Forget garage sales. Contact antique dealers in your area and have them come out. I did this with my in-laws "estate". They usually will ask what you want for each item -- if it's too high, they'll make an offer. I got rid of tons of things this way. Example, if I knew something was worth $25, I'd let it go for half. Remember they need to make a profit on it.

Yes, there is a 'garage sale mentality' and I and many others are guilty of it. How many times do you see the great deals posted that someone found on a sale or thrift shop - that's what we all want, isn't it? So it is tough when you are on the other side of things. It is much more difficult when you are selling things that have sentimental value that your mom "treasured" because you want others to value them as you do.

I just had a garage sale and did put some vintage/collectible items on it and I priced them low because I was more interested in downsizing than making a ton of money. Some of it flew out the door, others are still sitting there because the right person wasn't there. Certainly the present economy isn't helping.

I don't even look at price guides except for information about something. Where I look is on Ebay's completed items so I see what the item REALLY sold for plus the shipping. That can give you a place to start. But Ebay is an international market and your sale is only going to attract from your local area, so a McCoy cookie jar may be a hot item someplace but locally not so much.

I hope you have success in finding a venue for selling your mother's things. It may be tough to think of them just as "things" or a commodity to be bought and sold because the memories you have attached to them are priceless. Best wishes to you.

Jill

If you have a Craigslist in your city, you might have better luck, but otherwise, I'd say Ebay. But some collectibles--like Bradford Exchange--are never going to be worth more than what a buyer wants to pay for them.

Or see if an antique dealer will let you consign them--not a lot of dealers have cash to spend on inventory these days.

Thanks to all who responded to my post. I've been about every route with my mother's estate. With Craig's List I usually end up waiting for people that never show up. I don't live close enough to any large population centers to make it worth the trip for anyone interested in just one thing. I had one woman leave an angry message on my answering machine "I drove for two hours and I still didn't reach your town!" I have contacted estate liquidators and the consensus of opinion is that unless I have very high-end antiques (you know - Ming vases and Duncan Phyfe furniture) it would cost me more to pay them to do a sale than I could make from the sale. Most of the dealers here in upstate New York only want the very finest antiques and collectibles. Consignment shops won't take anything either because they are not selling very much right now. Everyone is griping about how bad the antiques market is. I guess I just hit it at the worst possible time. I know my mom bought most of her things, like Depression glass, in the 1970's when it was a hot item and expensive. Now you can't give it away. A few weeks ago I saw a Madrid cookie jar in the local Salvation Army for $2.99. I went back this week and it was still there! I have two pieces of Oyster and Pearl I've been trying to sell - a 14 inch sandwich plate and a divided relish. No one even looks at them. Most people that stop at my sale ask for: military and sports memorabilia, old fishing equipment, jewelry and gold and silver coins. Yeah, everyone has that laying around the house.
I made a Web page with photographs of some of the contents of the house. If you'd like to look, click on link below.

On another note, I theorize that unless you can have a tag sale on the first or second weekend of the month, don't bother. By the time the third and last week of the month rolls around, people are starting to run short on money and not looking to blow it at a tag sale. Any opinions on this?

Here is a link that might be useful: Contents of House

Well...I looked at it....all of it! LOL! I was antiquing and a couple of times I was looking for the "buy now" button!!
Your mother was an eclectic collector to say the least!
Some nice stuff and of course, some pure junk.
I suspect that some of the "pressed glass" may be cut...And some of the carnival looks to be good old and some not so good and not so old....
You are wanting way too much money for the tattered furniture. I know it had good bones....but it will take easily $1500 to bring thes ofa and love seat into shape.

My advice, unless you are in a huge hurry to get the house empty , hold a series of tag sales....put a price on everything...and stand firm on your price....and advertise that the next week everything will be 20% less....and the next 30 % etc. Until it's to the stage of "Take it all for $25!"
Time your sales to coinside with local paydays....I live in a factory town, and the most successful time for a garage sale was the Friday before the 2 week plant shutdown....when everyone had their vacation check in their hand!
Another thought....there is so much of it....pack some away and just try to sell about 1/4 at a time....And pay attention to marks and backstamps when advertising.
You also might attempt to separate the schlock from the good stuff....but one person's schlock is another's collectable.
You should have several thousand dollars out of that stuff....maybe as many as 10!

Have to agree with Linda...
Myself I've given up collecting and/or trying to sell any sort of china, glassware etc. I can't off load anything I have anymore. Why? not just the recession but Ebay has opened everyones eyes to the truth, there is an almost unlimited supply of what was once hard to attain. Where back in the 80's and further it could take years to find a few pieces now you can find them and buy them from around the world just a click away. The whole "scarcity" thing is over, done and gone.

My thoughts ran parallel to Linda's. Some of that stuff had me salivating, and some of it is pretty common. The important issue is to get your money for the really good stuff and set a price to it, and the other stuff you can afford to move out at a loss.

If it were me, I'd hire in an antiques appraiser, even if it meant some $$$ to have them come in for a day from a more metropolitan area and get the wheat pulled apart from the chaff. Set prices on things you really shouldn't take a hit on and hold firm, even if it meant putting it in storage in a pod somewhere until you found the right party who will pay for it somewhere near what it is worth.

In my community, most of the antique junkies hit auctions, instead of garage sales. You met the same group at every interesting auction. Things found their wholesale value that way, because the dealers always dropped out when they exceeded what they were worth. But since everyone in the group pretty much knew what they were doing, they also didn't go dirt cheap because the dealers bid against each other. We also have several antique stores in town who will display your collectables on consignment. You set your own bottom line, you don't sell it to them for resale. But you really need to have an idea of what that bottom line is.

The yard sales here get an whole different audience. They come looking for dirt cheap bargains, and expect you to be desperate. There are also yard sale 'regulars' whom you see every weekend. They buy and resale at flea markets.

It's like real estate. Location, location, location.

WOW, I looked at your items and wish I was in your area instead of Mobile Alabama, LOL I have no idea what the value is of your things but I wouldn't care, these are some awesome things, I love them especially the glassware. I am the type that would buy so much of it and have no where to put it, I am somewhat of a pack rat. Take care and good luck Pattie

Well, I'll be blunt. Based on garage sales in my area: your pictures are priced too high. Looks like they're from the 70s. The holiday decorations look like trash. Lamps are at every garage sale and yours are priced too high. There is nothing in your collection that you will get rich on. I would save all the carnival glass and let the rest go. (From one who had to do the same as you last year).

Aah, Gracie, are you not seeing the lovely hall tree and the nice Victorian Eastlake walnut chairs with hip rails and the Lincoln rockers, all the apple green depression glass and the opalescent hobnail, not to mention the Toby mugs at least 2 of which I am sure are Royal Doulton, the flow blue bowl.
And there is at least one celery vase, I can't tell the pattern from the picture, 2 banana boats, 2 whirling hob pattern pitchers pattern glass baskets, Shirley Temple pitcher, lots of press-cut Higbee pattern glass dating from about 1880.
The only things I see priced too high are the clarinet and the cranberry scoop.
I still say there's lots of good stuff....
If that stuff is going for peanuts in your area, maybe I better make a weekend visit to your town.
Linda C

It is nearly impossible to get a fair price for antiques at a garage sale no matter how you advertise it. I've tried it a couple times with items from my relatives estates and it wasn't worth the time or trouble. People came expecting to pay a quarter or fifty cents for items they have no clue as to the real value of.

Do you have any flea markets near you that you could rent a space at for a weekend? I've found you will get at least somewhat of a better price for things like you have at flea markets. More antique collectors and dealers frequent flea markets more often than garage/rummage sales.

Times are tight now for the antique market, even things on Ebay are moving a bit more slowly than in the past. Unless there is dire urgency to unload these things, I wouldn't be too quick in trying to get rid of them. Antiques are always going to be in demand and hopefully in the not to distant future the economy will start to turn around and people will start collecting once again.

Good luck to you. I think you have some wonderful items!
Janet

Yes, Lindac, I see the depression glass,etc. Like I said, there's nothing there that the OP is going to get rich on.

I have to put my 2 cents worth in .i do flea market .I sell at one Collectibles and antiques .omg it's so bad right now .I'm getting out .going to do a big upscale Collectibles sale at my house. So people know it's not yard sale prices. At the flea market they think everything is $0.50 to free.

They tell me it should be cheaper then a yard sale . And the yard sales in my area are over priced .so it's hard to say where to sell something.