Very sad for the family. I see this at least once a month. Father, usually, has collected some rare, quality stuff (firearms, militaria) or worse yet there are some priceless family heirlooms which are lost in foreclosure, settling the estate or some such.

I don't know if you guys have storage businesses but that is a prime hunting ground here. People will inherit, or combine households and put the "excess" in storage. They then forget or neglect to pay their storage fees. After the legal time limit the storage facility auctions off the contents of "their" area to pay off the fees. I know several fellows who bought $20,000 worth of stuff for $100. Worse, to my thinking, is that all the family stuff is gone forever.