I envy your task ahead, I have dreams of going through boxes of cool stuff. First I would ask yourself how much time do you have to liquidate your items. Estate sales are glorified yard sales, that the shoppers are expecting deals, mostly for resale. I have a friend that helps liquidate Estates, and trust me all his friends show up for extra special deals. Auction Houses usually want to deal with high end items. Dinnerware and Depression ware, unless is something really special usually won't deal with them. Unless you hire a Liquidation Auction service who will make big lots out of the items and sell them to their advantage. Best suggestion is to take some time and go through the items and try and pick out the best pieces first and either E-bay them or sell them at consignment. This will yield the most favorable to you and your family. Feel free to post items for evaluation here, we can help you a bit. If you do need to sell quick, go talk to any antique dealers in your area, tell them the situation, They may offer you better deals then any of these above.