Human Behavior

Sometimes people ask us about the experience of running estate sales. We confirm their suspicions that it is a lot of hard work, but very rewarding.. We help families through difficult times of stress and loss. We unearth all kinds of treasures. And we meet lots of fun and interesting people.

The one downside to this business is observing the less pleasant sides of human behavior. Particularly disturbing are instances of theft and deception, such as removing or switching price tags, separating pieces or sets, or straight up shoplifting. While not extensive, this happens enough to be a constant reminder.

I understand that everyone coming to estate sales wants good deals and that haggling is often part of the exchange. But when people steal estate sale items, they aren't just depriving the estate sale company of a commission. They are defiling the memory of a loved one whose family is still grieving their loss. They are robbing a family of a piece of their legacy. Theft at an estate sale represents one of the lower forms of everyday human behavior.

Fortunately, the good far outweighs the bad. We feel great pride when we discover something buried in a closet or storage box long forgotten that generates hundreds of dollars for the family. We get just as much joy finding such treasures as the buyer feels acquiring them.

Many factors will help you select an estate sale company. But when choosing an estate sale company, pay attention to how they make you feel emotionally. Do they empathize with your circumstances? Are they willing to adapt to your unique situation? Do they treat you and your possessions with respect? A quality estate sale company will make you feel good about choosing them, not just from the standpoint of money, but from a personal perspective.

Spoiled Fun

Like many kids growing up in the 1960s, I collected trading cards. I had some baseball cards, but my favorites were non-sport series, like monster cards and cards about TV shows like The Outer Limits and Batman. Non-sport cards are still fun to collect, and can sometimes be quite valuable.

Collecting baseball cards, on the other hand, are no longer a pastime of youngsters. Investors have ruined the baseball card industry and, in my opinion, taken all the fun out of the hobby. If you have baseball cards in your estate, here is the good, the bad, and the terrible things you need to know.

1. Big bucks. Some baseball cards can attract huge sums of money. Collectors will pay thousands of dollars for rookie cards of some (but not all) Hall of Fame players, such as Mickey Mantle, Roberto Clemente and others. Condition is king in establishing value, and baseball card grading standards are among the most rigorous among all collectibles. A good estate sale company can explain the current state of the industry and give you a realistic appraisal of your cards.

2. Kindling. The sad fact is that the height of baseball card collecting was the late 1980s and early 1990s. Closets everywhere are filled with boxes of cards from what is known as the Junk Wax Era. People who bought cards then as long-term investments will probably not recoup their investment, let alone generate a profit. A good estate sale company will help you unload that closet of cards at the best price and find the few cards that have appreciated in value.

3. A Huge Task. Investors have turned a fun kid's hobby into a volatile morass of price guides, plastic slabs and endless varieties of the same card. If you are looking at that closet filled with boxes of cards, you may be tempted to haul the whole lot to a sports card store and accept their offer. While that is an option, consider an estate sale company like Lolly & Pops that knows the collector card market and can get you top dollar for your cards.

"Book 'em, Dan-o!"

My biggest enduring passion is for the printed word. Posters, old trade cards and postcards, stamps and magazines increase my interest in any estate. But nothing gets me stoked like a library full of books.

Sadly, most estate sale companies give books very little love...and to some degree, they are right. Some books have little or no value, such as encyclopedias, text books, Reader's Digest condensed books and Harlequin romances. Almost 100% of the time, these volumes end up in the trash after a sale.

But, some books can score big bucks at your sale if your estate sale company has a book-nut like me on staff. Here are Pop's guidelines to assessing your books and whether you can expect to profit from their sale.

1. Condition - As with every collectible, condition heavily affects value. The unique factor for books is the presence of a dust jacket. Sadly, our grandparents often tossed the dust jacket, rendering their books far less desirable to collectors today. A real value killer is mold or water damage, as these are difficult to impossible to fix.

2. First editions - The first edition of a volume sought by collectors can be worth many times that of a later edition, and especially a book club edition. At the same time, the vast majority of first editions carry no premium if they are not particularly collectible. One reason to pick an estate sale company with book expertise is that identifying first editions is sometimes difficult. Desired books tend to get reprinted a lot, sometimes in facsimile editions that can confuse the casual seller.

3. Subject - While some fiction can command huge prices, estate sales do best with non-fiction, such as history, arts and music, military and aviation - sometimes the narrower the specialty, the better. But not all fiction is created equal. Science fiction and fantasy attracts voracious buyers, as does literary fiction, horror, Westerns and some mystery. And let's not leave out paperbacks. While newer paperbacks have less value than their hardback cousins, vintage paperbacks can bring interested buyers to your sale.

So if your estate has lots of books, give Lolly & Pop's a call!