Tomorrow, I start my 6th week working on this gigantic estate sale with my friend and her husband, who is the administrator of this estate with no heirs. Since there is no family and before the estate can be disbursed to the designated charities, the state mandates that every thing be sold at the optimum price. Yesterday, there were seven of us working at organizing and pricing the things that had found their way to the garage and the family room. The whole process has been tedious work, as every piece of paper, etc. must be gone through. For instance, we have discovered valuable jewelry among tools and junk in the outside shed.
We have found such diverse items as an invitation to a White House garden party given by Mrs. Roosevelt to souvenirs from 32 countries to 7 irons (all in working order!)
There are lots of treasured items from several generations, jewelry, old pictures and postcards.
For sale are ethnic clothing items from her travels and lots of vintage clothing with pictures of her wearing the dresses, etc. including her 1942 satin, beaded wedding dress.
There is a whole room of lovely linens with about 30 sets of embroidered and lace pillow cases. We found some nice quilts in the shed outside, plus there are antique baby clothes.
And, of course, there are dishes and silver. A few pieces have found their way to my house. More on that in a later post!
It has been a real learning experience for all of us working on this project. We come home at night thinking about our own stuff; and what a burden it can be when disbursement of belongings is left for family or, in this case, friends.
I had an aunt, who in her later years, was always working on getting things in "dying order". She was a wise and considerate woman!
