Massive basement-filled collection purchased on 8/30/19 in Connecticut!

On the morning of Thursday 8/29, I was contacted about a basement full of collectibles.  Unfortunately, the homeowner's husband had passed away the year before, and with her impending move to another state, it was time to clean out his treasured basement full of collectibles.  

We set an appointment, and that same Thursday evening at 5:30 PM, I arrived at her home to inspect the collection and provide her with an appraisal.  The basement was loaded with collectibles, from floor to ceiling, and wall to wall.  Approximately three quarters of the basement was the most complete Jeff Gordon NASCAR collection that has ever been assembled - Matchbox cars, Hot Wheels cars, 1:24 die cast cars, Pepsi drinking machines, porcelain plates, mini car hoods, cereal and other food boxes, steins and mugs, books, trading cards, pennants, posters, trinkets, t-shirts and leather jackets (immaculately preserved in plastic) - you get the idea.  Everything was meticulously cared for, and in pristine condition.  It was displayed well on shelving, in glass cabinets, and hanging from the walls and ceilings - the sheer volume, as well as the condition of the collection was quite impressive!
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The second part of the collection was equally impressive - over 1,000 adult magazines including a Playboy run dating back to the 1950's (again, all in mint condition - bagged, boarded, and stored in BCW white cardboard magazine boxes - then labeled and organized by month/year); 30k+ adult trading cards, again meticulously organized and cataloged by year and set, in binders and plastic snap cases; 40k+ non-sport cards dating back to the early 1900's, including singles, sets, and unopened wax boxes and packs including Magic the Gathering, Garbage Pail Kids, Batman, Indian Gum, and countless others; then approximately 1.5 million baseball, basketball, football, and hockey cards, including singles, factory sets, hand collated sets, and unopened packs and boxes.  To top this off there were other miscellaneous items including sport and non-sport trinkets and collectibles, several long and short boxes of comic books, and a board game collection which ran from newer Trivial Pursuit variations, all the way back to a Monopoly game dated 1936, with all pieces and the original instructions included!

Needless to say, my initial inspection on that Thursday night took almost 3 hours.  I took pictures and notes so I could do research at home later that night.  The next morning, I made another appointment with the owner to come purchase all of the comic books, games, adult magazines and trading cards, non-sport cards, and sports cards.  We did not get into numbers over the phone, but we both knew that we would be fair to each other and would come to an agreement that made sense for both of us.  I made arrangements for a 20-foot Uhaul truck, lined up two family members to help me load everything, and the rest is history!

We had a very easy and pleasant negotiation for different aspects of the collection (example: non-sports cards vs sports cards); we pieced it all together, then I pulled out cash, handed it over, and started loading boxes!  We filled the entire 20-foot Uhaul truck with boxes - the weight in the truck was immense!

While I did not purchase the NASCAR collection, I am currently helping the owner find an outlet and explore options for selling it. 

I have included some pictures - of the NASCAR collection (this is not nearly all of it!), of some stacks of sports card boxes in storage, then one of myself with the truck loaded.  I am currently poring through the collection and making a plan to break up and sell items - if there is anything in particular you are looking for, as always, please reach out to me anytime!
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Thanks for reading!
Paul Todaro
Centerpiece Collectibles​