My First Antiques Estate Contents Buyout

I’d decided to expand my picking activities to include complete buyout services.

On a referral from my friend Richard, an old school, mostly retired picker, in Winchester, NH, I had acquired via a “broom-sweep” buy of an old estate full of contents in Western MA.

I'll never forget my first antique estate contents buyout!

And, I'd better start soon, because the realtor who’d contracted with me had a deadline.

I’d only gotten a quick peep at that before I signed, but it looked like fun.

A broom-sweep is just like it sounds, as part of the deal, you have to empty, and broom-clean the entire property.

Sometimes you pay them, sometimes they pay you.

It was my first one, so I eagerly offered $800 and it was accepted.

It was an old farmhouse with a barn attached, on a piece of overgrown property.

The yard looked like it hadn’t been mowed with a power-mower…ever.

Now imagine the inside of a house that was completely left as it sat, for 20 years.

And that the items in the home were already ancient when the home was abandoned.

This is what we had - everything covered in dust and cobwebs.

I had magic in my head when I priced the job, because all I saw were valuable antiques.

Milk-painted cupboards, large wooden bowls, figural cookie jars, antique china, cut crystal.

I trudged carefully over some soggy rotted boards that kind of outline a path to the barn and cracked the door for daylight.

Hmm, some old cattle yokes, wagon wheels, milk cans, and lots and LOTs o windows, shutters and architectural pieces.