Urgent: Regarding Sergio And Liane Sismondo's Books, Etc!

It's been a few years since my last dealings with him, so I'd have to dig out paperwork to be sure, but I recall thinking it was odd that I was dealing with Sergio, personally, and not with a corporation (owned by him). Not odd, bad, but odd, somewhat old fashioned.

If you're dealing with a deceased individual, you could be dealing with a creditor claims period in that person's probate matter, which could add an additional layer of complication. Those claims periods are often very short, and you may have to argue about notice.

I don't know how things work in New York, but an attorney who knows how to handle this will probably want you to send a check for 2 to 5 thousand dollars in order for him or her to take this on. (Attorneys in New York may be rolling on the floor at my guesstimate.) The math gets funny on these sorts of things pretty quickly.

Seemingly, you would need serious dollars at stake, and impeccable record keeping, to make this worth your while.

Alternatively, you can't swing a dead cat at any WSP _____-pex show without hitting an attorney or three. Maybe there is someone in the hobby who would take on a role of reaching out to the family in a non-adversarial way to see what is happening and what might be possible to work out. You would assume that this has been tried, but maybe not?

My 2d. Worth what you paid for it...

(I have no idea how Canada plays into this, if at all.)

Off-topic but definitely related as it's a similar scenario: I spoke with a number of now-very-aged dealers at CHICAGOPEX that referred to certain items being on consignment. If you are considering consigning to any dealer, especially an older one (is there any other kind these days?), be sure to have contingency plans in the event the dealer shuffles off this mortal coil.

Some dealers have formal consignment contracts, whereas others handle things more informally based upon years of established relationship with the consignor. Read these contracts thoroughly and if they don't have retrieval clauses and/or alternate contact information, I think it is perfectly fair to ask the question as to what happens and how do you retrieve your consigned material should anything happen to the dealer. Document and ideally image everything prior to consignment.

If the consigned material is only worth a few hundred dollars, it may not be worth this level of vigilance and caution, but if we're talking four, five, or six figures in aggregate, you want to protect your assets as well as your recourse in the event things go sideways.

Addition to Revenuecollectors post:

The converse is also true.

If you have a group of stamps or covers on consignment to dealer XXX, make sure you have a place in your "collection inventory" or philatelic estate disposal document that describes what you have on consignment and where all the documentation is located. That way the family can retrieve the material, or at least negotiate with the consigning dealer for the possible purchase of the material.

Life lessons I have learned.

Consignment = 'here, take this...pay me or give it back when and if you can'

Don

Materials from the upcoming Dutch Country Auctions sale with reference materials from Sergio's library are now posted:

https://stampauctionnetwork.com/ts/ts350.cfm

Reference materials start with lot #872:

https://stampauctionnetwork.com/ts/ts35044.cfm#151

It looks to be published reference works, and not his personal research materials. I don't know if there's more to come (or if that material even went to Dutch Country).

There is more literature to come, but I have no clue if that will include any of his personal research material.