I feel I have to write this article for my blog just because before the Chinese flu shit hit, I got bombarded with questions from all over the nation on what to do with their parents trophies.
Either the dad went into a nursing home and his partner in life did not want the trophies or they both went into the ground and the estate was turned over to the children of those parents and they have no flipping idea what to do with these taxidermy mounts on the wall.
First thing first , if you are offended by any type of language or if you’re a little happy to go person maybe you should not read this and go read somebody else’s blog that makes you feel good because I will tell you the truth no matter what your feelings are.
OK back to their calls I’ve been constantly getting about the parent that went into the ground and now I don’t know what to do with these trophies. First things first is that these trophies meant quite a bit to your dad or whoever and maybe some to your mom but it’s more your dad I would presume. The main reason you put a trophy up on the wall for the memories. He can remember where he was at ,what the temperature was ,who he was with, how long it took to get out of the country, The plane rides in etc. etc. etc. but now the children inherited the estate and they have no idea what to do with these items and they are so flipping close minded that they don’t care, all they want is the flipping money.
Well I hate to tell you but most of these items aren’t worth very much. Like I said before it was your parents memory is the reason they went up on the wall if he has anywhere from 1 to 100 items you should be looking to at least keep one to keep his memory alive instead of trying to sell every goddamn one there is just because you or your partner is offended by it, get a flipping life.
Have a little respect for the people that brought you into this world and raised you, money is just not everything cuz we both know you’re going to blow it just because nothing sacrifice not gain you don’t appreciate it but I will tell you how to get some funds out of these but first of the things you have to do to be able to sell these.
As you can see I’m pretty passionate about the animal trophies that you look and see on the wall because they are artistic pieces of art, every taxidermist is not created the same and if you got just a piece of junk that doesn’t even look like the animal yeah then it is not worth very much. So the things you have to do to get these onto the market is
A ) everything has a number so if you’re looking at horned animals or antler Animals you have to get them scored and you can go online to Boone and Crockett for North American animals and Safari club international for international animals and download the measuring forms that you need and then just half assed measure them yourself and you will be in the ballpark. One antler game or horn game that I buy, which is very rare I will only buy the mount for the horns. I will then remove the headwear and throw the rest away and either redo it for a client or sell them as is.
B) Next you have to figure out when they were taxidermy up. Most taxidermist will write something a date, who did it, on the back of the mount that will give you enough to have an idea of when they were done. If they look amazing and like the animal really should be that is a plus.
C) Next if it is a CITIES animal, which means is endangered species you must have the paperwork proving it was legally taken from wherever and if it was like for example a leopard, African lion, elephant, or rhino then it can only be sold in the state you’re currently in.
If the estate goes to you and you live in another state, then you can actually bring those trophies with you and sell them in that state but there is no exception to this rule just because this is Federal shit and they do not take exceptions to this.
D) I , Myself use the following people to try to move legally taken trophies that I’ve been stuck with by incompetent people or like yourself have been given. I use auction houses, the one I use is basically down south and they usually do a couple taxidermy only auctions a few times a year, but you have to get the trophies to them and if you’re going by Freight that is a little pricey but maybe you can talk them into swinging by your place of residence and throwing them in their cargo trailer. But it is an auction and they take 20% off the top and it could go anywhere from five dollars to 5K, who knows.
Next is interior decorators .they are very valuable to a certain point. If you can find a very open minded interior decorator, which is pretty Flippin rare anymore than you have a really great chance of selling your trophies. You can use the Internet like craigslist but you have to put down is pick up only because if your shipping stuff, you have no idea what the hell The cost will be and you will be losing money, guaranteed.
E) Next would probably if you need tax break you can actually donate these to museums, schools, anywhere there’s public and to officially do this you have to get them appraised, which is also going to cost you some money, for I only know a very small handful of people that actually do this and trying to find one might be like trying to find a needle in a haystack.
You have to remember that this is their trophies and their memories and when they have gone the memories have gone and they don’t give a rats ass what the hell you do with the stuff. When I get phone calls on this subject they all tell me it’s huge, it’s the biggest I’ve ever seen. But they’re big and my big are completely different.
If it’s an old Mount taken in Africa for then your best shot would probably be just taking the horns off and sell them and you could actually sell that stuff on the Internet site, eBay, craigslist just for the rack but honestly you should save at least one of his trophies just for the memories. I’m sure he told you the story numerous times about this item or that item and if your mate gets offended by having these things in their living space, just my opinion, but maybe it’s time to find a new flipping mate.
The real money is in The guns that he used the harvest the game, especially if it’s any of the big calibers like 416, 458, 470 double rifle, lott, rugby etc. etc.
You can always go online in your area and find an FFL license dealer and give him a percentage for sending your gun to somebody in another state that wants to buy it or maybe he himself will take it but do not get hosed, these calibers are worth some money. You can go on gun broker.com and research it and sell it as a group item with gun, ammo etc. etc.
Still if you’re in the dark you can give me a call from my info on the website which is www.African-taxidermy.com www.globalwildlifeartistry.net but I’ll basically tell you what’s in this article but I always have clients willing to buy those guns and if the headwear is large enough I will buy them too.
Good luck!