Clutter

I know this is a two-year old thread, but I'm the guy who cataloged most of Herb Elk's collection.

When he died in 1978, his two sisters flew down to Houston and packed up everything in his apartment, then shipped over 70 boxes to Herb's mother's house in Passaic, NJ. Herb's nephew was a friend of mine and we had spent many hours over the years poring over the stuff he had crammed into his old room. The family hired me and I spent that summer sorting through hockey, baseball, NFL, and Canadian football programs, media guides, and yearbooks as well as various giveaways and other knick-knacks. There was even Herb's orange, size 48, Astros team blazer.

In addition to the Spahn, McCovey and about a dozen other jerseys, there were two full sets of game-worn uniforms. He made deals with the Houston Rockets and the WHA Houston Aeros to buy them new uniforms in return for the old ones. They didn't have any idea about the collectors' value for Rick Barry's or Gordie Howe's jersey.

The family went through the uniforms and baseball cards. They eventually sold most of the collection to Barry Halper for what I was led to believe was a mid six-figure sum. They kept the cards and sold them piecemeal.

 

Speaking of Halper...
I saw this yesterday ... It's more on the scope of Halper and his fake memorabilia.


http://haulsofshame.com/blog/?p=4323

 

Great story. You should start a separate thread since it's likely to be missed under the heading of "clutter."