How do you sell an estate of boating items?

[scot]

My Friend passed and his wife has a huge collection of boating related items to sell. How? Century boats were his favorite. But he collected most any thing boat related. About a dozen wood boats in need of restoration. out board motors lots of quality trim parts. huge library. toys. posters magazines etc.Auction? Sell ought right as one lot? Too much for a widow to deal with a piece at a time. Thoughts? Scot

 

[alldodge]

To get max return, you need to do the home work and list them on sites like ebay. Contacting directly with the classic boat forums may also help. But if your in a hurry, then hire an auction company (well know one with a good history) and let them advertise for some time before doing it. Most will catalog all the items and put them online for bid

 

[scot]

Good ideas.I sell on ebay and could spend a year trying to move all these items. We live in the outback of western NY state so a local auction might be a bust if people did not drive in from out of state.

 

[rallyart]

Most auction companies have the ability to run an online auction or to add online to there live auctions. If you find one that will take it all, catalogue and store it until it sells you have the least work. What they don't take will be give away or dump stuff.
If you sell it on eBay, you will net more money but have much more work. Estates are tough to deal with and 'helping' a friend can be disastrous. Let the estate figure out what their goal is: preserve the heritage; maximize the revenue; get it done quickly; something else.
Good luck, it's not an easy thing.

 

[roscoe]

Really difficult to give advice.
Lots of stuff but does any of it have any real value?
Age of the items, collectability, are major factors.
Most auction houses won't be willing to invest their time to move, research, store, catalog, advertise, and sell, if there isn't sufficient value to guaranty a decent return.

Many old boats aren't worth the price of the gasoline to torch them.
While others may be worth thousands.

Not long ago, outboards from the 30 40 and 50's were worth some decent money if restored and complete.
But lately, I've seen museum quality motors selling for under $100.
It seems like they folks who used to value these, are now all too old to care, or dead.

You may find that the "toys" hold the most value.

I've got 7 running outboards and several thousand in boat and motor parts in the garage, but would probably only get 10-15% of current market value for it if I tried to sell it as one lot.

 

[Scott Danforth]

Really difficult to give advice.
Lots of stuff but does any of it have any real value?
Age of the items, collectability, are major factors.
Most auction houses won't be willing to invest their time to move, research, store, catalog, advertise, and sell, if there isn't sufficient value to guaranty a decent return.

Many old boats aren't worth the price of the gasoline to torch them.
While others may be worth thousands.

Not long ago, outboards from the 30 40 and 50's were worth some decent money if restored and complete.
But lately, I've seen museum quality motors selling for under $100.
It seems like they folks who used to value these, are now all too old to care, or dead.

You may find that the "toys" hold the most value.

I've got 7 running outboards and several thousand in boat and motor parts in the garage, but would probably only get 10-15% of current market value for it if I tried to sell it as one lot.

couldnt have said it better myself. I have been trying now for almost 2 years to sell some old mercurys I have most people want new motors because they dont care about history or cool factor of old motors. many old wooden boats cost more to restore than they are worth.

a few years ago, I helped a friend of mine who picked up a boat, motors, rods and tackle from an auction house. the place just returned from an estate sale. he paid $600 for a 12' boat, 6hp johnson, electric trolling motor, 12 rods, 8 tackle boxes, etc. the auction house didnt want to catalog it. they made a slight profit, my buddy got a great deal on a little fishing boat.

 

[ajgraz]

If it was me, I'd keep one or two items as mementos, find the few "gem" items that are worth using or selling on EBAY, then put the rest out garage-sale style with a "free stuff" ad on cragslist. Or a "rummage sale" ad and charge some nominal nickel or dime price per item; basically aim to raise enough for trip(s) to the dump for whatever people don't take.

 

[Old Ironmaker]

Unfortunately when someone passes a lifetime collection may just end up in land fill. What is Gold to one man may be just scrap to another. Find out what is really worth anything in the collection and move it. When Mom and Dad moved out of their home of 60 years and into a 1 bedroom retirement residence we took an entire dumpster of "stuff" they had collected all those years to the dump. I counted no less than 4 VHS video tape re winders, around 70 KFC bags meticulously folded and stored in plastic bags???????

 

[jbcurt00]

If your friends widow is also in NY, contact your local AOMCI group and a wooden boat groups (both are also on facebook and might point you towards locals).

Theres an AOMCI swap meet tomorrow in Edgewood, MD and another in Burnt Hills, NY APR 29. Someone at either meet might be able to provide a good resource to value or at least SEE some of the vast amount of stuff.. Go to the events link on AOMCIs website, or the local chapters link. There are at least 2 other meets before July up in and around NY.

As a vintage boat owner that prefers vintage motors on vintage boats it would be tragic to wholesale dump anything the family doesnt perceive has having value. As is often the case, they provably dont have any idea what most of it is or what its for, so deciding value would be best left to someone who does know vintage boats and motors.

There could be anything buried in a large collection like that. If they arent in a time crunch to move it all down the road, being patient.

Bob Grubb has a nice Mercury outboard museum, and runs the mid-Pennsylvania KnuckleBusters AOMCI group. He might be helpful dealing w Mercury stuff, and might want Mercury info, brochures and slaes related stuff. He can probably be reached thru the AOMCI site too, or at least the local chapters link. Might even have suggestions about how to deal w a large collection sale, auction or whatever. They've lost a few well known collectors over the last year or so.

 

[roscoe]

http://centuryboatclub.com/cbcindex02.htm