Our 10th unit~Tons of fun, but profitable?????

Apologize in advance for the length~
We finished up our busy week today by attending a couple auctions in the final caravan of the week.  Crowd was too large and since we had already purchased two units this week, just bowed out and cleaned out our 10th locker.

This was a 10X20 that Don purchased yesterday, as mentioned in the Auction Scene thread.

Well.....almost all the furniture was either particle board and/or broken, (cigarette) burned or chewed on.  So chances of making anything there is pretty nil.  There were two chests in this unit and inside the cedar one (which we have to repair) we found........
Lots of stuff!  And not all dirty clothes either.  The first thing my daughter sees is an iced tea jar full of pennies.  Maybe $5 there.  There was an adorable jewelry box (with some jewelry), a cool tiger head planter (from Italy), an alpaca toy (that is obviously imported and neat) and an urn.  Yep.....my first time with remains.  We did open it to make sure.  She was in there.

We also found a large propane patio heater and an electric air-conditioning unit, plus lots of gardening items, some crystal pieces that will be easy to sell and a nice flatware set in the wood box.  We'll recoup the cost of the locker on these items alone.

Other items found and if anybody has any idea on values.....I'd be quite appreciative:
~9 neat menus from 1962 on the SS Hanseatic Hamburg-Atlantic Cruise Line.  A Sun-way cruise to the West Indies.  They have some of the neatest artwork featuring native people in  pen and water-color.  Too neat.  Probably not worth much, but I LOVE them!
~Numerous silver-plate items including a couple wm rogers and a 'Newport fish knife' that has an antique mall tag of $45 and dated 1880..
~We went through all the jewelry and found quite a bit of silver to go with that from my mineral unit.  Not much gold and very little of any value.  When I was digging through the file cabinet I found several appraisals for jewelry and lo and behold~there was a piece that we had in the 'I'm not sure' pile.  Turns out it has approx. 1.255 mm seed pearls, 7 diamond cluster set and is 14K.  It appraised for $595 back in 94.  As soon as we 'identified' it, I told Don "Quick!!!  Find me the watch from the appraisal!!"
~We also found two stock certificates from 3-1962 and 6-1962 for American Telephone and Telegraph Company!  Odds are they've been cashed in and even if they haven't I know nothing about obtaining 'ownership' or if that is even possible.  They were issued to Joan (who was a sassy lass born with a silver spoon in her mouth, traveled the world and hung with the boys.  I think she was somebody I would have loved to have talked with).  Her daughter Lana died of lung cancer.
~There were some interesting art pieces.  A couple wood carving/paintings from the West Indies, including the coolest mermaid.  A neat print (or perhaps litho?) of Joan of Arc (Sainte Jeanne d'Arc).  It was (very professionally) framed in Cedar Rapids Iowa and the label on the back looks old.  And a litho of Eldorado by Toulouse Lautrec.  It says on the back of the frame that it is a colored litho, plate, initialed.  There were also a couple other paintings, originals, but I doubt they have value.  I haven't really investigated the art much, as after my Pablita Velarde deal....I hate art!  Oh there was also a Navajo sandpainting....that one should be easy here.

I know we'll (easily) recoup the $250 spent, but like my mineral locker......I'm left with lots of questions and not a ton of items that I can turn and burn.  I'm sure I'm forgetting some of the items of interest, but dang.....this is almost novel length as is.

This is the largest amount of items we have to return to the facility, as there were tons of photographs (we enjoyed viewing those from Joan's wild and wooly days), legal docs and of course the urn.
As I told Don......this unit is anything but boring~

If you have any info on (any of) the aforementioned items, we'd truly appreciate the input.

Sounds like you did well.I would check the menus on ebay.

Ok, here's all I'm gonna say advice wise. I follow wall street, so when you mentioned stock certificates, I was interested.

Have someone look into this. The shares may not be transferable based on posession of the certificates, but I don't know.

Here's why you need to have a professional check into these shares. I could only find data going back to 1984 (The break-up of Ma Bell), but since then, ATT has split on three occassions, which would makes those 9 shares into 108 shares today at ~$30/share or about $3,200. While this is awesome, this doesn't include any splits from 1962 to 1984, nor does it include any spin-off shares from when Ma Bell was broken up into the Baby Bells.

Don't plan your retirement just yet, as I doubt you will actually get these shares, but the potential is big enough that you HAVE TO follow up.

Good luck!!

Oh come on Matches~I thought you were gonna tell me you found a gallery to buy my Toulouse Lautrec.  I was ready with my tinfoil hat again!

Thanks for the advice.  I know the stocks won't be of value, but dang aint it fun to dream of hitting one WAYYYY outta the park?!

Oh come on Matches~I thought you were gonna tell me you found a gallery to buy my Toulouse Lautrec.  I was ready with my tinfoil hat again!

Tee-hee.  

Actually, there is collector value for old certificates. I doubt ATT is all that valuable, as I'm sure they were about as common as dollar bills, but someone will buy them off you.

P.S- I just checked e-bay and a 1963 Pepsi stock certificate in good condition has a bid on it at $9.80. Obviously, condition matters.

Good luck!!

Sounds like a good one.

You keep finding our jewels.  (not one yet this is Fl were people come to die  without their treasures)

Think the art thing would drive me nuts too, but would like the potential of that kind of profit.

Best friend loves Toulouse Lautrec. 

"Her daughter Lana died of lung cancer"    giving me the creeps, That is my name. Not a very popular one so unusual to see it pop up and be dead. 

Glad you will do well on this one.

Best friend loves Toulouse Lautrec. 

Can I interest them in a litho?
It's funny~I had heard the name, but knew little about him.  Don was like 'who?'.  So yesterday at the auction I shouted out to the crowd of about 60 "Does anybody know who Toulouse Lautrec is?"  Not one person did.  A bit later a guy showed up and I asked him and he said "all I know is they've done a movie or two about him and he's a little French guy."

Can I interest them in a litho?
It's funny~I had heard the name, but knew little about him.  Don was like 'who?'.  So yesterday at the auction I shouted out to the crowd of about 60 "Does anybody know who Toulouse Lautrec is?"  Not one person did.  A bit later a guy showed up and I asked him and he said "all I know is they've done a movie or two about him and he's a little French guy."

Friend travelled in Europe so she found out about him I only know because of her. LOL

She might be interested but she is a pain when comes to buying things. Always feels she is getting ripped off and then she rips herself off. (born with a silver spoon) LOL
 I will ask her for ya but don't get your hopes up. I don't like sending friends to her, or really doing any kind of business with her. LOL

Please keep us informed on your research about the stock certificates. It sure would be great if there was some way to transfer the actual stock value to a new owner. You have obtained the property through a legal proceeding (lein auction) so I wonder if that carrys any weight?

Being that you are from Tuscon?, you my get a lot of Navajo, Apache, Hopi Indian artifacts, arts & crafts. That stuff might be common in your area, but there are quit a few people on the East coast that collect anything Native American and would probably pay more for those things then your local market. I would try Ebay with a 30 day buy it now price. Don't do the 7 day auction, there is not enough time for your retail shoppers to see your products.

Friend travelled in Europe so she found out about him I only know because of her. LOL

She might be interested but she is a pain when comes to buying things. Always feels she is getting ripped off and then she rips herself off. (born with a silver spoon) LOL
 I will ask her for ya but don't get your hopes up. I don't like sending friends to her, or really doing any kind of business with her. LOL

Yikes......let's not mention it to her until I find out more.  She sounds a bit high maintenance when it comes to shopping.

Please keep us informed on your research about the stock certificates. It sure would be great if there was some way to transfer the actual stock value to a new owner. You have obtained the property through a legal proceeding (lein auction) so I wonder if that carrys any weight?

Being that you are from Tuscon?, you my get a lot of Navajo, Apache, Hopi Indian artifacts, arts & crafts. That stuff might be common in your area, but there are quit a few people on the East coast that collect anything Native American and would probably pay more for those things then your local market. I would try Ebay with a 30 day buy it now price. Don't do the 7 day auction, there is not enough time for your retail shoppers to see your products.

I will keep you informed.  I know that stocks may already be cashed even if the certificates are intact.  I'm guessing that is the situation here.

And I know I've got to do e-bay, but I hate it.  I sold a necklace years ago and the lady wasn't happy.  She sent it back, I refunded her money (less the shipping fee) and she ripped me in the feedback.  I've not sold another thing (this was 4 years ago).  I like for the customer to see, hold and be sure of the item.  I'm a bit thin-skinned when it comes to my (selling) reputation. 

Yikes......let's not mention it to her until I find out more.  She sounds a bit high maintenance when it comes to shopping.

you nailed her... LOL 

And I know I've got to do e-bay, but I hate it.  I sold a necklace years ago and the lady wasn't happy.  She sent it back, I refunded her money (less the shipping fee) and she ripped me in the feedback.  I've not sold another thing (this was 4 years ago).  I like for the customer to see, hold and be sure of the item.  I'm a bit thin-skinned when it comes to my (selling) reputation. 

New to the selling on ebay and the reputation thing rides me hard too. Husband ask did you get the stuff on ebay, does not understand I want to keep up with what I have started on the feedback, so I am slow at getting it on there but need to do it money just sitting around in inventory. 

My daughter bought something off Amazon and found the item cheaper at Walmart (sometimes she is a blonde  )  In the feed back she put that, The seller made her feel like crap for ruining their reputation she was all upset.

One of my first sells I said it was labelled something and and I was wrong. Buyer put that in the feed back but loved it anyway and was keeping it. Next buyer made sure he put as describe in his feed back. Think buyers on ebay understand some negative stuff. Maybe. 

So get back to it Rockin.  And I will do the same.

That sounds like a super locker to me for a good price.  As money already said the stock certificates alone could be worth value even if they are "worthless" for cashing in.  Many coin collectors dabble into Scripophily.  There are a few sites out there that you can compare your cert to.

Once again gratz to you and your hubby.

Craigslistauction think it was Matches who said the certificates themselves may be profitable. 

We haven't gotten a unit with this much potential yet. Still looking. 

Hi, new looky loo here...

I worked in unclaimed assets for 4 years (stocks, bank accounts, mutual funds).

Stock is owned by the estate of the deceased.

The family can merely have the certificates you found in the locker "stopped" and replaced.

Also, you would not be able to even attempt to redeem the share value without nearly 1mill in bank fraud procuring bogus medallion stamps (special ink required), and forged court documents.

I can believe that people collect the physical shares as Art of sorts.

I had see many in my line of work and some are highly ornate.

Hey, Rockin'-

If you have trouble moving those stock certificates, let me know and I'll make an offer on them, based on condition, etc.

No hurry. Feel free to take your time with 'em.