$575 Mistake

[Glanceblamm]

I went to an estate auction this past Saturday at the request of my Son as there was some firearms to bid on. The deceased was an Uncle on his wifes side who was a batchelor.

We saw a Ruger mini 14 (a .223 of course) in pristine condition. I told him that I would bid $400 (which he could afford) but was scared that the crowd would run the bid on up to $550. I was wrong as they pushed it on up to $575. The Daughter in Law also missed out on an expensive set of pans.

With the sale over, my Son's wide eyed inlaws told him and their daughter that had they known that they wanted these items, they would have GAVE both the rifle & pans to them.

I commend my Son & his Wife for being very respectful as there is many of times that a Niece, Nephew, Cousin, or other inlaws decend on a sale like this like Vultures.

I decided to Post this just in case you find yourself in a similar situation, My Son and his Wife could have just told her Parents (yes, we will be at the sale) and (We would like to bid on xxx) and things would have turned out much differently. Not Always, or in all cases, mind you. But something to think about for sure. I still think that they did well as they avoided a situation that could have caused hard feelings or grudges that could last for years among the family although they would have been exempt from this happening in this particular case.

[His lordship.]

Dealing with a person's items after death can get tricky.  Years ago I had a close, unmarried, friend die and the items that everybody received in his will was his way of communicating with everyone with out being inhibited.  Several guys got his junk as they were not kind to him in life.  I got his nice helmet collection, but the immediate family wanted a WW 2 German helmet back that he supposedly was not to have kept permanently as it belonged to a living uncle who picked it up on the battlefield in the war.  I turned it over to them at once out of respect to them.

He left several guns with others hoping that they would keep it for a hobby or home defense, they immediately ran to the closest gun dealer and cashed them out, for less than they were worth, for beer and cigarette money.  I expect the unexpected with wills and estate sales now.