Estate clean up

[B-MAN]

Looking for advice for selling antique tractors from an estate.

My dad passed away and left behind a collection of about 18 antique tractors in various stages of operation ranging from 75% disassembled, not running but might run with some work to at least 1 running. The collection consists of John Deere A & B's, Farmall B and Cub, Ford 9N, Allis Chalmers WC and D17, Minneapolis Moline U and Z. He also collected a number of farm engines which I have no idea of their state of operation.

Is an estate auction the best way to sell? I have a complete list of what my dad paid for things during the 1990's and after perusing this website, seems that I'll have to lower expectations for what things are worth today.

Thank you for your advice.

 

[B-MAN]

Thank you everyone for the valuable feedback. The estate is located in south central Minnesota.

 

[B-MAN]

None of the tractors have shiny paint jobs. Most were purchased from auctions with the dream of fully restoring them.

 

[Geo-TH,In]

Most all of them charge 25-35% commission.

Lately I've seen on TV where the buyer pays the commission.

I think we should all learn from this post.
Don't leave your kids a mess to clean up.

 

[docmirror]

Do not plan any windfall from the sale. There just isn't a big market, even in MN to make for a large turnout. Hope for the best, but if you are not a vintage tractor person, it's going to be a bit of a bust. Sorry

 

[redtom]

I cleaned up my dad's stuff about 5 years ago. There wasn't enough smalls for a real auction. I started selling tractors by ad one or two at a time and it took years and was very annoying. The smalls and parts I needed to sort and tried a big yard sale. It was waaaay too much work and I ended up with half the stuff left. I junked a bunch which was sad. We now have an online auction yard/barn with weekly auctions. I've taken 10 loads of my own stuff there. They charge 20% but once you unload it you never see it again. I wish I would've done the online only auction thing. I'm not a big fan but it works good in some situations.

 

[JOCCO]

Only other thoughts are you have got to advertise or get in the right market. Trying to sell tractors in a used furniture market won't work. Trying to sell Minneapolis Moline to the Ford or Farmall crowd won't work. 20 years ago I cleaned up an estate (lots of stuff and varying interest) took almost a year, but the widow did ok.

 

[RedMF40]

Thank you everyone for the valuable feedback. The estate is located in south central Minnesota.

Any of them stored indoors? Could help their value if they're not parked out in the weeds.