Research and presentation. Significant items are identified, cataloged, and priced from comparable sales rather than estimated on the spot; collections are kept together and displayed properly; and the sale is previewed to collector audiences in advance. The everyday contents are sold too — they simply are not the whole strategy.

A commission on what sells, quoted in writing after the walk-through and stated in your agreement before any work begins. A collection-heavy home requires research hours a general household does not, so we will not quote a figure before seeing the estate — and we are wary of anyone who does.

Typically three to five weeks from consultation to sale day for a collection-heavy home, because research is the schedule. Smaller or less complex estates move faster. Your timeline is set in writing at the consultation, and sale days are usually two to three days.

Porcelain and china, sterling and silverplate, glassware, clocks, watches, cameras, musical instruments, ephemera and paper, militaria, vintage clothing and textiles, studio pottery, art, and regional collectibles — among others. If your collection is outside our knowledge, we will say so at the consultation and point you toward someone better suited.

Fine jewelry, watches, and small valuables are displayed in locked cases, shown one piece at a time, and accounted for individually in your settlement. Stones and metals are described as observed; anything represented as appraised will have an actual appraisal behind it.

Then we tell you, plainly, at the consultation or during research — and suggest the auction house or specialist channel it belongs in. Selling a five-figure piece for a three-figure tag would be good for our sale day and bad for you, and we do not work that way.

No. Outright buyouts pay a fraction of value and put our interest against yours. Our model is commission: we earn more only when you earn more, and every significant price is one you have seen.

Your choice, per the agreement: family keeps them, they are offered to donation, or they go to a channel suited to the material. Nothing is discarded during the sale without your instruction, and items with real remaining value are flagged for you before any donation decision.

You see them in advance. Significant items are priced with the research behind the number — maker, period, condition, and comparable sales — and your settlement lists those pieces individually with what they brought. Questions are welcome at every step; they are how this is supposed to work.

Of course — keepsakes are identified and set aside with you before research and pricing begin, and the list is confirmed in writing. The sale is built only from what the family has decided to sell.

Firearms, where present, are handled only in full compliance with Oregon and federal law, through licensed channels where required — and where that cannot be arranged cleanly, they are excluded from the sale and the family is directed to a licensed dealer. This is discussed at the consultation, never improvised.

On the schedule stated in your written agreement, following the sale, accompanied by the itemized settlement. The timeline is agreed before work begins — not after the money is counted.