At one Atherton estate sale, Boro found $250,000 worth of Van Cleef & Arpels jewelry hidden inside a shoebox. He texted the owner, who was “surprised they had forgotten about them,” he recalled.
In another sale, the owners invested millions of dollars to turn a Woodside mansion into an Egyptian wonderland, complete with marble walls, giant tapestries and a pool dyed green “to match the Nile.” He was surprised to see it changed. It was gorgeous, but Boro worried that the property he had amassed wouldn’t find a local buyer, so he contacted Luxor Las Vegas, which took over everything. “Sometimes you have to think outside the box,” he said.
On the more traditional luxury side, Kashi unearths plenty of glitter. These include a 2.5-carat alexandrite ring valued at $24,000, 14-carat gold and pearl earrings, and a Tiffany and Christian Dior necklace. She displays her most expensive finds in glass cases during sales, and sometimes employs armed guards. She added that the clothes in her closet tend to be haute couture: “Louis Vuitton, Chanel, Hermès.”
For shoppers, the disposal of these luxury items means incredible savings. The discounts are so large (excluding fine jewelry and art, determined by the real estate sales company) that the sales manager himself may become a shopper. Cusack purchased Chanel pins and an entire “collection of vintage Ferragamo flats” from customers. “I regret not buying the black Birkin bag I had recently,” she said of the luxury handbags, which sell for between $8,500 and $2 million. “I sold three Birkins a few weeks ago.”
Cusack said Bay Area buyers are smart enough to be aware of everything from deeply discounted Restoration Hardware sofas to Rolexes and Pelotons. “In other parts of the country, people buy something and never part with it. Here, there are always sales.”
Her business has also evolved. In July 2023, she launched the app Kuzak’s Closet to move her business from IRL chaos to digital democracy. You no longer have to elbow your way into a vintage Eames chair. Everyone can enjoy the Silicon Valley cast-off from the comfort of their couch.
Antiques are common, but here in the Bay Area, some of the best “antiques” are technology products. “We sold the first Apple computers, the Atari and the PlayStation,” Kersey said. Discman is popular with Gen Z, she added. For Boro, the technology item of interest was an Apple Lisa computer discovered on the Woodside property. “It was very cool, very nerdy,” he said. It sold for about $10,000.
