u/sad_emu_88

I want to start off by saying I'm not an 78rpm enthusiast, nor do I even own a regular turntable for modern vinyl. I didn't even really know what 78s were a few weeks ago. I'm just a really big fan of garage saleing and estate saleing. There was one in my area that was really eye-popping.

There had to have been maybe 20,000 - 30,000 78s at this sale. Some were so old they didn't have anything on the flip side, before they had the ability to print double sided (as far as I understand it).

I went to the sale a few times, but unfortunately, I wasn't able to spend more than like 2 hours at a time. Going through this collection would be a full time job. I tried to educate myself the best I could in between visits, looking for the "valuable stuff" like blues and country and stuff like that. It could've been picked out already, or could still be hiding in there somewhere, but I didn't see that kind of thing. Looks to be a lot of classical, crooners, and showtunes. Bing Crosby, Sophie Tucker, Glenn Miller, those types. The collection was simply too voluminous to know for sure.

The sale has already gone through two weekends worth, and I don't know if there will be another. I just cringe at what might happen to this collection. I don't know what can, or should be done. My dad suggested I buy the whole thing, but I would need to rent a storage unit and, like, take time off from my job to go through it.

It's kind of exciting to think what might be in there, and I'm kind of obsessing over it. I don't know if I should just forget about about the whole thing. Even though I'm not into 78s necessarily, I love history and old stuff, so part of me would love to take this on.

Advice from this group would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!

So my dad bought this George Washington painting at an auction 10 years ago and we'd love to find out more about it. Unfortunately, there is no signature on it. At first he was like, "This is a Gilbert Stuart!" but I didn't think that was likely. He had an art conservatory look at it, but they weren't able to shed much light on its origin, they apparently just told him "You might have something special here" and they gave him a quote on a cleaning, which he opted not to pursue. I believe they had the frame apart, and there was no signature in there, eihter. They said it "might" be a Jane Stuart, but again... with no markings, who knows?

The detail is awesome. It's also imperfect, with some blemishes on the canvas. The frame is very old. We submitted it for consideration to Antiques Roadshow, but they passed. So this is the next place I'm turning to.

My dad is getting up there in age and I would love to help him see this story through to the end. Any help would be appreciated!

Insane collection at a poorly marketed estate sale