Posted by David Sherman on Friday, March 01, 2002 at 11:11PM :
In Reply to: Gold horders posted by RDavis on Friday, March 01, 2002 at 9:10AM :
...there's the smooth talker that hits up the grieving widow and says "I'll give you $1000 and get all this junk out of here for you" and gets the old guy's lifetime accumulation.
Sometimes when you keep trying to get somebody to sell, they just use that as bragging material to their friends. They like to say, "Yeah, there's this guy that keeps coming by, offered me 4 grand for that old jeep, but nope, I ain't gonna sell."
I think your only hope is to sincerely befriend the guy; listen to his stories, go visit without asking him to sell anything, be respectful and decent, etc. If nothing else, you might find out who HE knows that has another field full of good stuff. Some people will give you something if they like you and think you'll put it to use, that they wouldn't sell for any price. But I agree it can get pretty emotional and irrational, sort of like women with their useless foo-foo nick-nacks.