The Green children were close with their Aunt throughout their life.  She would tell them little about their family legacy accept that Uncle Andrew had been the one accumulating the boxes that filled her home.  They had never met Uncle Andrew and often questioned where he placed in the family tree.  When their Aunt passed she left them her entire estate, which was a home and “Uncle Andrew’s collection” of boxes.

One of the first items they came across was a journal from the 19th century written by Andrew Green, a.k.a Uncle Andrew.  They were intrigued.  In the journal Andrew wrote about what is was like growing up in the 1820’s, becoming a lawyer, and becoming New York City’s Comptroller, of which required him to have police protection.  He wrote about how he transformed New York City and his 42 room mansion he had built for the family that included a private museum.

The Green family was in awe that they had never heard stories of Andrew Green other than being referred to Uncle Andrew.  How did the man considered “The Father of Greater New York” get lost in history?  After all he was responsible for Central Park, The Bronx Zoo, The New York Public Library, The American Museum of Natural History, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

The Green children quickly called their friend that owned an auction company.  Upon looking at the vast amount of history in front of him he went right to work documenting every piece, but there was a catch.  He didn’t want a percentage of the sales, he wanted a percentage of the estimated net worth of the collection that had been valued at $225,000.  That was a gamble considering they had no guarantee that the items would sell.  This time the gamble worked out netting sales of $673,692.50.

Should your client trust an auction house?  Auction houses, such as Sotheby’s,  do not ask for a commission from the seller or a percentage of the net worth.  Instead buyers pay the auction house fee that can be up to 25% of the winning bid.  Paying a percentage of the net worth up front is not common and is usually only seen with smaller auction companies.