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happen to these items next, this type of strategy offers you more
options, for both donating and selling.
A renewed and better understanding of your collection and its value
will also help you make decisions as to what you would like to see
happen to it next. If your collection has real financial or historic value,
this is even more important and should be done in consultation with an
attorney, tax professional, and/or financial advisor so you can make
informed decisions.
Consider your timeline. If you are diligently working on going
through your collection, you now know more about what you have and
what it’s currently worth. Do you want to do something about your
collection now in a way that might benefit your estate, or plan for it
now but leave it for someone else to execute? A lower estate tax bill may
be an incentive to donate the collection if your kids don’t want it. If
you sell, you will pay a capital gains tax on collectibles, and your state
could impose its own estate or inheritance tax.
Lastly, identify a designated beneficiary of your wishes and/or
collection—be it a spouse, family member, dealer, fellow collector, or
institution—and share what you would like to see happen, what plans
you have made, and what they should know about what you have. Put
it in writing, being helpful and specific. What you think of as a gift or
Death on the Nile cast photo with numerous signatures
from the Neil Carter collection. inheritance can turn out to be a burden if the beneficiary is unaware
and unprepared to honor your legacy.
As the family member entrusted with his autographs, I felt a deep
responsibility to do right by my grandfather’s legacy, but like most
thrust into this position I did not know where to start and he had not
prepared me. For me, the challenge of how to tackle a wall of file
cabinets and a room full of boxes and crates turned into a five-year
passion project to identify and catalog every item in the collection
worth saving and then liquidate what I had in a combination of private
sales, eBay, auctions, dealers, an e-commerce website, and at paper and
ephemera shows. I did my homework, worked hard, learned a lot, and
monetized my grandfather's collection in a way he never could have
imagined, as the value to him was in the thrill of the acquisition. Still,
I believe he would have been proud.
However, not everyone who inherits a legacy collection is in a
position or has the desire, background, or time to do right by it – espe-
cially if the collector does not make their wishes known. In the absence
of a plan or request from the collector, the responsibility of disposing
of, disbursing, or carrying on a loved one's lifetime of work can carry
with it a heavy emotional and physical burden for the spouse or family A popular collectible in the new millennium, sneaker collections
members, especially if the collection is comprised of rare and financially have grown to the point of filling multiple rooms in some homes.
valuable items.
When I ask collectors what plans they have made for the future of
their collection, most admit they have not made formal arrangements Considering Your Options
or their wishes known, although they have ideas as to what they would Many of the collectors we speak with say they would like to see their
like to see happen. While no one likes to dwell on the inevitable, the collection donated in its entirety to a museum, university library, his-
truth is this: what you hope will happen to your collection probably torical society, or an institution that can use the gift to raise money or
won’t unless you take the time now to plan, prepare, and engage seed a program. They believe that their objects are of historical and
someone in the process. cultural significance and as a collection tell an important, object-based
story worthy of preservation. While that may indeed be the case,
the reality is this: most libraries, universities, museums, and historical
Where to Start societies are already overwhelmed with donated collections, and few
Start by taking stock of what you have. While this may seem like a have the space, manpower or financial resources to accept all the
monumental task after decades of collecting, taking the time sooner collections coming their way as America’s greatest generation of
rather than later—while you can to review, organize, and catalog what collectors pass on, and family members look to place rather than sell
you have—is the best way to add value to your legacy. No one knows off a loved one’s lifetime of work.
your collection better than you; information about what you have, While money and space can always be found for rare examples,
where it was purchased, and for how much, is invaluable and needs to items of historic significance or provenance, and objects attributed to a
be recorded and passed on with the items in the collection. specific maker/artist/craftsman of regional or national prominence,
As you go through and re-organize your collection, consider selling most organizations today cannot accommodate large collections. This
off (deaccessioning) duplicates or lesser and superfluous items that is where curating your objects into smaller specialty collections can
don’t add value to the overall assemblage so that what is left reflects the increase the desirability of your gift amongst these types of institutions
best examples of the history and story your objects tell. and organizations.
Get your items appraised by a trusted dealer, appraiser or auction If this is the desired direction, it is important to reach out to the
house. It is important to have a current market assessment of what you institutions on your wish list now so you can share your intent and
have to learn what items, in particular, hold financial and or historic what you have, and they can share what they are interested in, are in a
value so you can plan accordingly. You might be very surprised by what position to accept, and what you and they will need when the time
is up in value and equally disappointed by what is not. comes to make sure the gift is easily transferred. It will be much harder
Then, curate your collection. Instead of looking at everything you for someone less- or un-familiar with your collection to do this on
have acquired as part of one big collection, organize your objects into a behalf of your family or estate without this type of advance outreach
series of smaller, more defined, theme-based collections segmented by and planning.
era, type, maker, region, or other strata, As you think about what should continued on page 28
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