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A £4 million treasure trove of more than 60,000 items amassed by Britain’s biggest ever hoarder has been discovered crammed into a terraced house, a rental flat, two garages and 24 wheelie bins.
Most of the enormous collection, that was stacked floor to ceiling in every room of the three-bedroom property in Nottingham, consisted of unopened parcels that had been delivered from 2002 at the home of a bachelor, who died suddenly earlier this year at the age of 44.
The hoard was so vast that the late owner was forced to move into a bed and breakfast for the last year of his life because he ran out of room for himself.
He rented a one bedroom flat, two garages, part of a neighbour’s garden and 24 council wheelie bins to stash all his stuff.
Stunned auctioneers were called to clear the three bedroom house by the hoarder’s brother who had no idea of the sheer scale of his sibling’s collection.
It took a team of eight men in three vans 180 hours over six weeks to empty the house of all the items.
Items piled to the ceiling in a garage. Stunned auctioneers were called to clear the three bedroom house by the hoarder’s brother who had no idea of the sheer scale of his sibling’s collection
Auctioneers from Unique Auctions struggled to get into the property and had to go in through the back entrance of the house
Auctioneers in open up one of the garages the hoarder rented. He crammed his collection into a terraced house, a rental flat, two garages and 24 wheelie bins
Items piled to the ceiling in the garage in of of the garages the hoarder rented. Neighbours reported the man receiving a van full of parcels every week
The horde mostly consisted of unopened parcels that had been delivered to the three-bedroom property in Nottingham since 2002 where a bachelor, who died suddenly earlier this year at the age of 44, lived alone
A lot of the items are in a brand new or pristine condition and haven’t been opened or touched with the hoarder apparently storing them until his retirement
It is thought he started it about 18 years ago with the intention of selling it all one day to fund his retirement
There are over 4,000 rare books in the collection, with the stunned auctioneer adding that the horde was filled with quality
Items stuffed into a cupboard. The auctioneers couldn’t get in through the front door so were forced to go around the back
Mr Woodcock said: ‘He didn’t buy rubbish, a lot of it was top quality stuff. After he passed away his brother’s first inclination was to send it all to the landfill. Luckily he didn’t’
The auctioneer added: ‘We were totally amazed at what we saw. Everywhere in the property was full to the ceiling, it was very difficult to move around’
The items included many rare books. It is expected to sell for up to £4 million in auction at the end of October, it has been estimated
They could only access the house by removing boxes and bags in front of them, clearing a path as they went.
All 18 members of staff at an auction house tasked with selling it all have spent the last four weeks unwrapping the packages.
They have set aside three rooms to store it all in and will sell the staggering collection in 3,000 lots over a four day sale.
The overall estimate for the hoard has been put anywhere between £500,000 and £4m.
The eclectic hoard includes thousands of items of Beatles memorabilia, signed photos and letters relating to JFK, Winston Churchill, Gandhi and Elvis Presley, over 6,000 vintage comics, over 4,000 rare books, 3,000 vintage chemistry sets, brand new cameras and lenses and 12 Rickenbacker guitars from the 1960s and 70s.
There is also an ‘excellent’ collection of Russian and American space exploration memorabilia that includes slides and photos as well as cinema reels, radio equipment, ghetto blasters from the 1980s, Airfix models and lots of jewellery.
A lot of the items are in a brand new or pristine condition and haven’t been opened or touched.
It is thought he started it about 18 years ago with the intention of selling it all one day to fund his retirement.
Neighbours said that a Royal Mail van filled to the brim with parcels visited the address once a week without fail.
The hoarder worked as a computer programmer and it remains a mystery as to where he found the money to buy it all.
Terry Woodcock, of Unique Auctions, of Lincoln, has been tasked with selling the collection.
He said he has never seen anything like it in 50 years of working in the business and described the late owner as Britain’s biggest hoarder.
He said: ‘This collection is beyond belief.
‘I met the man’s brother at the house and he was just as shocked as I was. He had no idea his brother lived like he did.
‘His house and garage were literally crammed full of items so much so that he had spent the last year of his life living in a B&B.
‘He rented a one bedroom flat just up the road and that was the same as well as two rented garages.
The man rented a one bedroom flat, two garages, part of a neighbour’s garden and 24 council wheelie bins to stash all the stuff
There is also an ‘excellent’ collection of Russian and American space exploration memorabilia that includes slides and newspapers from the time
The eclectic hoard includes thousands of items of Beatles memorabilia, signed photos and letters relating to JFK, Winston Churchill, Gandhi and Elvis Presley
The huge collection of Beatles memorabilia includes a rare Hard Day’s Night LP signed by the Fab Four that could be worth £4,000
There are also more than 6,000 vintage comics in the collection including Batman, Superman and Flash comics in mint condition
The hoarder worked as a computer programmer and it remains a mystery as to where he found the money to buy it all
There were also more than 4,000 rare books, 3,000 vintage chemistry sets, brand new cameras and lenses and 12 Rickenbacker guitars from the 1960s and ’70s in the collection
Terry Woodcock, of Unique Auctions, of Lincoln, has been tasked with selling the collection. He said he has never seen anything like it in 50 years of working in the business
Mr Woodcock said: ‘This collection is beyond belief. I met the man’s brother at the house and he was just as shocked as I was. He had no idea his brother lived like he did’
It is thought that the owner bought most of the items by eBay but did also attend conferences and conventions to collect thousands of other items
The auctioneers could only access the house by removing boxes and bags in front of them, clearing a path as they went
Neighbours said that a Royal Mail van filled to the brim with parcels visited the address once a week without fail from 2002
Items piled high including Beatles memorabilia. The sale takes place between October 22-25 and could fetch £4 million
The hoard was so vast that the late owner was forced to move into a bed and breakfast for the last year of his life because he ran out of room for himself
The team at Unique Auctions go through the mountains of items. It took a team of eight men in three vans 180 hours over six weeks to empty the house of all the items
All 18 members of staff at an auction house tasked with selling it all have spent the last four weeks unwrapping the packages
‘I have no idea how he paid for it all and neither does his brother.
‘He was a compulsive buyer of parcels that he was never going to open.
‘His intention was to buy and buy and buy and only unpack it all when he wanted to retire. His brother knew that much but he had no clue as to the scale of it.
‘His neighbour said he used to have a special Royal Mail delivery every Friday of a van loaded with parcels.’
It is thought that the owner bought most of the items by eBay but did also attend conferences and conventions to collect thousands of other items.
Mr Woodcock said: ‘He didn’t buy rubbish, a lot of it was top quality stuff.
‘After he passed away his brother’s first inclination was to send it all to the landfill. Luckily he didn’t.
‘We couldn’t get in through the front door so we had to go around the back.
‘We were totally amazed at what we saw. Everywhere in the property was full to the ceiling, it was very difficult to move around.
‘It was impossible to get up the stairs and you couldn’t see the top of the staircase.
The auctioneers have set aside three rooms to store all the items in and will sell the staggering collection in 3,000 lots over a four day sale. The overall estimate for the hoard has been put anywhere between £500,000 and £4 million
It took a team of eight men in three vans 180 hours over six weeks to empty the house of all the items in the huge collection
Auctioneers organise the items. More than 60,000 were in the collection and it is now set to go up for sale at the end of the month
There are mint condition electronic sets among the huge collection of more than 60,000 items. Some of them are exactly the same items
There are hundreds of items radio equipment and electronic equipment in the £4 million treasure trove collected from the home
The 6,000 vintage comics include a rare Justice League America Number One which is valued at £1,200. The Rickenbacker guitars could sell for £10,000 each
‘We found out that when he filled up the house the owner rented two garages and when they were full he rented part of the garden next door.
‘We used eight men in three vans every day to empty the house.
‘We started unpacking the parcels four weeks ago and we are still doing it. We employ 18 people and everyone is working on this collection.
‘One dealer who has been to see us reckons it could be worth £4m.’
The Beatles memorabilia includes a rare Hard Day’s Night LP signed by the Fab Four that could be worth £4,000.
The 6,000 vintage comics include a rare Justice League America Number One which is valued at £1,200.
The Rickenbacker guitars could sell for £10,000 each.
The sale takes place between October 22-25.
