BUFFALO, N.Y. — Early on in his career as an appraiser, George Armbruster was combing through a squalid, grime-filled home when he came across a surprise: an antique print depicting a bird. The house was “so filthy dirty, so smoky” that the details of the image were very difficult to see, Armbruster said.

BUFFALO, N.Y. — The door to the small gray house in Buffalo’s Broadway-Fillmore neighborhood opens, letting in the morning air. A parade of strangers steps into the living room. They have come to see the old woman’s things: her brocade-patterned sofa ($150), her Quartz-brand clock ($25), and the sewing patterns for vintage dresses that she must have kept for years ($2 apiece).

NIAGARA FALLS, N.Y. — The sightseers and wayfarers came on a February morning to see Niagara Falls. It was, maybe, the worst time of year — the end of winter, frigid and icy, with heaps of dirty snow dotting the city and cold winds chilling the soul. Still, the people came, converging in small clusters at a [...]