Related Party Transactions (Narrative) (Details) - USD ($)	9 Months Ended
Sep. 30, 2018	Sep. 30, 2017
Related Party Transaction [Line Items]
Payment to related party	$ 390,000	$ 498,000
Ross Dove and Kirk Dove [Member]
Related Party Transaction [Line Items]
Payment to related party	34,000
Related party transaction accrued profit principal and guarantee transactions	$ 150,000,000
Lease Amounts [Member] \| Senior Officer of NLEX [Member] \| Edwardsville, IL [Member]
Related Party Transaction [Line Items]
Related party transaction agreement end date	May 31, 2023
Lease Amounts [Member] \| Senior Officer of NLEX [Member] \| Edwardsville, IL [Member] \| Selling, General and Administrative Expenses [Member]
Related Party Transaction [Line Items]
Payment to related party	$ 78,000	$ 75,000

Related party transaction accrued profit principal and guarantee transactions.

No definition available.

Name:	hgbl_RelatedPartyTransactionAccruedProfitPrincipalAndGuaranteeTransactions
Namespace Prefix:	hgbl_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Date of maturity or expiration of arrangements with a related party (for example, but not limited to, leasing and debt arrangements between related parties), in CCYY-MM-DD format.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_RelatedPartyTransactionDate
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:dateItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Line items represent financial concepts included in a table. These concepts are used to disclose reportable information associated with domain members defined in one or many axes to the table.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_RelatedPartyTransactionLineItems
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:stringItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

The cash outflow for the payment of a long-term borrowing made from a related party where one party can exercise control or significant influence over another party; including affiliates, owners or officers and their immediate families, pension trusts, and so forth. Alternate caption: Payments for Advances from Affiliates.

+ References

Reference 1: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 230
-SubTopic 10
-Section 45
-Paragraph 15
-Subparagraph (b)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=109223946&loc=d3e3291-108585

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_RepaymentsOfRelatedPartyDebt
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	duration

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_RelatedPartyTransactionsByRelatedPartyAxis=hgbl_RossDoveAndKirkDoveMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_RelatedPartyTransactionAxis=hgbl_LeaseAmountsMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_RelatedPartyTransactionsByRelatedPartyAxis=hgbl_SeniorOfficerOfNLEXMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	srt_StatementGeographicalAxis=hgbl_EdwardsvilleILMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_IncomeStatementLocationAxis=us-gaap_SellingGeneralAndAdministrativeExpensesMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type: