Unfortunately, nobody is paying much more than the minimum for anything on sale. Mom and her caregiver and I went over there to see it in action, which was fun. And if you're inclined to find it depressing to watch your precious family items being sold for a pittance, it is. But the backstory on this one was lengthy.
We contacted an estate appraiser to come look at the household contents. He said he thought that we should do an auction instead. We had an appraisal of the Asian art from the 1990s that valued just that portion at $82,000.
My regular auction house came to visit and said that the take was going to be more like $10,000. I called middleguy sis and she didn't want to sell it if it wasn't going to sell for that much because she loves the Asian art.
The auction house only wanted the bother of the rest of our items if we included the Asian art.
This left me in a position of having many many many items, including large pieces of furniture, to move out of the house. This, after having spent weeks moving and making decisions on stuff in the house during the hottest summer on record. Oh yeah. Plus menopause and dealing with my sweet mama who needed me. Work? That, too.
Middleguysis asked the nephews if they wanted our jade panels (a prized family item), and they did. This didn't really help, but added another task (meeting them at the house to move the panels).
I offered the auction house some of the jade items, including one that Mom had given me, in order to entice them to take anything. I held back things that we really really like. They were satisfied, and came and took the whole thing -- some fancy furniture, some Asian artwork, some hideous porcelain items. And now, on the weekend of the auction, those things are selling for just about nothing. But almost *nothing* is selling for more than the opening bid. Not sure what it is -- the heat wave, the Chinese economy...I am not taking it personally. And what were we going to do? Keep it all as a museum to our youth?
On the upside, I checked my phone just in time to see in real time that the bizarre shipwreck painting that I'm obsessed with had no bids. I am now the owner of a large 19th Century of a shipwreck. For $100 bucks. mrguy thinks it's cool. Can't wait to pick it up.
First, my last trip to the house. With the mammoo, her caregiver and mrguy.
1 comment:
There's nothing worse than having to let go of your possessions ... except having to let go of them and finding that other people don't want them!
That shipwreck is cool indeed. Allegorical, I suppose.
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