Items of Value Inc

     This is a sale the likes of which we have not done in probably twelve years.  As the story goes, the Canadian family moved to the Northern Virginia area in the early 1930s and had logs and timbers shipped down from Canada to build their home on eleven acres of land that is now in the center of Franconia.  Two of the family members were big collectors and purchased many items from Items of Value over the past decades.  Now the land is being sold to a developer who will put up 27 houses.  We have the distinct privilege of selling not only the contents of the house but the logs that were used in building the house, as well as the solid black walnut and maple doors with bronze handles, the window frames, and other building materials.  Not only that, we are allowed to sell the American box wood bushes, the yucca plants, the azaleas, and all other outdoor plantings except the trees.  We are selling the split rail fencing plus the timbers in the third outbuilding.

      There is far too much to display for sale at one time.  We are planning three consecutive weekends in May to sell off everything, including not only what is in the house but also in the three outbuildings.  Sale dates are planned as follows:  Saturday-Sunday, 10-11 May, followed by Friday-Sunday 16-18 May, followed by Friday-Sunday 23-25 May (Memorial weekend).  Every day will be 9am-4pm.  Please bring heavy duty tote bags and/or empty boxes as we have none to provide.  We will NOT put out a sign-in sheet.  We expect very long lines, so please be patient to get in.  There will be three of us working the sale at one time every day.

     You will be mesmerized when you enter the house and see the ceiling and walls of the living room.  It's like a movie set.  There are two huge stone fireplaces.  Five of us spent a whole day cleaning and arranging items for you to view.  Then three of us spent another day putting items on folding tables we brought in.  For the first weekend of sale, we have open the living room, dining room, "great room", and addition off that room.  For the second and third weekends, we will move to those rooms items from the two loft rooms and basement.  We will also open the addition at the back of the house , the double kitchen, and the three outbuildings.  We now have confirmation that the three VERY long wood shelves with large wall brackets that we are selling in the living room came from Robert E. Lee's mother's home at 607 Oronoco Street in Alexandria.

     You will talk about this sale for the next two years.  Behold the taxidermied bear head and fish, a real pipe organ, a zebra hide draped over a vintage deacon's bench.  Behold the many prints and framed items that we have hung throughout the house or place on the shelves.  Tables are loaded with books, some fine cut crystal, much glassware and ceramics.  You will find numerous animal figurines, some wood carvings, vintage silverplate, vintage fishing gear, a brass "student" lamp with green glass shade.  We have a period Art Deco bedroom set in a small room, two curved front glazed china cabinets, antique student desk, pole and lid for a butter churn, 1885 Bible with a finely worked cover (certainly a fine display item), vintage postcards, over 190 disks accompanying the five ViewMasters.

     Unique items include a zither, a large coffee table display case for your collections, an electric music box, a Murano glass clown, a vintage tobacco jar/pipe stand and vintage standing cigar/cigarette ashtray, a wood sailing ship model, antique milkglass battleship lid, Swiss cow bell, a VERY RARE small liquor bottle, duck decoy, small spinning wheel.  The living room has a very fine 2-door display cabinet while in the entry room there is a Victorian period graduated display stand displaying many reproduction toys.  We have brought in a display case to show small items.

     Please bring plastic gloves, leather gloves if you are going to handle/move large/heavy objects.