Rolexes, teeth and treasures: The thrill of Sask. estate sales

Rosthern, Sask. — Nich Fraser’s job is to run treasure hunts, but not the kind with maps and a hidden X.

Instead, Fraser’s treasure hunts are the kind that involves rummaging through decades of family history, sorting through memories and unearthing items that people thought were long forgotten.

As the owner of Transitions Estate Services, an estate and moving sale business, Fraser has turned the everyday act of downsizing into a thrilling scavenger hunt — one that’s often as unpredictable as it is rewarding.

Fraser referred to this home in Rosthern as a “collector’s paradise” as he and his team prepared it for a sale. (Brittany Caffet/650 CKOM)

Take, for example, the overwhelming challenge of a “collector’s paradise.”

“There’s thousands of pieces in here. This was a lifelong collector, and there’s multi-generations of collecting going on here,” Fraser said, gesturing to a sea of objects in a Rosthern home as he and his team prepared for a sale.

“I think the client counted, and there were over 1,700 sets of salt and pepper shakers. There’s hundreds of figurines. There’s costume jewelry, there’s vintage glassware, there’s retro pieces… you name it, it’s here.”

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Fraser said he always gets excited going through such large collections.

“Sorting through it is like being a kid in a candy store,” Fraser laughed. “Only with a lot more dusting and cleaning.”

While Fraser’s goal is to sell as many items as possible for his clients, he says his team takes care to research and appropriately price highly sought after collectibles. (Brittany Caffet/650 CKOM)

Transitions was founded in Regina in 2010 by three retired nurses. Fraser said his path to owning the company wasn’t planned — he’d been working for a non-profit before deciding to shift gears in 2020.

“I left the non-profit sector and was looking for something meaningful, but different,” he explained.

So he headed to Regina, trained with the original founders in the art of estate sale management, and started his own branch in Saskatoon. In 2021, Fraser bought the Regina branch, merged it with his Saskatoon operation, and expanded across the province.

“Now we have Regina, Saskatoon, and everything in between,” he said.

While his career path wasn’t planned, Fraser didn’t just stumble into this world. He’s got the credentials to prove he knows his stuff.

“I’m also a certified personal property appraiser, so that’s through the Canadian Personal Property Appraisers Group,” he explained. “Plus, I was a big garage saler and thrifter myself, so I like to think I have a little bit of an eye.”

Fraser’s team spends hours cleaning, organizing and pricing all of the items in each home in preparation for a sale. (Brittany Caffet/650 CKOM)

And that eye? It’s served him well.

“Every day for us is a treasure hunt,” Fraser said with a smile. And for him, the hunt starts with a personal connection.

“The first thing I do is come out, talk to the individual and their family, find out what their priorities are, find out what their goals are, and we’ll create a tailor-made plan for them,” he explained.

Whether it’s helping a family downsize for a move, sorting through a loved one’s belongings after a passing, or preparing a home for sale, Fraser said he approaches each situation with the same level of care.

From there, his team gets to work, and what they accomplish in just a few days is nothing short of impressive.

“We go from a full house to a sale to an empty house,” Fraser said with pride.

And though there are mountains of items to sort through, Fraser’s team works like a well-oiled machine, sorting, cleaning, and tagging as they go.

“This setup took our team two days to put together, and then a day of pricing,” he said, surrounded by neatly arranged collectibles in the dining room of the Rosthern home. “I’m always amazed at what my team can accomplish in two days. We work hard, we work fast and, in the end, I think we put together a really good, professional sale. And it shows.”

Though it’s a mountain of stuff, Fraser’s team works like a well-oiled machine, sorting, cleaning, and tagging as they go. (Brittany Caffet/650 CKOM)

There’s always a buzz of anticipation when Fraser and his team arrive at a sale site.

“When I get here, there’s usually five to 20 people in line waiting to get in,” he chuckled. “They’ve got their coffees, sitting in lawn chairs, just waiting for the doors to open.”

By the time Fraser cracks the door open at 9 a.m., there’s often a line that stretches 40 to 50 people long.

“The energy is always great,” he added. “There’s usually really good, positive energy on sale days.”

And with so much merchandise in each home, it’s an exciting – and sometimes overwhelming – shopping experience.

“Folks usually go through once, need a breather, and then go through again,” Fraser admitted. “You just can’t see everything the first time, and it’s overstimulating.”

Each sale has its own set of surprises — things that leave even Fraser raising an eyebrow.

“Every sale, I still come across something that’s new and exciting. It’s like, ‘What is that? I have no idea!’ And we look it up,” he said with a grin.

Fraser said in the last four years, he and his team have found four Rolexe watches in Saskatchewan homes. (Brittany Caffet/650 CKOM)

“You know, this might or might not surprise you, but a lot of houses in this province have teeth,” he said. “Children’s teeth, pet teeth, gold teeth—you name it, we come across teeth in a lot of our houses. The first person to find teeth yells out, ‘I got the teeth!’”

Fraser said every now and then, his team will come across an item of great value.

“We’ve returned four Rolex watches over the last four years to clients — some they didn’t even know were missing,” he said.

But beyond the quirky finds and the sometimes bizarre discoveries, there’s always a human element behind the work.

“Our clients typically aren’t in the home when we’re doing our setups and our sales. It’s emotional,” he acknowledged. “It’s very difficult for them. A lot of times, you’re giving up a lot. You’re having a sale because you’re probably moving to a smaller home, or you can’t live independently anymore. Whatever your reason may be, it’s tough to leave all of this behind.”

Fraser said the Rosthern home held approximately 1,700 sets of salt and pepper shakers. (Brittany Caffet/650 CKOM)

But he’s there for the families every step of the way, offering compassion and understanding.

“They do have the opportunity to come at the beginning and end of the setups, to walk through and see what we’ve uncovered,” he said. “Sometimes we find things they didn’t even know they had. It’s a little bit of a treasure hunt for them, too.”

Whether it’s sorting through piles of retro figurines or helping a family say goodbye to a beloved home, Fraser’s job isn’t just about selling items.

It’s about finding value in memories, helping people move forward and always finding joy in the treasure hunt.