Families part with treasures with help from 'stuff coaches'
From attic to basement, the Lynn house Karen Angelli's mom called home for 40 years was brimming with family treasures that had been tenderly handed down from one generation to the next. Buttons from Civil War uniforms and sterling flatware were tucked away with a prized matchbook collection, a '60s-era Canada Dry store-display rack and even a mink stole.
Just the thought of sorting through rooms of boxes and possibly parting with years of history was overwhelming for the family when Angelli's mom and stepfather decided recently to move to a small condo in Swampscott.
That's when Angelli phoned what she calls a ''stuff coach": a team that guided the family through the difficulty of deciding what to keep and what to toss. The team researched the history of vintage items, calculated what they might fetch on the cutthroat collectors' market, and sought new owners for some of the sentimental -- but less marketable -- keepsakes.
''What was important to my mom was not the money, but could her stuff, like her old Singer sewing machine, find a good home," said Angelli.
The team the Angellis called, Grace Sales, is a new business venture by two North Shore moms aiming to create a niche somewhere between
But the new partners quickly discovered the first step in the process -- helping a client decide which items to let go -- can be wrenching.
''Somebody's life is really revealed by the things they choose to keep," said Laurence Howard, 44, a Marblehead resident who teamed up in May to form Grace Sales with Martha Wetherill, 43, of Beverly, whom she'd met in a mom's group four years ago. The women -- both avid antiquers -- were restless to get back into the job market and figured their degrees in English and architectural history, combined with their former careers in publishing, banking and computers, would prove a perfect base for their business.
One of Grace Sales' first clients was a Marblehead couple on the verge of a major life change, and in a hurry to get there. Jim and Sallie Harshbarger had dreamed of retiring one day to South Carolina, and had property set aside. But when Jim was laid off in May, the couple decided to put their Marblehead house on the market, move South and get settled in time for their children to start school Aug. 15.
Their schedule left one week for Grace Sales to catalog, research, and ready for sale hundreds of items from the Harshbargers's 5,000-square-foot house, including electronic children's' games, Oriental rugs, crystal, art work, and furniture.
''You had to get logical about things," said Sallie Harshbarger, 47. ''Is it worth packing it and storing it, or letting it go?"
Ultimately, she said, most things sold for less than their value because the Harshbargers wanted to move on with their lives. But there were a couple of unusual pieces the couple felt passionate about placing with people who would enjoy them as much as they did. One was an old, black and white framed photo the Harshbargers found in the attic when they bought a circa 1898 Marblehead house 24 years ago. They schlepped the picture to their second Marblehead home, where it hung over the mantel until they recently put the house up for sale.
Howard said their research found that the print, and a companion shot the Harshbargers also found in the attic, was a turn-of-the-century reproduction print of the Bulfinch Building, the first home of Massachusetts General Hospital. An MGH archivist said the hospital had been known to give retirees such reproductions. A Boston antiques dealer priced each print at about $200. Ultimately the Harshbargers sold the two for half-price to an MGH doctor who attended their estate sale.
''He was riveted by the photos," Harshbarger said. ''It was kind of cool that it went to the right person."
Often people wonder whether the musty books and china collecting cobwebs in their attics might be hidden treasures, and they phone area museums seeking an appraisal, said Jay Finney, spokesman for the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem. The museum doesn't offer that service to the public. Instead it will suggest callers seek out an accredited appraiser or auction house.
But Finney, who had not heard of Grace Sales, said traditional appraisers and auction houses often stick to high-end items, such as jewelry and fine art works. So people with lower-end vintage items to unload are increasingly turning to the Internet.
''How would appraisers evaluate the value of a vintage
Kay Lazar can be reached at klazar@globe.com.
