. its the plate (usually not particularly unique in craftsmanship or style) that you see just stuck in boxes for $5-10/piece.
Reselling goods has been a business model for centuries. When profits weaken the analysis begins. Understanding this shift is occupation survival. Nothing odd about discovery pertaining to current market trends. Kids these days have vastly different interests. Even religion.
Recently, a few young people were cleaning out their father's house. They came across their father's stamp collection. No one showed any interest and were ecstatic to get $300 and sold them to a neighbor.
Three of the stamps were sold at auction for over $25,000.
It was clear that someone wanted them.
Something like stamps, coins, or even comic books can be different because they have a legitimate collector's value to some people. The intrinsic value of an old stamp is essentially nil, but rarity and appreciation for history cause the value of some pieces to go way up.
My grandfather passed down an old penny collection to me. None of the coins have serious collector value, but have sentimental value to me. Some more of his old coins did have some individual collector value. Still, I'd never have just dumped it at spot silver prices or whatever just because I was unsure of what to do with it.
The cabinet stereo that my grandmother thinks is worth something really isn't. It's old, but it was mass-produced, so rarity isn't a concern. It's a decent looking piece of furniture, but has no value aside from what it is.
On a personal level, something like old china does nothing for me. I realize it could be valuable to certain people, but if I got a set, I'd just think about reselling it. I'm never going to use it. Unless I had a built-in display cabinet, I'd never even display it. To me, something like dishes is all about practicality.
Younger generations often do not as large of a home as their parents do. My 2BR/2BA townhome is about 1,200 sq. ft. My parents have a nearly 4,000 sq. ft house. Just the difference in size alone means a lot of things I might keep in the larger house have to go in the smaller house.
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Originally Posted by Frostnip
It's kind of odd to me how hard people lament that "kids these days" aren't much interested in acquiring too many material things, or perhaps more accurately, in being weighed down by possessions. It seems to me that in most cases that'd be considered a virtue. Biblically, certainly?
Honestly, aside from the handful of eco-freaks who live minimally to "save the planet" or people into minimalism for its own sake, I think a good deal of the "fewer possessions" is just a matter of practicality.
I've never been able to live in a place for more than three years, simply because jobs are easy come, easy go these days. The less "excess" I have, the easier it is to move. I recently went through a bunch of "junk" that was left at my parents' house. I hauled three boxes of paperback books to the dumpster. Some other books were sold to a local secondhand retailer for store credit. Three or four lawn size garbage bags of clothing were donated or burned. Eleven blankets/comforters were given to the animal shelter. About $500 of old electronics were sold, and what didn't sell went out as eWaste.
I still have boxes upon boxes of "stuff" at my uncle's business and at my aunt's.
I'm single. If I can't have things reasonably packed up in a week, I have way too much stuff.
Last edited by Serious Conversation; 02-05-2018 at 06:32 AM..
When my mother died in 1999. I quickly found out nobody wants "collectibles" like Hummels and the like. And by "wants" I mean people willing to PAY for them.
If you're EXTREMELY lucky, you may have a couple from the original period of 1935 - 1960-ish and find a buyer who wants that exact figurine.
Baseball cards? Have fun going through hundreds or thousands of them and looking up if anybody in the world is still interested LOL. (note to my son who has a ton)
NO estate sale companies were interested in my mother's other stuff which was all expensive NEW furniture, either. I mean literally NEW that she had just purchased like the Dining Room for about $15,000. We used it about twice.
It had to be OLD and legit antiques. This was in Bucks County, PA, historic region where Washington Crossed the Delaware so there is no shortage of demand for actual antiques. And by antiques, I'm not generally talking about the 1900's.
She did have some mid-century modern pieces stored in the basement but I couldn't be bothered shopping for a buyer. This was pre-internet days LOL.
It wasn't as if they were Noguchi or Herman Miller but just period stuff she had like that kidney shaped coffee table and that danish slat wood bench type of furniture that was so popular then.
I have some cut glass from my grandmother's mother circa 1800's that I have yet to find a buyer for even though I see some individual listings for super-high prices like in the thousands for some pieces.
I sold her furniture to the realtor and a couple people who wanted it in my social circle. I then traded a guy to do a basement clean-out broom clean - in exchange for everything I wanted gone -including the mid-century stuff and the Hummel stuff from the upstairs curio cabinets.
He was a flea market guy so I guess he knew what would sell made it worth it to him.
Her house was 4000 sq ft including the basement so I was thrilled to find that guy.
OTOH, she had a condo in Florida with some pricey 1980's Lucite tables and the buyer of the condo paid asking price for the tables just to keep them in there. THOSE things held their value and even today you can sell for thousands in the right region of the country.
You have to know what you're looking at and research it's "value". And YMMV if you can find an "Estate Sale" company interested depending on your region. And what defines "Estate Sale" company.
For cleaning out stuff, if it's usable...you can get Habitat, Goodwill etc and they'll remove for free. You DO have to pack it as if you were moving. I understand this to be regional too, as other members have posted they had charities who weren't interested. But here in FL, it's a booming business because of all the churn. The ones I dealt with in FL also took books, magazines, and collectibles like sports cards and memorabilia and I had a TON of them from my son who dumped it on me like a storage locker. What a relief to not have to carry hundreds of pounds of that down to the dumpster!
The problem with old phonographs/record players is finding a needle/stylus replacement (also some of the belts are hard to find, as far as size and correct durometer material). There are some people who make new equivalents for popular brands.
We have an radio cabinet (very Art Deco, lots of marquetry) that we bought for $5, missing most of the internals. It is slated, in the great list of Stuff That Should Be Done Some Day, to be turned into a liquor cabinet.
Yes some of the parts are just about impossible to find, especially for the rare machines. That's why we were going to have our friend look at the Columbia. It wouldn't be worth buying if key elements were missing. We go to a phonograph convention every summer in Union Illinois and there are parts and machines every where. Needles are easy to find and they have to be changed every other play for one of our machines. The Edison has a permanent needle. There are a whole bunch of collectors/hoarders of antique phonographs out there for both upright and table models. I have to admit, we have the bug as well, but we only go for quality vs quantity. Our friend has around one hundred machines.
Your radio cabinet sounds nice and I know about those projects I'm taking an upholstery class now and bringing a beautiful old chair from the late 1800's, early 1900's back to life. It lived in my in laws attic for around 30 years and in ours for over 20 years. I couldn't stand the thought of it being in the dump some where. I have a whole new respect for upholsterers. It's really labor intensive.
Good luck with your radio project and kudo's for saving a piece of history.
I was fortunate that my parents left virtually nothing. They had divorced and left their house from 1957 to a small one-bed trailer. They never had anything worth anything because nothing had been left to them (immigrant poverty preceding them) and they never accumulated anything because of lack of money/interest. When my sister and I cleaned out the trailer when my father died, I took a couple of photos of my dogs that he'd had, took books to the library for their sale, and clothes to Goodwill. He had a low-income neighbor who took dishes and a few other things to a flea market for sale.
The trailer park owner very nicely offered to keep the trailer rather than have us try to sell or remove it. It wasn't up to current code for sale, and rentals weren't allowed. The owner had to pay to have it removed and demolished and I much appreciated their generosity in taking over the situation and cost. They said he had been a good park tenant for a long time, so...
Small common lives that come and then go. I am glad my father got his one wish- to be buried in the V.A. Cemetery with a Jewish star, his name spelled right, and World War 2 on the stone. I have one picture, of him in dress uniform after basic training, on his way to Europe in 1944. So many lives turned around by this and other events. I love the picture and am glad to have it, have made sort of a memory altar with a meditating Buddha and a meditating sculpture, plus a Tibetan prayer bell. A spare memory, which suits me.
I’m living in the house my son’s dad grew up in & he is 61. His father passed away in the 1980’s, his mother about 10 years ago.
Now I know where he gets his hoarding tendencies from.
I’ve managed to clear the entire upstairs for actual living space for myself & the 3 youngest kids still at home. The basement? There is an entire room downstairs that I have never been in. And the unattached garage out back?
OMG. It initially looked like it was floor to ceiling junk in there. Not even a pathway. Turns out? Underneath it all was a 1956 Ford Fairlane! Mac has managed to “excavate” it. He’s “going to restore it”. Sure he is.
There is an interesting looking Grandfather clock downstairs. And a “machine” that really intrigued the younger kids:
“Mom! What is THAT?” “Ah; that is called ... a Typewriter!”
Some still unopened, in the box, Avon perfume & cologne collectors edition decanters. Some autographed sports memorabilia. Boxes full of “I haven’t a clue”.
Thing is; I don’t perceive an emotional attachment on Macs part to the majority of this stuff but the “market” for these items tend to be out of my league due to being somewhat specialized. For example; I know that there are “coveted” magazine editions. Certain publications, years, famous artwork or historical events, etc. But I haven’t a clue as to what’s what.
And there are hundreds. Literally hundreds, of magazines. Still with the original coupon inserts ... Some of them I recognized & rescued but still, they are just sitting here. Right now, I’m looking at a “Life” magazine, dated November 29, 1963 titled “President John F Kennedy 1917-1963”. Another “Life” magazine, dated August 28, 1964, titled “The Beatles!” & a March 14, 1961 “Look” Magazine titled “Ingrid Bergman”. And so many more.
To complicate matters, Mac’s mom unfortunately suffered from Alzheimer’s & when they first remodeled after she passed away, they were finding money, literally stacks of cash, found in odd places like the oven. There are several jewelry items missing that have never been recovered. If those were found I’m sure Mac & his 2 siblings would split those up.
And some odds & ends that surely no one will want but that I certainly won’t be throwing away: A 1938 Hutchinson High School (Hutchinson, Kansas) yearbook?
Some or most of this surely has value - check ebay for a quick guide to value and sort by really valuable, sorta valuable, and not very valuable. Then use the internet to get better information on the really valuable stuff. Even the yearbook will have value to either the school itself, a former student, or geneaolgy researchers.
And some odds & ends that surely no one will want but that I certainly won’t be throwing away: A 1938 Hutchinson High School (Hutchinson, Kansas) yearbook?
Either the library or google. Google has put some yearbooks up online (most everyone from my town) and it is nice to go back and look at. My mom had hers but I haven't seen it in years and I found it on google. Pretty cool to see my mom & dad in their youth and their classmate (Connie Hines aka wife of Mr. Ed's owner if you remember that show).
Back in 1969, when my daughters were 3 and 4 years old, I happened to go into an antique shop and was enchanted by this painting -- mostly because the girls therein so resembled my own girls. I paid $25.00 for it and have kept it for almost 50 years now. It's not attractive to anyone but me and no one in my family wants it, so I've considered selling it now rather than making them deal with it when I'm gone. But I love it so much that I just havent been able to let go of it.
Edited to add a photo of my own girls. I took this photo @ 1971 (a couple of years after I bought the painting) but I hope you can see why I thought the painting reminded me of them.
The painting is on the left and the photo is on the right.
Too bad there isn't some indication on it who these girls are. Doing genealogy I would give anything to find something of my ancestors. I cringe when I go into antique stores and find photos of people from the late 1800's early 1900's and wonder who were these people that someone threw out the photos?
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I'm taking an upholstery class now and bringing a beautiful old chair from the late 1800's, early 1900's back to life. It lived in my in laws attic for around 30 years and in ours for over 20 years. I couldn't stand the thought of it being in the dump some where. I have a whole new respect for upholsterers. It's really labor intensive. 
