For my wife's best, and oldest, friend who has found herself in very hard times. The Strat belonged to her late brother, a very well known, talented, and troubled musician. She has held on to this guitar for probably 15 years now but now needs to sell it to survive. I have not seen it yet but I have the serial number and I do know that it is a 66/67 made in Fullerton.
This is where I need help. I've sold several things on Ebay and my auctions always go very well but I have never sold anything that could bring in thousands of dollars. I feel confident that I can document this Strat properly and run a succesful auction but I'm wondering about payment - do I trust PayPal or should I set an escrow account? I've thought about local consignment as well - anyone have any idea of what the going percentage is to consign a vintage piece?
Obviously I need to get my hands on the guitar and carefully disassemble it to document it and photograph it. Her brother bought this guitar probably in late 80s early 90's from a well known shop in LA/Hollywood and she believes that she may be able to find the receipt of sell as well as the letter of provenance that describes this as once belonging to Robin Trower.
So, please, I'm open to any and all suggestions - I need to scrape every penny out of this sell that I can.