General Philatelic/Gen. Discussion : When I'm "dead and gone", what then?
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Harvey I think, therefore I am - I think! 24 Jun 2019 01:27:44pm
I'm only 67, so hopefully there are several years left but... . I learned the hard way about 5 years ago when my wife, who had never been sick before cancer struck, died of the cruel disease. We really are not immortal!!! I have no family and my estate is to go to several local charities. I have a valuable stamp collection - I have been a serious collector since 1972. What is the best way for my executor to get rid of the collection? My regular stamp dealer agreed to buy it when the time comes, but even though he is a good person he would have his own interests at heart. What should someone in my situation do? I am not being morbid, but I think we should all have a plan!
You are only 67 and have no family. At age 79 I decided to start selling my 60+ year collection/accumulation piece meal. After the initial difficult decision was made, I'm having GREAT fun perusing what was sold overnight - while I slept. I'm dealing with 6 "outlets" simultaneously, so the biggest problem might be just maintaining inventory and Shipping promptly. I slowly reached this decision after watching the widows of deceased stamp collectors and friends receive offers from major stamp companies for 10% of CV - or less. If you enjoy all aspects of stamp collecting, this is what I would recommend.
P.S.: At first, I was apprehensive about misidentifying stamps and related "problems". This just hasn't happened. Maybe 1 solvable problem every 6 months. I've recently Shipped relatively expensive Items to Malaysia, Italy, and China (6 in past week). No problem(s).
Just call me Lucky.
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Harvey I think, therefore I am - I think! 24 Jun 2019 02:51:18pm
re: When I'm "dead and gone", what then?
There's one point I didn't make clear - I really like playing with my collections. I collect many different items and enjoy having them around. Unless I have a huge change of attitude it's my executors who will have to disperse everything, but I will leave enough information to make it as easy as possible. Two friends of mine, both in their 90's, died recenthly and the dispersal of their stuff is crazy because of the market being down for antiques. They thought it was all set up, but once you are gone there's very little you can do!
I will tell the kids to turn the stamps over to our stamp club...we auctioned off close to 4 thousand dollars for a 90 some year old lady from our club..her albums were in a closet, i doubt if a dealer would have offered her a thousand...so everyone benefited..the members got good stamps for 10 to 20 percent of catalog. My stamps are my hobby,my therapy, etc; i go to them everyday just like some folks turn on the t.v. I could not expect my kids to deal with the mess...i can only advise.
"There's one point I didn't make clear - I really like playing with my collections."
I'm going on 61 and am having fun with my hobbies. I cannot wait until I retire and can spend more time. What makes me wonder is when I see friends retiring, they downsize and sell all their hobby things! Now what to do? Sit in a small apartment watching Dr Phil with the wife?
Enjoy what you own! You may get another 30 years to do so! Then it's someone else's problem.
I must be turning into a Buddhist, i don't think many of us came into this world with stamps..we aquired them along the way, same with drivers licenses,debit cards etc:.Tom, i can pretty much assure you of another 20 years...can't speak for 30.
Harvey, I avoid thinking about such things as this will get me depressed really quickly.
I would rather think about the good times, the good fishing spots, the hikes I have done and I would even entertain a few dirty thoughts about a girl I meet at a groceries store to reassure myself I am still doing fine :-)
Anyways, If you still need a suggestion and given you have no one to leave a collection to, you can prepare a list of collectors you know of, who would have appreciate your items and mentioned in your will what portions of your collection should go to each of them. To me this would be a good dead done. I have little trust in charities.
"I slowly reached this decision after watching the widows of deceased stamp collectors and friends receive offers from major stamp companies for 10% of CV - or less."
Bob, If I knew my estate would get 10% of the catalog value of my collection I would have zero concerns leaving everything the way it is.
Realistically we often sell our stamps at 10% catalog one piece at a time with the added burden of listing , scanning, packaging and shipping. So much work that I would willingly sacrifice another 5% catalog to avoid that.
Contrary to recent rumors, I'm not dead yet, just dead tired of this apartment, and wish I was back in the cabin cutting firewood again.
You are 1000% correct, BenFranklin1902. I would rather die with my collection, and be buried in a grand piano, than sit on the porch in a rocking chair, sipping prune juice and warm milk. Just gimme my tongs and ice cold beers.