Composition of Certain Financial Statement Items (Narrative) (Details) (USD $) In Thousands, unless otherwise specified			1 Months Ended				1 Months Ended
	Sep. 30, 2013	Dec. 31, 2012	Feb. 29, 2012 Heritage Global Partners, Inc [Member]	Sep. 30, 2013 Heritage Global Partners, Inc [Member]	Sep. 30, 2013 Equity Partners [Member]	Jun. 30, 2011 Equity Partners [Member]	Feb. 29, 2012 Customer/Broker Network [Member]	Feb. 29, 2012 Trade Name [Member]
Interest-bearing receivable	$ 0	$ 10
Employee Advance Interest Rate		10.00%
Non-Interest Bearing Financing Receivables That Are Past Due	36
Allowance for Doubtful Accounts Receivable			0	0	0
Allowance for Notes, Loans and Financing Receivable, Current	0	0
Business Acquisition, Cost of acquired entity			7,080
Business Acquisition, Intangible Assets			5,640
Finite Lived Intangible Assets Amortization Period							12 years	14 years
Goodwill	$ 5,301	$ 5,301	$ 4,728			$ 573