Looking for help in selling a lot of very old furniture/books etc

I am not sure where to even start. My family is going to sell a home that has been in our family for over 150 years. The contents are from that era and around 1900 give or take. Lots of Victorian and so on. Never moved for all those years and in very good condition to the point of almost new. I am not sure how to even start. I have a lot of general pictures of the furniture. Auction? Not sure.

I just want to try and introduce myself. Here is a picture of the clock for starters, but there are some interesting full bed sets. Birdseye Maple and so-on.

 

This is a very small sample. Any advice where to start. I hope to post a lot of pictures of the furniture in that section, but wanted to get an idea from you all first. Also if there are other places to post, that would be great. I feel this is a very rare situation to have a home untouched that long and furniture in this kind of condition. Here is a desk that is very old.

 

There are 7 bedrooms in this home and it is full. There are an amazing about of books as well. Here is just one interesting art book. There is enough for a small library and some even from the 1700's.

 

If you can tell us where you are located, we may have better advice.

 

Western PA

 

WELCOME gg1 !!! ... some LOVELY items you have there ... Joy.

 

Hello and welcome gg1. You have shown some lovely things and love the inlaid hardwood floor. You have a daunting task to sell a house full of furniture and books. Maybe more than a single person can handle.

Have you looked for upscale auction houses in Pittsburgh, Cleveland or Akron? There may be others in close areas. They take a hefty portion of the proceeds but tend to draw better clients with more $$$.

I'm sure others will be along with a lot of suggestions tomorrow. Best of luck.
Patd

 

Welcome. I'm was born in Western PA. Sorry to hear you are selling your home and family treasures.

 

That desk is NICE looking. It might be older than you think too. I'd get some good pictures of the dovetails or drawer joints, drawer bottoms etc. It looks like it weighs a ton. That fan on the front has me wondering where it was made. That's no factory piece. Fair warning: I'm no furniture expert and could be all went.

 

With regard to the books, auction houses and estate sale organizers often don't have a good grasp of how to deal with large quantities of books. You might try contacting booksellers in your area. Here are a couple of links for professional booksellers associations members in Pennsylvania:

The ABAA (The Antiquarian Bookseller's Association of America):
https://www.abaa.org/booksellers/re...me=&last_name=&state=PA&chapter=&specialties=

And the IOBA (Independent Online Bookseller's Association):
http://www.ioba.org/pages/member-directory/#/?state=PA

(On both sites you can search other states as well, if you are closer to Ohio for example.)

The dealers belonging to the professional organizations go through at least a modicum of vetting, and agree to certain ethical standards, which can provide a bit more confidence than just going through the local yellow pages. Most have special areas of interest, so you might want to try to figure out what kinds of topics are represented in your collection and contact dealers with matching interests. The more information you can provide, the more likely you are to find a dealer willing to come out and take a look. They will want to know the subject matters, the approximate size of the collection, and a general idea of the condition.

Good luck.

 

What's the time frame?
Would you like the fast nickle or the slow dime ?
We can tell you....more or less...what you have....but do you have the time to give us photo's , front , back , base , drawers..marks, inside of clock movement & close ups of the wood , pottery , or stone material ....of each item in the house ?

You need a professional appraiser.....you need to pay em for their service...& then hook up with an auction house who handles your type of items....or a high end estate sale company ...trusted....... or hold an auction....right there in the house.

In my opinion...

Oh...& welcome !

 

WELCOME gg1 !!! ... Joy.

 

BTW, the last time we moved, we decided to donate 99% of our antique books to the VA State Historical Library. Probably 18' of floor to ceiling bookcases. Their visit was supposed to be a couple of hours turned into several days. Spent hours going over and cataloging the books, provided us a list and where to go to find value, leading to a sizable tax deduction.

But to us, more important was their joy at receiving them - some they knew about but had never seen - and they would be sharing with others researching information.
Patd

 

Greetings, gg1!

 

First welcome. I'm also new here but there is a wealth of knowledge here that is freely given.

Second I'm going to be following this as my wife and I are going thru her parents home and while not on near the scale you are dealing with we are in a similar situation.

 

Some 'out of the box' ideas and observations:
- I've seen estate auctions sold over the period of years. So think "bite sized" chunks. Could be more practical too because it offers a chance to go through everything. And, if the 'chunks' are related, e.g., coin auction 1 is the precursor to say to coin auction 2, it draws in more interest over time, i.e., better bidding. So, if you can, don't be in a hurry.
- who says "one auctioneer"? do non-exclusive agreements. That way you can sell off the 'good stuff' to high end, and then have the vultures come in at the end through auctioneers like MaxSold that pretty much are 'moving companies' in auction clothing. They and others like them may have a reasonably wide following, so if you want your house cleaned out in a hurry like vultures on a carcass, that's the way to go.
- I like the 'tax deduction' route too @patd8643; again, why think only 'one way'?
Time will be your enemy, right?

and uh.... welcome? since you are neck deep already.

And, don't have any expectations of value at auctions, there are surprises and disappointments.

 

You are in need of a professional appraiser. That writing desk/ dresser may have secrets of its own and those beds look handcrafted.

 

for a really 'crazy' idea: call the TV duo at "Antique Archeology" and give them a chance to "pick" the location. The 'thought' is that any 'dealer' will have a network of customers that they sell to... if you are willing to accept 'wholesale' prices, and thus provide the opportunity for a one or more dealers to come through and 'pick' the place for their specialities (and hopefully offer reasonable prices, without the risk of bidding, that you can accept or not), then you get the benefit of relatively easy and quick sales to start thinning out the rest. A reputable dealer should offer a reasonable price. And you can always say no, and try again.

 

Pickers might be a good idea but as @Dawnno said they are going to be offering wholesale prices which will be about 50% of what retail would be. I have sold a few items to dealers and managed to get about 70% of retail and felt really good about it.