Some Advice That I Can Pass Along, Please

I'd appreciate some advice that I can pass along to those who will eventually inherit my stamp collection. None of my children and grandchildren are stamp collectors.
I think mine is an unusual – if not unique – collection. I collect worldwide postally used stamps on which I can ID the city/town/place of cancel. In the several decades I have been trading dupes with other collectors, I've not found anyone else doing exactly what I'm doing.
I differentiate among the various spellings and punctuations of those place-names. I differentiate among all the differently named entities that have had stamps issued for them. I also differentiate among those entities as being colonial or independent places. At the moment, I have more than 74,000 stamps in this collection and get more almost daily. They occupy 40 large home-made loose-leaf albums that fill a bookcase.
I pay no attention to stamp values or varieties. There is duplication of individual stamps, as I am primarily seeking discrete places of cancel rather than discrete stamps. Some are definitives, some are commems. Most are singles; some are pairs or more. Most are off, but some are on paper. Sock-on-the-nose cancels are plentiful, but many of the stamps bear only partial but ID-able cancels. Many of the U.S. are stamps with the place-of-cancel dial next to the stamp, as that was the way most U.S. machine cancels have been applied.
So what can I suggest to my family for the eventual disposal of this collection if none of them chooses to continue the collection?

Auction?


Peter

From your description, your collection, indeed, may be unique. A collection of cancellations like yours is a highly specialised subject. It might be difficult to find anyone interested in more than one or two countries. If I understand you correctly, there is limited value in the stamps. It might be wise to break it up in geographical areas to attract attention from collectors of cancellations from such areas.

To sort of combine the ideas, a good Auction House would probably break up the collection into manageable "bites" which would probably be geographical areas, but may be just alphabetical (all A's, then B's, etc.)

If you feel that no one in the family or close friends are interested, then it may be worth your time to get an Auction House quote now, rather than later, and see if it would be worthwhile getting your collection into welcoming hands while you are still around, rather than later. You can always keep the cash collected from such sales, and will this to your family/friends instead.

Good luck on whatever you choose.

From my experience, the collections which have yielded the best financial result for the least stress for the family, have been those sold by the collector *before* their own demise. They know what they have and the connections of where it should be to be most appreciated.

As a second alternative, identify a specific knowledgeable "philatelic executor" to handle the collection for the family.

The worst result is often obtained by leaving it all to a family member who knows nothing about it and cares little about it, regardless of any quantity of written instructions. While you may pay no attention to values, that is what most inheritors will want to know the most. Don't leave a disposal burden for them. It may all wind up in the trash.

If it's not organized in an obvious, descriptive way, sell it now. It'll otherwise either get thrown out or sold by the pound.

THE #1 mistake made by collectors is not organizing/labeling. No one knows or cares about your collection as much as you. Make sure your inheritors know what they're getting.

I wholeheartedly agree with the comments made. In particular the advice to dispose of your collection yourself. You know your material in depth. If a family member walks in even with detailed information a buyer will quickly ascertain that they have no knowledge of it and might very well seek to counter your instructions by saying that they are incorrect or overly optimistic. You need to be your own advocate in order to get the best treatment. No question about it.

The drawback of disposing of the material yourself now or in the near-future is that you're also disposing of your means of entertainment. A halfway-house might be to consider whether there are geographical areas in which you're less interested and offer those on eBay.

I agree with GeoffHA. Most of us will either not have the day of our demise marked on the calendar or not be able to dispose of our collections when we do. Why would you stop enjoying your hobby and wait for the end to come. It is understandable you want your collection to find a good home, or at least bring your next of kin the maximum possible revenue.

However, why would you? If they do not care an do not follow your advice, my guess is you will be the last to be affected by what they do with it after you have passed on. Just enjoy your hobby as long as you can and want.

If it what happens with your treasured collection causes you worries, there always is an option to find someone who is interested and leave it to that person.

NSK - did you see Jaco Von Dormael's film The Brand New Testament, in which God's daughter releases the dates of demise?

I haven't.

In the sequel, they can add a scene where she visits a stamp club. After her visit, members run home to get their stamp collections and then queue at an auction house.

Thank you all!