How Have You Helped You Heirs?

Don, just FYI - downloaded the album disposition form from your site and got a PDF with the following message:

The PDF is a form with fields that you fill in on your computer; the majority of free PDF readers are able to render the form correctly.

Are you able to open the form? If not, which PDF reader are you using?
Don

@Parcelpostguy said >> You use the term "important" but what is that a code for, expensive (to you), expensive for anyone, rare but of little value due to lack of demand, relatively worthless but establishes a previously unknown detail or what? <<

"Important" depends a bit on the stamp itself and its connection to history as well as its potential catalog value. For instance, the #239 slightly off-center on the horizontal, but the fact that 1893 Columbian Expos were the USA's first commemoratives. Things like that.

But basically, it's a guideline that says "Don't dumpster this one, have it checked out."

@DrewM: I like your attitude. Same as mine. I guess all any of us can say is when we're feeding the tree, what our heirs do with our earthly belongings won't matter to us. All we can do now, tho, is find ways to give them a leg up (because they had no interest in this hobby) so they don't trash a few things that may financially benefit them either a little or a lot.

@Funcitypapa said >> if your daughter's eyes glaze over when you try to talk to you about your collection why would you plan for her to "inherit" it? Why not sell and let her inherit the proceeds directly without a middle man? Very few of us have heirs that are interested in the items themselves (pick the type of collectible), only the cash they might get for them. <<

1. Because my son is inheriting my coin collection.
2. If I cashed in the choice specimens in my collection, I'd probably just spend it on hookers and tattoos before I'm dead. So I sorta think of leaving it all alone as forced savings.
3. Because why should I make it easy? (Antiques Roadshow wouldn't exist if dead people did all the legwork.) There's money in there, but I'm not just going to go thru the effort and just hand it over. I believe people should work for their money, and that includes things left to heirs. And on the very outside, my daughter researching my collection might end up finding something speaking to her (she appreciates good art, and our engravers did encellent work) and her becoming interested in this awesome hobby.

We dead people work in mysterious ways.

@DrewM said >> I'd put most of my "education" of family members into providing them with some contacts as to who to sell the collection to. Who has a good reputation, can evaluate the collection well, and can offer a fair price for it? That's all they really need. It's so-called "value" is going to only be your guess, and much of the time it's going to be wrong. <<

Exceptional advice, IMO. And that was sorta the point of my post: There are stamps and there are STAMPS! We all have one or two of those in our collections. Our gems. And since when we're dead, the only things that matter to our heirs (who have absolutely no interest in stamps) is 1. What's this stuff worth? and 2. How much of a pain in the arse will all this stuff be for me to sell?

A lot (if not all) of our common stuff that we collected just because we liked it) will be dumpstered -- but only if they know what the common stuff is that it's OK if it gets dumpstered. The collector world will live. But Imagine how many, let's imagine, original inverted Jennys mighta got trashed because, "This stamp is screwed up. Can't be worth anything." That's why I was saying that giving our heirs *some* sort of indicator/s of what we know to be notable and not dumpster because it's worth looking into, our heirs will be better off.

Interesting... I'm running MacOS 10.15 and got that error message using Preview, the default PDF app for Macs. Never seen it before. Opening using Adobe's own Acrobat app allows the form to load correctly.

gvol21,



Preview opens a lot of different file types and generally does a decent job. But it frequently has trouble with Adobe pdf, either not being able to open or not properly formatted.

I'd be more concerned that as a relatively young guy in my hobby, I am going to outlive everyone else interested in buying stamps... I don't know what the legacy of stamp collecting looks like in 25 years, including auction houses.

rismoney, on the flip side think of the awesome collection you're going to have buying for pennies on the dollar at the firesale of the future..

The hobby has often lamented the lack of younger people participation. For me this is like saying 'genealogy is going to die off because it does not have a lot of young people participating in it'. I think that some activities are favored by certain age groups.
Below is an image of a 1968 APS meeting, not many (any?) young folks in this group yet the hobby is still going strong in the 50 years since this photo was taken.

Don

There are more old people in the making every time a baby is born.

I've told my heirs that they will have to learn about stamp collecting and the value of stamps. For this they will receive a great reward. If they choose NOT to do this they will screw themselves. Nothing is free in life, not even an inheritance.

How true.

My attitude is if my heirs have zero interest and eyes glaze over when I even mention my stamps, then most likely they will muck up the sale of them no matter the preparations I make before I pass.

So, I've made provision in my will to have the collection sent to those I know will really appreciate it. It feels good knowing they will have a good home, will cost me nothing and will surprise the heck out of them.

From my observations, the best financial returns I have seen are, in order:

1. When the collector sells the material when still alive. They often know the best dealers/collectors for it. And there is enjoyment in seeing the next generation of collectors advance with the material.
2. To have a designated philatelic executor to do similar directing to the best channels.
3. Absolutely worst, leave it as a burden to family members to manage who know nothing about it - or worse yet, care nothing about it. A recipe for items being damaged or lost to the hobby.

I recently bought two modest groups of material. One from the still-kicking owner and one from an estate through a dealer. Based on my bargain with the second lot, the family of the deceased collector did not do nearly as well.