Tom Knoblauch and Duane Donovan are what you would call modern-day treasure hunters. Norwich is a city with deep history, with little trinkets and heirlooms left through the generations, well preserved treasures, and Knoblauch and Donovan love the hunt for them.

They are the two pieces that make up Norwich Estate Sales, and they really love their jobs. They’re antique dealers with decades in the business; Knoblauch said he was selling things as a side business on eBay since its very beginning.

“I like the treasure hunting part of it the most,” Knoblauch said. “Finding things for people that they didn’t know they had. Just about every house has something interesting in it. I know what the customers are looking for, (because) I’ve been to a million estate sales myself as a customer.”

They said two-thirds of their business is done through their website, norwichestatesales.com, and the other third is returning customers who know Knoblauch and Donovan are the real deal.

Their website is invaluable. It allows them to get in touch directly with people in search of particular items and have everything with pictures listed clearly. The site is very easy to navigate; it’s as simple as seeing an item you want and buying it. A piece of history is now a treasure of your very home. Services offered include on-site estate sales, buy-outs of estates and cleanouts of properties.

They also help people sort things out unbiasedly that are sentimental to them. The site offers mostly antiques and some rare oddities that still are time stamps to history.

They said their most profitable finds are usually any time they find an automobile or something of the sort, but that’s not what they’re in it for. They’re trying to find the most interesting things.

Speaking about an upcoming sale, they said the most interesting items were a rare silver set from 1873 and shark teeth.

You never know what you’re going to find when checking an area or property. They work a lot with Realtors who hire them to clean out vacant properties with things left behind, and this is often a source for hidden treasures.

Realtors love the helpful service they provide of clearing the property and they get joy out of the finds and telling people what they are worth.

Things in big-name stores are about pushing out a large number of things at a lower quality, and typically older things are of higher quality and craftsmanship.

The partners seek historic, high-value items, in good condition, and try get them at a price that’s fair to the seller and to them, but in turn finding a new buyer who is willing to pay a higher price.

But they are really in it for the treasure hunt of knowledge and history.

They are always offering their services and have frequent estate sales, including a really big one they held Jan. 1 and many into 2021. For information, see their site norwichestatesales.com for a full schedule of their services and estate sales.

Brian Barganier lives in Salem.