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So I always think about this....What happens to our collections if we pass away?

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JEBJJA

Active member
Aug 11, 2008
2,345
17
South Jersey- Near Philly
So I always think about this....What happens to our collections if we pass away? My wife always tells me to prepare her just in case something happens which can happen at any time because she knows nothing about cards and has no idea what I have and what to get for what I have. I do not have any time of program or instructions on what to do. And that is my fault but we take life for granted and don't look into things in depth because of time and running around doing all kinds of other stuff. What should I do? What have you guys done in preparation? There has been times even on these boards that someone has passed away. It's just something to think about. It's a scary thought....
 

Yanks2151

Active member
Nov 9, 2013
3,231
8
I think of this often myself. The cards for me are the tip of the iceberg. My hunting stuff, coins and muscle car come to mind on this topic too. Eventually I will act on it but for now as far as my cards I need to get organized to even know what I have. Good post OP. Hope to get some ideas from some members for myself.
 

mouschi

Featured Contributor, Bridging the Gap, Senior Mem
May 18, 2012
3,105
170
I've got it all locked up, actually. I'm going to be cremated and my ashes will be sprinkled all over my collection which will then be flown over the Oakland Coliseum during a game and dumped out all over.

In all seriousness, it is a good idea to at least catalog the expensive cards, I think ... that way if something does happen, our spouses can know which to look up. Maybe we should have a suggested sell price on some of the bigger items.

Going further, I think it is a good idea to get all work affairs and finances / bills set up to where it isn't huge burden on our better halves. Interesting/morbid thread!
 

hive17

Active member
Aug 7, 2008
21,426
24
A while back I suggested the idea of a service that you could sign up for and, in the unfortunate event of your death, your surviving spouse just notifies the company and either ships everything to the dealer, or the dealer comes and gets it. The dealer then just takes a flat percentage (after fees) for listing and selling everything and is not allowed to cherry-pick. There would be a contract in place so there would be no funny-business, and the spouse would be linked to all the auctions.

I think it's better than a spouse eventually wandering into a card store or posting a Craigslist ad and getting taken advantage of.

You could expand it to all collectibles. It would basically be a tailored, very specific estate sale and you'd be acting as the auction-broker and eBay as the auction house.
 

mlbsalltimegreats

New member
Aug 7, 2008
6,772
3
This is one of the reason why I have shrunk my collection. I had a close call last year and it go me to think how huge of a burden it would have been for my family to have to deal with my collection at the time. It would not have been fair to them at all. They know nothing at all. I then decided to shrink my collection to a manageable size in both enjoyment and cataloguing/record keeping. At first I dint know if i could do it but as it stands I am completely happy with were my collection is now with the few exceptions of missing a certain card here and there.
 
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phillyfan0417

Well-known member
Administrator
Aug 7, 2008
43,551
43
Greenfield, Wisconsin, United States
I've told my wife if any thing ever happens to me that she should go in to my phone and get the number for my consigner and he'd take care of it for her. I'm lucky to have some quality people I can trust to make it as easy as possible on her...
 

zlpeterson

Member
Sep 23, 2015
288
18
San Francisco
My cards are included in my will, they go to my dad if I pass before he does and they stay with my wife if my dad is not around (currently no children in the picture). I have a log of my cards that includes how I acquired them (purchase price or traded for) and what a minimum my wife should expect to get for them should she choose to sell. I actually have other sports memorabilia that far exceeds the value of my cards and these items are also included in the "value list".
 

KLARNOLD

Well-known member
Sep 17, 2008
1,409
147
Owensboro, KY
I was thinking recently about this and I thought the best thing for me to do is to put a label on card holders that describes what the card is in detail, especially for the rare, serial numbered, parallels, variations, inserts, or valuable ones. If your loved ones had that info on the card holders, you could instruct them to search the internet or eBay for possible values or contact a good friend that could help them with selling your collection.
 

TGutta

Active member
May 30, 2010
3,067
1
Minnetonka, Minnesota
Despite being only 25, my girlfriend and I have had that come up in conversation in the past. She kind of jokes and says that she would just contact [MENTION=5359]clarkzac[/MENTION] and have him help her sell my stuff (other than my Denard Span PC), but in thinking about it if something actually happened to me that might be what she actually does :lol:
 

RStadlerASU22

Active member
Jan 2, 2013
8,881
11
I've brought it up in passing but haven't set up anything. In the end I think I'll have a few consignors listed for her/them to contact if something should happen. The full process of setting up files on what the sales estimates would be I'll prob never do in full.

Ryan
 

David T.

Active member
Sep 4, 2008
1,350
14
My son will get the bulk of collection.
He's a sports nut but never got into collecting.
I've involved my wife and son enough to be able to find values of cards using Ebay completed sales though.
It isn't that tough and I advise showing someone close to you how to use Ebay.
I also have a brother who at one time collected and bought/sold on Ebay that knows how things work as well.
I do need to work on cataloging my collection though.
Good post!
Also a good reminder to update any insurance you have or may need to have.



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Skippy100

New member
Sep 21, 2015
28
1
I thought about a price list, but that's too much to keep up with over the years for the amount of cards.

For the more valuable complete sets in 3-ring binders/pages, I've included written notes that explain the rarity of the set and any other pertinent info. The other cheaper, easy sets, I've not messed with adding notes at all. Because most people will think, 'hmmm... he took time to point out that this set is special, but not this other one, so the noted one must be valuable, and I shouldn't just give it away for nothing'.

For the higher end single card stuff (especially mint 9 or gem mint 10 RC's) I've tried to either buy them graded or get them graded by PSA or BGS. This helps because all of the info that they would need to know is right there in front of them. It's a no brainer. So a quick google/ebay search with that info will clue them in. These will also stand out in the collection among other cards because they are in a "special holder".

It's not all full proof, but it does help.
 

Pinbreaker

Well-known member
Aug 7, 2008
10,131
287
Laguna Niguel, CA
Hmm, maybe some of the business savvy types on the board can create a company to do this..

When my previous wife passed away, she did crafts and I know we spent some $$ on things like beads, paints, rubber stamps, fabric, supplies, etc, and I contacted people I knew who did these types of crafts.. Instead of giving everything to goodwill, I gave the various items to people that would use them.. They all appreciated the items..

Have something similar to our collections, where certain cards would go to other members of this board.. for example, my EDGAR stuff would go to "the Edgar Collector" and my Griffey stuff to Magicpapa :cool:, and so on..

Over the Christmas break I start on organizing my cards as my family wouldn't know a $2 card from a $2000 card..

belle-museum.jpg
or
mantle-jr-dual-auto.jpg
 

mrmopar

Member
Jan 19, 2010
6,188
4,100
I started marking team set bags that contained small sets with the set name. I realized that this was nice, but not even the tip of the iceberg. I think unless you have "invested" in your collection, odds are good that you won't get anything near out of it what you put into it and only someone with a similar interest would even bother trying. I think the best idea is to find a few contacts who are knowledgable and that you feel you can trust and share those names with your family/partner. It may be a large well known ebay dealer who consigns like a Probstein or maybe it is a large catalog or shop dealer like a BBCE or Kit Young or maybe an auction house and lastly perhaps a collector friend form a board like this or if you are really lucky, a local friend or neighbor who shares your passion.

Like Kevin, besides real value items like bank accounts, property, vehicles, stock investments and such, I have other smaller "collections" that may have some value as well. Heck, at the rate technology is advancing, my music collection may be laughable soon, but I have a combined several thousand records, tapes and CDs that if nothing else are worth the music they contain and some are probably even collectible themselves by now! It is best to have a will in place no matter what it is you have to pass along to survivors, so it is clear what is to happen and who is to receive these items.
 

16christensen16

New member
Mar 23, 2015
1,635
1
spencer iowa
I have my collection all broken down in my will. Where everything goes and how it gets devided out. Someone who has helped me bigtime with my collection is in charge of doing everything. But it is all laid out in my will so everyone knows what is going to happen
 

cbrandtw

Active member
Sep 12, 2008
1,573
1
Daphne, AL
Very good post and a lot of interesting reads. I have done a few things. Like someone else, I too have reduced my collection and continue to do it. For my graded vintage collection, I subscribe to a website (vintagecardprices.com) that tracks all sales of graded cards. In my opinion, it is a GREAT resource. You log your buy/trade price (which obviously will never change) on the site and the site keeps track of the real value according to recent sales across all major sport collector auction houses and ebay. For my non-graded collection, I have lined up a couple of knowledgeable friends to sell the collection for my wife and kids if they don't want it. I told the kids if they do want the collection they can draft the cards one by one with the oldest drafting first.
 

clarkzac

Well-known member
Oct 31, 2010
9,825
1,080
Despite being only 25, my girlfriend and I have had that come up in conversation in the past. She kind of jokes and says that she would just contact @clarkzac and have him help her sell my stuff (other than my Denard Span PC), but in thinking about it if something actually happened to me that might be what she actually does :lol:

Haha, my first thought was my girlfriend or family getting in touch with you :lol: And she might have to take me to court for custody of the Span PC :lol:
 

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