Estate Planning - Sell or Donate?

[cfhofer]

Fantastic advice guys! Thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts. I've all ready begun this process and I am only 40 years old.

My unique, one of a kind pieces are slowly being donated to several university archives. However they are pretty selective on what they accept, given their limited space. The bulk of my collection (mostly vintage autographs) is slowly being sold off to private collectors. My wife and son don't have a clue about this hobby. I can see someone easily taking advantage of them.

[Laxcat]

Never too early. My brother collected video games like we do cards. He had his PC and stuff he bought to trade and sell. He nearly doubled his teaching income by dealing games. He was 29 when we lost him very suddenly and unexpectedly. I packed up his nearly 10000 games. He kept excellent records of what was in his collection, the stuff that matters to me, and what he had picked up to sell. He even had purchase prices for each game he had. It made it much easier for me to navigate my way through something I knew nothing about.

I haven't been able to bring myself to sell any of it. I know the day will come when I do and I am very grateful that I have his records to go off of.

[grainsley]

I recently talked to my daughter about this topic after a health scare. Have asked her to take it all and sell it if mortality was to set in. Told her to figure out how to maximize her profit (Ebay etc.) I said I don't care what she does with the money, she can put it towards a nice trip if she wants. Her reaction? "That has a very nice trip to Europe written all over it." Works for me. It isn't to soon for any of us to plan a course of action.

[drcy]

I did archive work for a museum and can advice two things about donating to a museum. One pick one where the material is relavant to to the museum. The one I worked for had a narrow historical focus and some of the stuff was not in alignment.

The other is see how the museum documents their stuff. While all stuff can't and won't be displayed, some museums these days record everything they receive in a library-like computer database, many that are accesable to the public online and picture the items. This means that anything that isn't displayed at the museum can be researched and viewed online, and used by students, historians etc in person-- and not just sitting in boxes in dusty back rooms. You want a museum that does this. The museum I worked for did this and part of my job description was assessing and documenting donations. Though all the non-displayed items were securely housed in a special room and a student or historian needed appointment/permission to access the material in person, the non-displayed items were documented and ordered in a library-like style with all the items searchable on the museum's computers. It was very much like a library-- which was a good thing for the donors.

I should add that that the historical museum I archived for was part of an educational center, and the financial value of the items donated was not important but the historical relevance. It was not like consigning to a big auction house where the donor had to wonder "Is it worth enough for them to want it?"

[Econteachert205]

I will sell at some point everything except what my kid directly wants if and when I have a kid.

[hawaiian bam bam]

Lately I've been thinking whats the point of collecting since we can't take it with us! As I get older, I prefer to have the cash than cards. Great topic!

[murphusa]

I sold it all and purchased a beach house

[clydepepper]

I recently sold (almost all of ) my Topps sets in order to finance a new body part. (hip)

But I'm still too addicted to 'the chase' to consider the final deposition / destination of the rest of my collection.
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[hawaiian bam bam]

The dilemma i face is this. after selling some of my collection, i was finally able to get my debt under control! not that. that is settled, i often think, should i sell EVERYTHING in my collection after over 40 years in the hobby and buy my dream car (a 1960's muscle car)/ part of me says sell everything, walk away from the hobby and purchase my dream car and enjoy it and enjoy life! another part of me says, i have put 40+ years into my collection and too just sell everything..i have attachment issues! another side of the coin is, i think i would get more enjoyment in a classic sports muscle car than cards/autographs sitting in a box collecting dust! but then baseball cards/autographs have been my passion for 40+ years, but then thoughts of driving that car are awesome..i would enjoy both equally but can only do one....see my dilemma! what to do? what to do?