Sell to Us · San Marino
San Marino kept everything. We buy it quietly.
Free visit · cash offers · no obligation
San Marino may be the most kept city in California. Households here were assembled deliberately, over decades, within walking distance of the Huntington and its gardens: real libraries, paintings bought from living artists, jewelry passed down with the house. When a home like that changes hands, the family usually wants two things at once, a fair price and absolute discretion. We are built for both.
We are California Vintage Buyers, based in Laguna Hills and the team behind the Old 44 Vintage shop. Our visits to San Marino are by appointment, unmarked, and free. There is never signage, never a public sale unless you ask for one, and never an obligation. We make cash offers on the spot and put everything in writing, which matters when trustees and attorneys are reading over your shoulder.
What San Marino estates hold
China and crystal
Full services and the formal cabinets of entertaining decades, read and priced openly in front of you, maker and pattern first
Books and libraries
First editions, fine bindings, and Californiana collected by people who lived near a great library
Art and California paintings
Plein air, prints, and studio pieces, bought against the markets we actually sell into
Estate jewelry
Generations of rings and watches, reviewed piece by piece with our reasoning explained
Furniture and full estates
One number for the whole household, documented, with removal handled on your schedule
Discretion is the point in San Marino
San Marino does not do yard signs, and neither do we. Most of our work here happens on quiet weekday mornings: a single vehicle, a careful walkthrough from Lacy Park to the streets off Huntington Drive, and a written offer before we leave. When a trust or a fiduciary is involved, we provide itemized documentation of what we bought and what we paid, which executors tell us is rare among buyers. The estates themselves reward patience. A house near the Huntington might hold a working library, a china cabinet used every Sunday, and a jewelry drawer nobody has opened since the eighties. We take the time to read all of it, then give you one clear, honest number.
How We Work
We evaluate everything in front of you, explain what we’re seeing, and pay cash before we leave. No consignment, no waiting on a sale.
How it works
Call or text photos.
A real conversation about what you have, no pressure to sell.
We come to you.
We look at everything, at your pace. We know what we're seeing.
Cash offer, same visit.
A fair price on the spot, or a full estate sale run for you.
Common questions
The estate is in a trust. Can you provide documentation for the fiduciary?
Yes. We provide an itemized record of what we purchased and what we paid, suitable for trust accounting. Executors and attorneys use our paperwork regularly. Everything is stated in writing before money changes hands, not reconstructed afterward.
Will the neighbors know anything is happening?
No. We arrive by appointment in a single unmarked vehicle, there is no signage, and nothing is staged outside. If you want a private sale rather than a public estate sale, the entire transaction can happen inside the house in an afternoon.
Who decides what the paintings and furnishings are worth?
We do, openly, and you watch us do it. We are dealers rather than certified appraisers, so our offers reflect the real markets we sell into, art by artist and demand, furnishings by maker and condition. We explain each number, and you are free to decline any of them.
Nobody has opened the jewelry drawer since the eighties. What should we do with it?
Open it, leave it as found, and do not polish or sort anything. Polishing removes the maker’s mark from a clasp and the wear that dates a piece, and sorting into real and costume goes wrong constantly, because a signed costume brooch can be worth more than the plain chain lying beside it. We identify jewelry at no charge, including gold, silver, and stones. Costume pieces get a real offer on the spot, and for the fine pieces we will point you to a reputable buyer if you decide to sell.
The dining room cabinet is full of china and crystal nobody wants. Where do we start?
Turn one plate over and photograph the backstamp, which carries the maker and usually the pattern name, then count what is actually there. A service that still has its serving pieces, its lids, its tureen and its platters is a different proposition from twelve dinner plates on their own, so keep the set whole until we have seen it. Do not run gilt-banded or hand-painted pieces through a dishwasher to freshen them before the visit. Dishwasher detergent takes gold banding off permanently, and that is the fastest way to reduce a formal service to a stack of plates.
The house has a real library. How do you tell what is valuable and what is only old?
Age by itself is worth very little; edition, condition and subject carry it. We look for a dust jacket still present and not price-clipped, the edition statement on the copyright page, fine bindings and sets bought to be read rather than sold by the foot, and California history and local material, which does well in a neighborhood that grew up around a great library. Leave bookplates, inscriptions and loose letters exactly where they are, since provenance in the front of a book usually adds to it. Do not tape a torn jacket or rub oil into leather before we come.
One call. We’ll take it
from there.
(949) 449-12555.0 on Google · Free visit, no obligation · Cash the same visit
Mon-Sat 6 am-8 pm · Sun 8 am-5 pm
A real person answers seven days a week, weekends included. Photos sent today are usually answered the same day.
Prefer photos? Text them straight to the same number · or send them here
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