Primarily Petroliana Shop Talk Forums Shop Talk Petroliana Forums General Petroliana Discussion Estate planning question (for large/heavy items)

Hi all, after dealing with an estate liquidation of a family member that didnt plan ahead. I came to the realization that I dont want to do the same thing to my kids. To start the process I asked each of them to pick out items from my collection that they would want when I eventually pass and put their names on the back so I can reference later when I do my estate planning. Long story short there are a few large, very heavy items that neither had interest in. For context they are a set of 1930s-40s chevrolet parts dept shelves/cabinets, service counter, etc that i got out of a local dealership that closed in the 70s. Ive owned them now for about 15-20yrs now. Id imagine finding buyers for niche items like these is likely going to be hard so leaning toward the auction route. I plan to pare down these items from my collection in the next few years and want to know if anyone has any insight into auction houses or other venues that handles valuation and sale of these large petro items and how to best go about that process. Im in Florida, so not close to a Mathews or Aumann auction that i know of that deals with petro items. Any insights are greatly appreciated for how the whole process works. If there are better options i havent considered yet im open to that as well. Pics of part of my collection for reference...these are huge heavy shelves/cabinets,etc.

I'm sure some of the guys here will have other suggestions. I'll offer this one to you: Call one or more of the auction companies you mentioned and ask them their thoughts, as to how their services could address your specific estate situation. Again, there are other possible solutions for dispersal that hopefully will get mentioned to you here on the forum. But, this auction company contact is certainly something you could easily do yourself now to remove any "speculation" about their possible interest, thereby either keeping a auction solution either on or off the table.

By the way, keep in mind that your list of "final" items might not be big enough to have your estate's own dedicated auction. Don't be concerned about that, since auction companies combine estates or collection dispersals all the time. Best of luck to you. John

John,

Thank you!!! You nailed down my biggest concern of not having a big enough list of items. If they can combine it with other estates then im worrying for nothing. I will start calling around. Thank you again.

Paul

My pleasure, Paul. Thanks for letting us know. Good luck as you move forward to get your ducks in a row. John