Word of mouth is something to be very careful of, you have no idea who it could spread to. I remember a few years ago I was with a mate who was a boiler engineer and I went with him to a job just for the sake of going and helping out with bits n bobs for a little while, and the house we went to the owner had died not long before but his immediate family were having a load of work done on the house. Me and my mate turned up and my other two mates were already there working doing plumbing and tiling etc, one of them had been going into the loft ( yes you know where this is going ) to do some electrical work or something and because he knew I was Star Wars mad he said to me the loft was full... full of cardboard boxes completely filled with vintage SW toys and figures all mint in the boxes.
My eyes lit up and I asked him several times to let me have a look ( who wouldn't wanna at least have a look :shock: ) but he didn't let me also because he knew I was SW mad and would prob get a bit carried away haha. I still wonder to this day what was up there and even if anything has been touched or sold since. My point is though that I could have been a bit of a **** and decided to go back there to steal them all or gave somebody else the tip, I knew where the house was and knew that it was currently not being lived in by anyone for a while, it could have been so easy!
Be mindful of who knows what you have, and be aware of what you have on display when you invite guests over and keep things out of sight if possible, word spreads like wildfire!