A man dubbed 'Britain's biggest hoarder' has died suddenly, leaving behind a vast collection of odds and ends worth up to a whopping £4million.
The collector's hoard of items was so huge that it spilled beyond his terraced house in Nottingham, taking over another rented one bedroom flat, two garages, part of a neighbour's garden and 24 council wheelie bins.
To give you can idea, the house alone was stuffed full of more than 60,000 objects, ranging from rare books to signed memorabilia and antiques.
Unopened packages were also discovered in the house, some dating as far back as 2002.
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The hoarder's brother, who had no clue as to the extent of his sibling's collection, had to call on auctioneers to clear the house after his brother sadly passed away.
As you'd expect, clearing the house and additional storage areas was a colossal undertaking.
It took a team of eight people a total of 180 hours to empty the house, over the course of six weeks, using three vans.
The house was so crammed to the rafters that the clearance helpers had to remove items simply to make an accessible pathway through the house.
Now that the full collection is cleared, an auction house will sell it off in 3,000 lots over a four-day sale.
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The total estimate placed on the hoard is anywhere between £500,000 ($646,000) and £4 million ($5.17m).
It's thought that the man - who worked as a computer programmer and died suddenly at the age of 44 - started hoarding around 18 years ago, and purchased most of his items via eBay.
His hoard included rare signed photos and letters relating to JFK, Winston Churchill, Gandhi and Elvis Presley, along with 6,000 vintage comics, over 4,000 rare books, 3,000 vintage chemistry sets, and 12 Rickenbacker guitars from the 1960s and '70s.
Within the collection is a rare signed LP of The Beatles' Hard Day's Night, which could be worth £4,000, and a rare Justice League America Number One comic book valued at £1,200.
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The Rickenbacker guitars, meanwhile, could sell for £10,000 each.
Terry Woodcock, of Unique Auctions, of Lincoln, is the man who was tasked with selling the collection, and says that he's never seen anything like it in his 50-year career.
He said: "This collection is beyond belief. I met the man's brother at the house and he was just as shocked as I was. He had no idea his brother lived like he did.
"His house and garage were literally crammed full of items - so much, so that he had spent the last year of his life living in a B&B.
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"He rented a one bedroom flat just up the road and that was the same as well as two rented garages.
"I have no idea how he paid for it all and neither does his brother.
"He was a compulsive buyer of parcels that he was never going to open."
"He didn't buy rubbish, a lot of it was top quality stuff."
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Terry revealed that the prized collection very nearly ended up in the dump - and is relieved that it didn't.
He continued: "After he passed away his brother's first inclination was to send it all to the landfill. Luckily, he didn't.
"We couldn't get in through the front door so we had to go around the back.
"We were totally amazed at what we saw. Everywhere in the property was full to the ceiling, it was very difficult to move around.
"It was impossible to get up the stairs and you couldn't see the top of the staircase.
"We found out that when he filled up the house the owner rented two garages and when they were full he rented part of the garden next door."
"One dealer who has been to see us reckons it could be worth £4m."
Auction of the mind-boggling collection is set to take place between the 22nd and 25th October.
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