When I walked into my condo after 20 years I discovered it was jammed full of stuff. Lots and lots of stuff. By the time I got to Texas, I realized my renter's income was far greater than I ever expected but I was not prepared for what I found. I've been a move manager for over 16 years and not a lot surprises me. But I had several lessons waiting for me.
The man collected firearms. He had a huge collection of firearms. This is not unusual in Texas. Lots of people have firearms. But I was not prepared for the volume of ammunition. There were 3 full cabinets of ammunition and more scattered around. I don't know what the attorney ultimately did with all of it but I did learn - you can't sell ammunition!
I knew there would be an issue with the ivory gun handle. You can't sell ivory. It's illegal to do so.
The other issue was the collectable alcohol. There was quite a bit of it. In fact, it took up half the pantry and most of another cabinet. That's a ton of alcohol, especially since he did not drink alcoholic beverages. The not drinking but having lots of alcoholic beverages is not unusual. What was unusual was the value of what he had. He had collectable alcohol worth hundreds of dollars for each bottle. That could not be sold either.
As someone who assists older adults in disposing of things, I know markets vary from area to area. I know pianos and dining rooms tend to be an issue to re-home. I know most of the children and grandchildren don't want most of what their parents and grandparents want to pass down. Lladro, Hummels, china, crystal - they generally have not held their value. Dolls, beanie babies, cookie jars, even rubber duck collections - I thought I'd seen it all.
Have heart if you are one of the collectors - most move managers have methods to re-home most things. It takes creativity and research. Sometimes we reference the NASMM list serve to find out what others have done.
One thing was for certain - there was no issue at all in finding a buyer for the 1947 Indian Motorcycle. I don't know who ultimately bought it but I do know each time I mentioned it, the person's eyes would light up and the questions started to flow.