Local estate find in San Diego

[olePigeon]

Anyone know if Tony had the mythical floppy alignment kit from Sony that would actually allow you to properly align Macintosh floppy drives? I heard it was a proprietary laptop, wire harness, and software that Apple borrowed from Sony.

 

[a2a2a2]

Well, this was unexpected. This weekend I was put into contact with the local estate of a well known community member from San Diego County, California. After communicating with his family, I went by the house to check out the "thousands upon thousands" of vintage Apple items - along with other computing, video game and general consumer technology history. I wasn't able to spend more than a few hours but, yeah, it definitely lived up to expectations (and then some).

Realistically, the family could use help from someone who would be able to dispose of 100+ Apple II machines (all variants including prototypes), hundreds upon hundreds of expansion cards, components including CPUs and memory chips - you name it. This is a 3500 square foot house FULL of stuff. You could spend days upon days there.

If anyone here has an online store and wants to just take it all for inventory, that would be ideal. But people who would make large purchases are also welcome. Please message me for info.

Bring a semi truck, a U-Haul or a large SUV.

Here's what I brought home after a few hours there:

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I just got off the phone with Tony's brother who owns the house and is the executor of Tony's estate. He did not give permission for these items to be taken and has asked for them to be returned. He was especially alarmed about the photos from inside the house, as he did not grant permission for anyone to go into the residence. He understands that there may have been an error in communication in regards to what was to be disposed of, but he in no certainly authorized the give away of $6000+ worth of equipment and asks for that to be returned. He also reiterated that there are currently no plans for an estate sale until items can be appropriately valued, which is forthcoming. The issue of items which did not belong to Tony, is also in the process of being resolved.

 

[TristinAEvans]

I just got off the phone with Tony's brother who owns the house and is the executor of Tony's estate. He did not give permission for these items to be taken and has asked for them to be returned. He was especially alarmed about the photos from inside the house, as he did not grant permission for anyone to go into the residence. He understands that there may have been an error in communication in regards to what was to be disposed of, but he in no certainly authorized the give away of $6000+ worth of equipment and asks for that to be returned. He also reiterated that there are currently no plans for an estate sale until items can be appropriately valued, which is forthcoming. The issue of items which did not belong to Tony, is also in the process of being resolved.

Good luck with that. Looks like the sharks have already swam off.

 

[ried]

I just got off the phone with Tony's brother who owns the house and is the executor of Tony's estate. He did not give permission for these items to be taken and has asked for them to be returned. He was especially alarmed about the photos from inside the house, as he did not grant permission for anyone to go into the residence. He understands that there may have been an error in communication in regards to what was to be disposed of, but he in no certainly authorized the give away of $6000+ worth of equipment and asks for that to be returned. He also reiterated that there are currently no plans for an estate sale until items can be appropriately valued, which is forthcoming. The issue of items which did not belong to Tony, is also in the process of being resolved.

Check your facts. Nothing was given away. I paid thousands of dollars for what I purchased and Tony's Dad was present, as well as his nephew. If someone else in the family has an issue with how the estate is being managed, that is for the family to sort out itself. Half-truths and innuendo from third parties in these forums don't help anyone.

 

[ried]

Good luck with that. Looks like the sharks have already swam off.

Do you call everyone who's visited an estate sale a shark?

 

[AndyO]

Good luck with that. Looks like the sharks have already swam off.

I think that's insulting to anyone who has acted in good faith, and doesn't seem likely to help in the slightest. It also doesn't seem to me to be in keeping with the memory of a highly respected, now deceased, member of the community, who himself was acting in good faith.

 

[ried]

I think that's insulting to anyone who has acted in good faith, and doesn't seem likely to help in the slightest. It also doesn't seem to me to be in keeping with the memory of a highly respected, now deceased, member of the community, who himself was acting in good faith.

Amen to that.

 

[a2a2a2]

Check your facts. Nothing was given away. I paid thousands of dollars for what I purchased and Tony's Dad was present, as well as his nephew. If someone else in the family has an issue with how the estate is being managed, that is for the family to sort out itself. Half-truths and innuendo from third parties in these forums don't help anyone.

Tony's dad is dead, and has been for a long time. This and your knee jerk response makes it clear that you are talking out of your ass. Tony's brother owns the house and is executor of the estate. He wasn't there and didn't authorize you taking these items. I'm just passing on what he wishes to be conveyed.

 

[Paralel]

@Cory5412 This thread is starting to get out of hand, especially with the insults and innuendo.

 

[AndyO]

The problem here is that on the face of it, the executor of this estate has not got proper control over it, or members of the family. That's distressing for just about everyone, but conducting the affairs of the estate via anonymous/semi-anonymous third parties, on the internet, is certainly not how to resolve the problem, however well meaning some of those parties may be.

This is certainly not the right venue to resolve it, and the posturing seems more than a little self-defeating.

 

[ried]

Tony's dad is dead, and has been for a long time. This and your knee jerk response makes it clear that you are talking out of your ass. Tony's brother owns the house and is executor of the estate. He wasn't there and didn't authorize you taking these items. I'm just passing on what he wishes to be conveyed.

Dude, stop. You're making accusations and it's really not cool. Tony's nephew invited me to the estate sale and introduced me to "Dad" which I thought was Tony's Dad, but must have been his own Dad (i.e. Tony's brother).

@Cory5412 This thread has become toxic and isn't doing anyone any good.

 

[Cory5412]

This is going to be tough wherever it happens. If y'all want to do this here, which is happening purely becayse you posted it and then Jason Scott redirect everyone else here, that's fine with me.

Given that this has been going on over a year I'm not 100% that shutting this down actually helps the scene, it'll just move somewhere like the kfest discussion list or wherever.

I do recommend cleaning things up a little bit and remaining respectful of the fact that Tony was a pillar of the Apple II scene and has lots of friends he's been meeting up with for decades, some of which are new gusts here on the forum.

Criticism is fine, but we should try to limit name-calling. I realize there's a thin line there - it's up to us as adults to recognize it and respect it. If anyone needs to "take five" In any sense before posting again, I encourage it.

 

[Cory5412]

One more note: especially now that we have more info about some of the stuff Tony had. If anyone got anything that wasn't his and "bought it" that doesn't mean you're in the clear and the stuff really does still need to be returned to its correct owners. That sale was fraudulent.

Of course, I'm just a guy on a forum, I can't make anyone do anything, but you'll understand that if anyone has gotten anything out of this that wasn't Tony's to sell, knows they have something that wasn't his, and then chooses to keep it, well, they may be criticized for that.

 

[ried]

This is going to be tough wherever it happens. If y'all want to do this here, which is happening purely becayse you posted it and then Jason Scott redirect everyone else here, that's fine with me.

I posted this thread because it was a cool find, like every other thread in the Conquests forum. I didn't know whose house it was, or his history with the community. It was just an anonymous estate sale as far as I was concerned. Obviously knowing that this person was part of the community changes things, and I probably wouldn't have posted i.e. photos of the house itself out of respect for the deceased. But it is what it is.

In my initial post, I offered to put well qualified community members in touch with the family to help them dispose of the estate. It's a huge undertaking. But I no longer have any interest in doing that or being part of this discussion at all.

Please take any remaining concerns to the family.

 

[Cory5412]

You know to be honest I'm a little surprised you didn't see this coming fifteen million miles away. A collection that big had to belong to someone right? And they were likely big on the scene, right? But we live and we learn.

It's not all your fault, it really feels like the administration and/or the family may not be well organized or even unified on what "should" happen here.

Bowing out is a fine choice, you should put the family or the administrator in contact with a2fan and paulhagstrom if they're not already, and you should be willing to coordinate with them should it be found that anything sold to you was sold fraudulently or otherwise under false pretenses.

 

[ried]

You know to be honest I'm a little surprised you didn't see this coming fifteen million miles away. A collection that big had to belong to someone right? And they were likely big on the scene, right? But we live and we learn.

It's not all your fault...

It's not my fault, period. I didn't know the deceased from Adam or anyone else. Nor is it my responsibility to.

 

[Cory5412]

Sure, just because it's not your fault doesn't mean you don't potentially have from a legal perspective stolen goods.

I'm sorry that this involvement is stressful for you, it's a tough situation and you can tell from a lot of the posts, this has been tough for everyone involved for over a year.

 

[3lectr1cPPC]

I'm going to stay out of this all, but didn't you say in your original message that you knew it belonged to a community member?

This weekend I was put into contact with the local estate of a well known community member from San Diego County, California.

 

[ried]

I'm going to stay out of this all, but didn't you say in your original message that you knew it belonged to a community member?

A community member from San Diego - not this forum. A fellow San Diegan who had visited the house several times put me in touch with the family who subsequently arranged my visit. Good grief!

 

[ried]

Sure, just because it's not your fault doesn't mean you don't potentially have from a legal perspective stolen goods.

I'm sorry that this involvement is stressful for you, it's a tough situation and you can tell from a lot of the posts, this has been tough for everyone involved for over a year.

Now you're implying I have stolen goods? What is wrong with you?