NikkiLu,
I hope you are not feeling ill will toward your friend's husband.
My MIL was a knick-knack collector. They were every where! Wasn't a space empty enough for you to set down a coffee cup, no exaggeration! Within the first week of her passing, my FIL got rid of all of them. Seems it had been a bone of contention, but he never said a word. Just quietly endured until he didn't have to anymore. There were a few things my daughters might have liked to have, but nothing of any great expense, just stuff they remembered as always being in Grandma's house.
Tho' burning her stash does seem excessive, it might have been something he needed to do in his grieving process.