Preparing Your Collection For Your Death
 

It's not a question that one likes to discuss, but it's a valid one. If you were to die quickly, would your loved ones have any idea what to do with the collection you left behind?

I'm the only one in my family who collects, so they know nothing about the hobby. As a whole I would value my collection over 50K so it's a sizeable undertaking to liquidate it.

My question is; does anyone have advice on what to do to make sure that when I'm gone the collection is properly disposed of?

I have only one rule for my collection. I collected because it gave me enjoyment. Many years of it. There's no reason to keep it after I'm gone so my son is to sell the whole thing and use all that money to do something equally as enjoyable. Take a trip to Europe, buy a sports car, have a mother-of-all-parties. I don't care, but spend it all on something that would be epic to him.

What should I be doing now to make sure that he gets what's coming to him?

My wife would call my auction partner, Scott B. Hopefully he will help her.....Otherwise she would call one of the auctions she knows I frequent....My collection is a good part of our savings so it is important

You might have a list of your collection with approximate values to help your family have an idea.

.

Like you, I collect for the sheer joy of the hobby. To this day, when I buy a card, it takes me back to the mid-late 70's, when I was a kid and buying packs and seeing if my favorites were in it.
With the advent of the MLB Channel, I can remember them when they play the old games or programs.
I have 2 sons (21 & 11) and 1 daughter (5).
My oldest son, I love him so much, but he is, shall we say, my "problem child" and I would NEVER leave something that represents my childhood as deeply as my collection, to him.
My 11 year old is the exact opposite. He watches the MLB Channel with me and asks questions about the guys playing when I was a kid. About 2 years ago, he switched from "Pokeman" cards, to Sports Cards.
And every since, the hobby has brought us really close. We go to Shows in Kansas City about every other month, which is an hour drive, and just the drive alone is nice to just talk to your pre teen son.
I have also taught him the basics of the hobby, and the basic "rules" of our collection. Do not buy a really valuable card, or a card older then 1950's without being graded by a reputable service. Never buy a card graded as "Authentic". Do not EVER sell a card, we are in this for the hobby and not the money, only trade, and only do that if we have 3 of that particular card.
We really love the 1919 Chicago Black Sox and the whole 1919 World Series, so that means the 1919 Reds as well. One of his favorite movies, and mine, is "Eight Men Out". So we have a special nook in our card room for that.
Anyways, so yes, when I pass, he is taking OUR collection as his own or for him and his son of choice.

Croaking
 

This is a great topic. I have made it clear to my wife and my children that they should sell my collection, without feeling guilty, after I croak and they can do whatever they want with the money. After reading this thread, I realized that I have never told them who to sell it to or how they should go about selling it.

Rick

Inventory each item and indicate current market value. List what to sell on ebay and better items ( $ 1K +) to an Auction House.

I am 31 and in perfect health so if I die now it would be a surprise, but since it can happen I have given some instructions to my wife. These instructions will have to be adapted as life changes but right now this is what I have told her.

I told her that if I die that she can do as she wishes with the baseball stuff. Don't feel guilty for selling anything or keeping anything. Yet if she goes to sell it I told her to come to this site (she knows my credentials, but if she doesn't remember she can sign up). I told her there are a few people that aren't very helpful but as a whole the community is a good place to garner info. I told her if she isn't sure about someone to seek out the owner (Leon) as he seems honest. I also explained that, though I have never cosigned to them, Leon does have an auction house so it may be simple enough just to send to him. Yet if she wanted to do more research there were other auction houses that advertise here that all seem equally good. I added that if she needed to sell quickly, Sterling is a good monthly auction house and they, too, advertise here.

So I just gave her general info on where to go and whom to talk to. Yet as time goes on I may be more specific. My dad and I use to do shows so I also know that if my wife and I go at the same time he will know enough to be able to figure out what to do with the collection.

I might add, if I can ever be of any help in helping out a family left with cards, it would be my honor. I promise I would go overboard on helping and no, it might not be my auction house that is best. I would even help them negotiate the best deal for the situation. But more importantly I hope I never have to do that as it would be a sad time.

My Dad is also in the hobby and he would be in charge of the collection. I have complete inventory list with scans and a value list kept on my hard drive that is updated with any additions/subtractions as they happen and both he and my wife are aware of. LOTG would be getting a rather large consignment and I've told my wife to sell it all and use the cash for whatever...no kids yet but I would hate the idea of my wife holding onto the cards to "remember me".

Place the items in a solid concrete time capsule for future generations to enjoy. Treat it like its a treasure and make a map (laminate of course). It be the next huge 'find'.

A Pre-mortem offer
 

For $29.95 I will provide you with a copy of my fool proof Collection Inventory System. After 13 years of inputting data you will then have the following information at your (or your heir's) fingertips.;)

Scans of all your cards.
Where the card is stored.
When you bought them.
What you paid.
What is their condition or grade.
What the certification number is.
What is on the back.
What is the ACC designation.
What is the value of your collection.
What cards are duplicates.
Which cards are Hall of Famers.
What your Auction House purchases were.
What is a Southern Leaguer.
What is an Obak.
What is a Goudey, etc
What you have already sold or traded.
Whom you have traded with and sold to.
And numerous other tidbits of trivia about your stash.

And if you buy today I will throw in a copy of the Monster Number Master List.:D

Frankly it is sometimes a pain in the neck to keep this maintained and accurate, but knowing what you have, where it is, etc in a few seconds makes it all worthwhile for me. Though sometimes I wonder if my hobby is really cards or spreadsheets.:eek:

My wife's tutorial on this system has yet to commence and that may take another 13 years.:)

I"m 67 and in good health. But I am 67. So I decided to take it upon myself to sell my entire collection in order to not burden my wife with having to deal with it.

Giving your spouse the names of one or even a few people you feel you could trust to help her in the event of an untimely departure does help to alleviate the burden a little. I appreciate Leon's offer to help. That's a huge responsibility to be willing to undertake (no pun intended) for someone.

Regardless, it's best to plan as early as possible.

I am 42 with 4 children and none have shown any interest in my collection. My only son, who is about to be 18, says he wants one specific card of mine to remember me by. I'm not so sure of the coincidence but it happens to be the most valuable card I own (1933 Delong Lou Gerhig). While I appreciate his desire to remember me through a card I told him my 89 Upper a Deck Griffey could do the same. The sale of my collection, including the Gerhig, would be more beneficial to my family than holding on to it.
I have instructed my wife to get in touch with one of three people I trust to help sell my collection. The first is a fellow board member and a very dear friend of mine whom I trust completely. His collecting habits are almost identical to mine and I know he would do anything to help out in any way possible. The second is Leon because he has way more contacts in the hobby that I could ever dream of and I know he would do his best to help out my family in their time of grieving. The third is a dealer that I sold a large part of my prewar collection to and treated me fairly and with great respect to me and my collection. I think between the three of these men my family would get the best value considering the situation and be able to move on.
Drew

It's getting buried with me in an unmarked grave... or it's going to be a gooey mess of plastic and ash if I'm cremated.... would it considered littering if the blob of plastic and ash was thrown into the ocean... dumb question, the fact that it would be my ashes, it'd be considered dumping garbage in the ocean...

Afterwards
 

I have shown my wife a picture of Alan Rosen and told her if he shows up on the front porch with a hand full of one hundred dollar bills after I am gone, to let the dogs out

Net54 Network of Survivor Support
 

When I landed on this board nearly two years ago, the first thread that caught my eye was along these same lines. The consensus was then, as it is now, to prepare an escape strategy for our survivors if we don't sell off our collectors while we can. After spending this time here, there are a few things that I am sure of....

1. This community is ever-changing. We have all seen the posts announcing the passing of long time hobbyists. We have all seen the posts from the proud Poppas showing their tykes and their first baseball card pacifiers. A good number of us spend as much if not more time interacting with friends here than people in our everyday lives.

2. The knowledge here is endless. Any collection could be evaluated and/or appraised. (Anything we do not know, we could easily fake.:D) We certainly have enough active board members to be close enough to anywhere to get a qualified eyeball on any collection.

3. There are enough collectors here to absorb most any collection.

4. What could not be absorbed could certainly be addressed on the BST or the Bay. We also have a number of auction house folks here led by our fearless leader, Leon.

5. This would be a grand undertaking. In reality, it is not likely to be accomplished free-of-charge but we could likely do it for the second cousin rate. :)

I don't know how serious I am. I am generally so silly that even I don't know when I am being serious. I don't know if it COULD be done but we sure could do as good a job of it as any other group of collectors in the hobby. Damn, we are good.!:D

NICE! I have told my wife something VERY similar! :D

+1

Thankfully, I have just about everything nicely documented on a spreadsheet...although it would probably require a real collector to understand my system!! I don't think my wife qualifies as a "real collector". What she knows comes from small tidbits of info I share w/ her on very long car rides...

I just asked her what she would do if I were to pass suddenly, and she shockingly gave me a proper response. She knows to go to one of my long-time hobby friends (and one who shares a common interest in the cards I now own).

This thread should be a constant reminder to us all to "trim the fat"...in the waist-lines and in our personal collections!!

Be a miserable SOB, and you'll live forever. Just that everyone around you will wish you would just croak already.

This is a topic that I have thought long and hard about. I am 54 and hope to hang on to my collection until 70 - 75 years old unless something happens. The situation for me is the estimated value of my collection , well in excess of 200k ( book and retail value, but less as we all know in the real world market) and the sheer volume of it... over 200, 000 cards, 500 signed baseballs, 500+ autographed photos, plus game worn jerseys, bases, etc, plus near 1,000 other autographs. The inventorying of it is voluminous, and the value can fluctuate as the stock market for many items. I have in my will a listing of dealers whom I trust and have dealt with and to contact if I go to that ballpark in the sky before my time, but it is also delineated by category of item( cards, jerseys , and autographs) as well as by classification ( rare vs common, 1800s vs 1980s , etc) with recommendations on who to use for each category/ sub-category. I have 1 person to help my family, who are clueless about the values and background of items , and the inner dealings / mechanics of this hobby, who will aid them in the organizational tasks. As you can see it is a potential logistical nightmare for such a valuable and yet small part of an estate, because the knowledge is held within such a small scope of people.
As if this weren't enough there are tax issues, capital gains, to deal with also for the seller, if living, or the estate , if the collector is deceased . It seems unlikely that a full collection could be handled strictly on a cash basis whether the seller is living or deceased, thereby trying to avoid the IRS and estate taxes.
Thank goodness my best friend is one of the top estate planning attorneys in the US and he has given me very good advice on this topic.
Sorry to have rambled on but this is a topic I have thought about and researched a lot.

The old saying goes, one of my greatest fears is that my wife would sell my cards for what I told her I paid for them....

A former business partner of mine passed from lymphoma and I spend a couple of years disposing of his collection. I think I did ok. I suspect it was a retail or $100k and I probably got $60k out of it after expenses, which was a very nice start to a college fund for his daughter. it was very hard work. I loved my partner and his family though and I was glad to do it. I also got to meet some great people like Ted Z through the process. That said, I don't have any great candidates who would do the same for me.

My son knows some about the cards...probably enough not to get fleeced. I have old friends like Rand Bailey who could be called on to help. I also have a pretty good insurance policy that should more than take care of things (I am a partner in a business) and while I would certainly hope to get a good amount from my collection, it is not a critical part of my "exit strategy."

All that said, I am thinking of thinning the herd. This begs a few questions...what would I do with the money that would make a difference in my life and that I would enjoy more than the cards? We live simply and my home is paid for. I drive a car that is paid for and I like. Money in the bank doesn't grow...and I don't need another hobby. I have an income that is sufficient to allow me to give to the causes that are important to me...so I have some thinking to do.

Love this quote!!

Todd, sounds like you are not in a bad place. If I were you I would consider "holding what I have" for a while. :)

Being single...w/no children...i will likely sell most of my collection at some point myself...i will most definitely keep some cards...likely my miller run. If i were to die suddenly...i always joke with my assistant that she will be the one who finds me when I don't show up for work one day... And I tell her to grab all of the baseball cards and get out of there as fast as you can!

I love this one...
 

nevermind...

I suggest you make it as easy as possible for your wife and kids. In the event of my death, my wife and children have been instructed to retrieve the will that we have set up in the event of our deaths (located in the safe deposit box). Attached to the will is a letter designating three auction houses to contact in order to dispose of my collection. After contacting them, they are to pick the best deal from among the three. My wife and children have also been made aware of the location of the spreadsheet I use to keep track of my collectibles as well as the location of those collectibles.

I think everyone should write a will - that way there is no disputing what you wanted. Include a list of instructions (non-binding) that way your heirs have guidance on how to sell if they choose to do so.

Leon

Yours is the only one I read that seems to link their card collection as an investement tool.
I dont believe my wife would say a lot about it, but I dont believe she would feel good about my collection being part of our investments.

But that is based on her lack of knowledge on this hobby and its potential.

My only problem is will this hobby(as investment) hold out in the long run. Will it continue to grow? I believe parts of it will like T206, Old Judges, Hall of Famers.

For those who collect for the enjoyment only(which is probably a majority), who cares?

An interesting question, darkhorse.

I've been working on documenting my entire collection for insurance purposes, as well as working on instructions for my parents in case something happened to me. While I don't have a lot of valuable pre-war and vintage cards..yet, I have a pretty substantial modern card collection. Lots of Bowman Chrome prospect autos that are quite valuable. I've been working on separate Excel spreadsheets for all my valuable cards, listing when and where the individual cards were bought, and how much I paid for them. I've downloaded all the Paypal payment recepits, and saved them for proof of purchase. The instructions would show them how to value the cards currently, and provide suggestions on where to sell them.

Are the cards subject to probate and inheritance tax?

Cards
 

If your cards have any value they would be included in your estate asset evaluation. Whether they or your estate would incur taxes depends on a lot of factors unique to your situation

My wife understands my passion and has confidence in my evaluations of the issues concerning them being part of our investments. I absolutely don't recommend it for anyone else. I am comfortable with it but then too I had a straight commission sales job for over 20 yrs and have run a few business, so I am somewhat of a risk taker to start with. It's all about calculated risks to me. I would rather have cards I can enjoy as part of our nest egg than all of it in stocks, cd's etc...To each their own.

Collecting
 

Old, albeit often otherwise worthless, stock and bond certificates can be collectible too :). Maybe more so in the future with the ascendance of paperless portfilios

I was hit with cancer-stage 3 at age 47. I am now 52 and cancer free. Doctors at Sloan Kettering in NYC say "cured". But I had to tell my wife to sell it through an auction house. No guilt. Take the mobey and run. I would say $50,000 is about right. cards, Yearbook, Autographs, Everything. I should update the inventory better. She knows the difference between a Diamond Star and a Goudey and Playball. But I really should inventory everything. She may not know I have a run of Street and Smiths from about 1960-present. She knows the auction houses I trust. My son has no interest, but when I'm gone, maybe he wants it. That would be fine too. I just lost my Dad 10 days ago. He was a coin collector. The family has no idea what it is worth, and I never posed the question to him.

It seems like a good idea to designate the cards as a family member's "inheritance" in your will (and leave instructions, contacts, estimates), rather than sell them before you die. I think the inheritance taxes would be far less than capital gains tax.

Question to those that are married:
My g-ma passed away a few months ago, and well her will ;i guess is trash- in thinking everything she owned goes to her spouse (my g-pa).
Family was expecting the outcome to be the other way around with g-pa surving cancer from Pearl Harbor and other wars for many years, what a turn around it had been.
Well, it seems that some things that were said privately years before the death, well never happened and now the property and belongings in N.Y. may head into a different direction.

So what i am saying is...even tho you want some things a certain way and done. How can you make sure it does?

This topic has got me thinking very hard..i will be 37 this year and not being married, i am close to my family. I do have a 7 yr old nephew, but hasnt shown no interest in sports.
It got me thinking about life insurance and what policys. I received a letter from Allstate quoting a 250k policy for like 17$/month...seems very good. At least its something. All i have is a 75k accident death dismemberment. Beginning to think i wanna leave the family something to be better situated in my passing. Any suggestions????

You should get life insurance while you're still young. A level 30 year term policy is cheap and you never know when or if you'll get married and have dependents. The longer you wait to get a policy, the more expensive it is.

I collect non sports but my collection has been willed to 2 members of the chat board. The 50's and up to one member, the earlier stuff to another member, they can do what they want with it. it is not about the money I invested it is the pure joy that it created for me, no amount of money could give my wife that much joy.
my collection is worth $100,000 plus!

Thanks Al - it seems like it is something that can be handed to the kids prior to death and be outside of the gift tax - but I am sure I will have to contact an attorney as I get closer to time.

Another winner Frank!

Just Being Nosy....
 

.... I'm assuming by 100K of non-sports.....stamps and coins ? Presidential/Celebrity autographs and memorabilia ?.... I honestly don't know what non-sports could add up to 100K ???

Mayby create a spread sheet, name of card and approx value, so others have an idea of its worth, i have that for my t205's and will do the same for my other cards too eventually.

I guess I am lucky on this one. My son collects also so he gets them. He want have to sell them for money. He will just have to deal with the trust that everything is going in. "The kid gets it all".

"Preparing Your Collection For Your Death."

I haven't lived up yet to my morbidity. It's too depressing.

I live by the motto in "Monty Python and the Holy Grail,"

"I'm not dead yet!"

Let me enjoy senility first. It makes the progression easier.

+1

Great advice.