How to Price Huge 400 Elephant Figurine Collection

[John Galt III]

My parents are moving into a retirement home and are selling off / donating / throwing out their possessions. My mother's realtor (my parents have sold their house) has found a possible buyer for the elephant collection. The realtor wants my mother to come up with an asking price.
There must be 400 various elephants, almost all of them look pretty nice. Not many of the gaudy toy-like elephants. Most are carved wood or porcelain or brass or glass. Ranging from thimble-sized to one foot tall. No jade, no ivory, no precious metals, as far as I know.

Many of them are in groups, one following the other, increasing in size. Some are bejeweled. Just about every aspect you can think of. Since she has 400, if she charged as little as $1 each, that would be $400 for the lot, which seems like a lot, but isn't really much per elephant. Selling them individually would be a huge task.

We've had antique experts look at them and they are sort of clueless about what to do with them. I think they said to donate them.

I suppose a gift shop could resell them one at a time and make a decent profit.

She was going to donate to some place, but now the possible buyer has appeared. Family members have already taken as many as possible. Any ideas

Thanks

 

[travelover]

Well, there is a GOP convention coming up.

But seriously, there are probably a couple that are valuable and the rest can go to the Salvation Army. You can look on eBay and see if you can spot the valuable ones among the sold items.

http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_sac...&LH_Complete=1&_nkw=elephant+figurine&_sop=16

 

[ivinsfan]

Would the buyer keep them in a collection and is this something that would make you Mom happy? I'd might see if I could just press the potential buyer to make an offer and go from there.

 

[travelover]

Anything here? I have a huge collection of rare and antique elephant statues

 

[prose3589]

Well, there is a GOP convention coming up.

But seriously, there are probably a couple that are valuable and the rest can go to the Salvation Army. You can look on eBay and see if you can spot the valuable ones among the sold items.

http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_sac...&LH_Complete=1&_nkw=elephant+figurine&_sop=16

Seriously, I go to gop events all the time. Elephant figurines or jewelry are a top seller. Small pieces many times bring in 50-100 dollars. Contact your local republican chairperson. They may buy the entire group.

Info on the chairperson is usually registered with your county clerk.


Sent from my iPhone using Early Retirement Forum

 

[travelover]

To reinforce what I said above, I was collecting erector sets for a while and am getting rid of them now. What I noticed on eBay was that I could sell one prized piece (like an electromagnet or motor) for more than an entire set.

So, picking out the very best stuff and tossing the rest may be not only easier, but more lucrative.

 

[John Galt III]

Thanks for the replies. Just an update: My mom has offered them all to the prospective buyer for $400. No response yet. She's keeping about 30 of her favorites for herself, though. I started looking at completed sales on ebay to find prices and see if she has any expensive elephants and I just don't have the time and sanity to do it. I'm selling all her other stuff, too, and there is a tight deadline. Motivated seller here.