We as human beings like to collect and acquire stuff. Somewhere in the DNA chain it is encoded, as a species, we gather and store things. Sometimes, it’s a lot of things. “Oh look, a piece of shiny,” and brings the newest bauble back to the nest. The list of what fascinates us is almost endless; comics, sports cards, vintage toys, U.S. bills & coins, Magic the Gathering cards, Pokémon cards, video games, or one of the other thousands of desirable collectibles the world has embraced as cool to collect.
Thankfully, many of us have refined tastes in the items we collect. While with others it is literally filling up your home with litter and garbage 3-feet deep (or more). I am sure there have been papers and thesis’s written on the reasons we horde items like a fantasy dragon. To quote Pokemon, “Gotta Catch ’Em All!”
Fast-forward years or even decades into your collecting pursuit. You’ve spent countless hours cultivating this collection that has brought you joy, excitement, bragging rights, and sometimes even mad money. You may even find it flowed out of its original space and begins to take over various parts of your home. You have indeed become a dragon in your lair with the mountain of proverbial gold glittering back at you.
Wait. You have not reached this point in your collecting hobby? It’s okay. One day you will. The trick though is collections grow slowly over time—that’s part of the joy. When you carefully cultivate the items for your treasure horde, you will be amazed at how fast it can grow. Keep on the path of diligently picking items you need for the horde of treasure at home.
Here comes a dose of future reality; this is not your collection forever. You technically own it, but in truth you are merely a steward of this vast collection. Sometime in the future, unless you (get bit by a vampire, find the Sorcerer’s Stone, some ‘live forever’ thing) these items you currently have will belong to others. Hopefully this lucky future generation who obtain these items will appreciate them as much as you did. This collection you amassed will be a legacy for others to cherish—even if they don’t know your name. They will understand someone had a passion and carefully collected and inventoried what they themselves now own, albeit temporarily.
The challenge for you, aside from gathering all the items in your collection, is what happens when you die? Did I forget to say “spoiler alert” prior to stating you will die? My bad, and sadly this is our fate. Now, what happens to all of your stuff? Did you take steps to plan what will happens upon your demise? Is there in place a plan with how to handle your estate.
Proper spoiler alert:
You can’t take any of this stuff with you.
There are two steps you can do now to protect your family, and the treasures you’ve accumulated. One is a legal process, and the other is a mechanism of contact. First, you need to setup a trust (contact an attorney on what needs to be done- this is outside the scope of this blog post). In most states if you only have a will, your estate goes to a probate court who will then decide how to handle your assets. It can be brutal, expensive, and painful. You don’t want the state to decide how to divvy up the assets to your surviving heirs.
Next, you should have in place a knowledgeable, professional company who you know and have developed a relationship concerning your collectibles. It could be a business you’ve bought and sold items with over the years, or referred to you by a friend. What matters is you trust them, as you are placing a tremendous amount of faith in them to take care of your heirs. There should be a folder, or binder, with the collection which has a rough inventory of what you have (it does not matter if it is up-to-date) and a name & phone number with your instructions on how the surviving family can contact them to get professional assistance in dealing with the collection. There are good dealers and there are not so good dealers. It is important for your family to contact a reputable company to help understand what they now have– and the true value of it.
Even if the family has no intention of selling your collection, it is a good practice to have in place a person/company for them to call and get support and guidance whenever they need. We’ve seen it ourselves as the family can easily be overwhelmed by inheriting a large collection. It’s an undue weight placed upon the them and the pressure they now have to deal with. It is times like these when snap decisions to “get rid of everything” can cause a series of poor decisions. You’d rollover in the grave if your $1,000 Hank Aaron baseball card was sold for a $1 at the next yard sale. A professional company can alleviate some of these new-found pressures by taking care of selling none (collection appraisal), some, or all of the collection through the best platform available (online, local store, or auction house).
To wrap things up, life is short. Be kind to others, and enjoy the fruits of your labor. Crack open your favorite beverage and relish in the fact you have an amazing collection—with refined tastes. It is hard work, just make sure you have a proper team in place to support you.
Also, please share the joy and passion with younger people. Inspire them to follow your footsteps and get into the hobby. Collecting is a fun and rewarding. Sadly, a lot of hobbies are dying because the fan-base continues to shrink. Be the bright light to spread the joy to others.
TL;DR
Your collection is an important part of you. It gives you happiness and a sense of purpose. This is why some of us collect our entire lives. The next challenge is to figure out what happens to the collection after your death. You need to have a written plan in place so the surviving members of your family will be taken care of. Two steps will help this process: form a trust (see an attorney) and have a trusted professional company ready to help the family with your collectible assets. Even if they are only there to answer questions and provide guidance, it can help your heirs more than you might realize. A piece of mind is an incredible thing.
Until then, enjoy the journey through life and have fun sharing the love of the hobby with the younger generations. It is how the hobby will continue to grow. Long after we are no longer here.
