Even slightly more recent movies, which had some cards, have probably faded in terms of interest.

I am thinking of the "Twilight" franchise, and the "Hunger Games" films, for example.

I see the Walmart exclusive "Hunger Games" packs of 24 cards, unsold on ebay for $ 3 or less.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: David R,

It becomes a double whammy. There is little new interest in product from older titles, movies or TV, and those that were/are interested have already acquired all but the rarest or most expensive bits.

Notice I said rarest or most expensive, not rarest and most expensive, as rarity guarantees nothing when only the experts care about certain cards or even know they exist.

It's funny, but since I discovered how little the majority of my autograph card collection is worth in real sale terms, I'm a lot less concerned with how I or anyone else will dispose of it.

quote:

Originally posted by Raven:

It's funny, but since I discovered how little the majority of my autograph card collection is worth in real sale terms, I'm a lot less concerned with how I or anyone else will dispose of it.

A lot of people, collectors and dealers, are going to find this out in due course if they don't know it already.

quote:

Originally posted by hammer:
The cards I have in my collection will stay with me until I don't know what they are and by then I won't care won't happens to them

That was my approach too, but now that I'm getting ancient, family who would be handling my estate are asking me for plans, and no "heirs" are particularly interested. Trouble is, within the junk are some items that have value. I'd like to find a situation where I can have them box them all up and ship them to somebody knowledgeable, who would rummage through the boxes, pick out the items worth keeping or selling, take a nice cut of proceeds, and donate the balance to charity. It would pain my ghost to see the $500 autos trashed together with the base card singles I accumulated when we were breaking boxes and trading. Got lots of complete sets that might be suitable for consignment if they don't all get dumped on the market at the same time.

quote:

Originally posted by allender:

quote:

Originally posted by hammer:
The cards I have in my collection will stay with me until I don't know what they are and by then I won't care won't happens to them

That was my approach too, but now that I'm getting ancient, family who would be handling my estate are asking me for plans, and no "heirs" are particularly interested. Trouble is, within the junk are some items that have value. I'd like to find a situation where I can have them box them all up and ship them to somebody knowledgeable, who would rummage through the boxes, pick out the items worth keeping or selling, take a nice cut of proceeds, and donate the balance to charity. It would pain my ghost to see the $500 autos trashed together with the base card singles I accumulated when we were breaking boxes and trading. Got lots of complete sets that might be suitable for consignment if they don't all get dumped on the market at the same time.

Personally I hope to see you around into your early 100's, Jeff, but I will volunteer to be the eyes of the Allender collection when that day comes in 3 or 4 decades if I am still around too!

Jeff -- obvious question, but why don't you go through your collection and pull out all the high dollar items and either sell them now, or set them aside?

Sadly I've had to deal with a number of family estates in the last few years, and it has really been eye opening. The items that surviving family members want get lovingly cared for, everything else turns into a burden for the people who are managing the estate.

quote:

Originally posted by allender:

quote:

Originally posted by hammer:
The cards I have in my collection will stay with me until I don't know what they are and by then I won't care won't happens to them

That was my approach too, but now that I'm getting ancient, family who would be handling my estate are asking me for plans, and no "heirs" are particularly interested. Trouble is, within the junk are some items that have value. I'd like to find a situation where I can have them box them all up and ship them to somebody knowledgeable, who would rummage through the boxes, pick out the items worth keeping or selling, take a nice cut of proceeds, and donate the balance to charity. It would pain my ghost to see the $500 autos trashed together with the base card singles I accumulated when we were breaking boxes and trading. Got lots of complete sets that might be suitable for consignment if they don't all get dumped on the market at the same time.

I know what you are saying Jeff, but is the value there for much stuff of last 20 years. I see things that I have paid good money for and there are 10/15 on ebay at prices I wish I had paid! Also there are high value sketch cards on ebay at $300/$400 that are from sets 10 years old - if people aren't paying these amounts they are not worth the price. If you have $500 auto's sort them out into a "Sell" folder so people know.

quote:

Originally posted by barobehere:

quote:

Originally posted by allender:

quote:

Originally posted by hammer:
The cards I have in my collection will stay with me until I don't know what they are and by then I won't care won't happens to them

That was my approach too, but now that I'm getting ancient, family who would be handling my estate are asking me for plans, and no "heirs" are particularly interested. Trouble is, within the junk are some items that have value. I'd like to find a situation where I can have them box them all up and ship them to somebody knowledgeable, who would rummage through the boxes, pick out the items worth keeping or selling, take a nice cut of proceeds, and donate the balance to charity. It would pain my ghost to see the $500 autos trashed together with the base card singles I accumulated when we were breaking boxes and trading. Got lots of complete sets that might be suitable for consignment if they don't all get dumped on the market at the same time.

Personally I hope to see you around into your early 100's, Jeff, but I will volunteer to be the eyes of the Allender collection when that day comes in 3 or 4 decades if I am still around too!

A fellow collector of military antiques did just what Jeff has suggested. He selected a fellow collector to work with his wife to sell his large French Foreign Legion collection. They agreed to a 50/50 split, and the widow has made out well ahead of where she would have been if the agreement had not been in place. It has been well over a year and he is still working on selling the collection, but it is bringing in money for the family on an ongoing basis. I think people find it difficult to plan for such an event.

quote:

Originally posted by allender:
That was my approach too, but now that I'm getting ancient, family who would be handling my estate are asking me for plans, and no "heirs" are particularly interested.

To be perfectly honest, I think I might have a few choice words for those people. It's one thing to start getting rid of your cards because you have lost interest in certain subjects, or you need more space, or you could use a little money, or your whole attitude about collecting has just changed. It's one thing to do it for yourself and quite another to do it to make it easier for someone else who isn't interested enough to just sit down and take instructions.

If you are a life long card collector, why shouldn't it stay life long?

What I have been doing for my own benefit is making room by clearing out old common in-person sports autograph cards. There is virtually no market value in them now anyway and more importantly, I don't care about them anymore. Giving that kind of bulk to a dealer is the fastest way to move it, but any cards of value should be kept behind.

It is a great idea to go through your collection now and make a list of those items of value. You don't have to start disposing of anything until you're ready. Tell people where they can find the list and don't worry so much if they have to do some work themselves. That's what an Executor is for.

quote:

Originally posted by Raven:
To be perfectly honest, I think I might have a few choice words for those people.

Speaking from a place of experience it is extremely difficult to try to learn a new hobby in order to dispose of someone else's collection.

I thought that leaving my collection would be a windfall for someone. . . Until I had to help deal with someone else's collection. The items are rarely as easy to sell as people think they would be, they rarely sell for what people think they'd sell for, it's difficult often to understand the hobby and know if you are getting a fair price (i.e. swatch variations, inscriptions, parallels, etc), the selling costs are generally higher than you expect them to be, and then there are the normal issues with shipping, returns, scammers, etc.

There may be dealers or consignors who can manage this, but that all should be set up and laid out ahead of time.

My philosophy is that you either care about what happens with your stuff enough that you manage it yourself or don't worry about it.

You left off the on my "few choice words" comment. It's like, don't bother me. I ain't going nowhere.

Seriously, collections of any kind are very personal, whether they have any monetary value or not. For cards, we may all like to think we have a windfall, but then we try to sell a few ourselves and reality sets in for the average collector. The larger the collection, the more common cards you have. The older the collection, the more the demand has subsided on most cards. That's not to say there isn't true value there, just probably not as much as you think in real sales and probably nowhere near the cost of the total amount that you paid out, especially if its over years and years.

I get the impression that Estate sales and clean out buyers are so popular now because dealers and consignors are very picky and the family, like you said, knows nothing about it. Professionals don't even want to look at average collections. They don't think its worth their time unless there are certain high dollar items. Only other collectors would truly be interested in looking, but not necessarily paying a lot either.

So yeah I wouldn't disagree with you. Manage it yourself beforehand or don't worry about what happens to it. I think if you can do a little of both you will probably be better off.

Sorry, my point wasn't to pick on what you said, I was just trying to point out how difficult it is when this sort of responsibility is put on you.

Does anyone know the tax implications of selling inherited property?

I did about 2 minutes of googling (ie. I know nothing on the topic) and it seems that assuming the inheritance wasn't taxable selling property that is inherited also isn't taxable -- unless the property appreciates in value between when it is inherited and when it is sold.

No clue how that applies if the property inherited loses value (can you claim a loss?). . .

Also, determining value at the time of inheriting can be dicey especially items that don't sell often. Should you come up with a value at the time of in inheriting so you can sell later and not worry about tax implications? What would be an appropriate proof of value?

Of course if you are selling the items yourself you have some of these same concerns, so it seems that there could be some tax benefits to passing a collection on rather than selling it yourself.

Interesting.

Guess there are no tax accountants or lawyers on the forum, or they don't want to give advice for free.

All I can tell you is that the 2018 deduction has doubled and you can now exclude $11,180,000 of assets from a taxable Estate. That would cover just about everybody except the richest. If the Estate has debts as well as assets, or if there are a number of beneficiaries, or if it has significant real property or real estate, getting legal advice is always in order.

Card collections would probably be the least of it.

quote:

Originally posted by Raven:
Guess there are no tax accountants or lawyers on the forum, or they don't want to give advice for free.

All I can tell you is that the 2018 deduction has doubled and you can now exclude $11,180,000 of assets from a taxable Estate. That would cover just about everybody except the richest. If the Estate has debts as well as assets, or if there are a number of beneficiaries, or if it has significant real property or real estate, getting legal advice is always in order.

Card collections would probably be the least of it.

Aw, you're trying to tell me that my card collection is probably worth less than $12 million?

I have other assets for the typical inheritors, and wouldn't worry about $ go into the estate - more like finding a "loving" set of hands to go through a collection where the bulk is low value, picking out the gems and sellable things like full sets at $3-$10 a shot or higher or mini-master sets, and after deducting a fee for the "lover," to donate the balance to charity. There's a small number of items that have real value, even today. At the very least I should find a collector or consignment shop that is prearranged to accept a large shipment of partly unsorted stuff (including a couple of hundred 4-inch binders holding multiple sets each with autos and sketches arranged with their sets, and boxes of completed sets). Some of it has been in storage lockers for a few years and if I ever get the house renovated to give a better display/storage arrangement, I can do hammer's sorting and list-making when I bring them back in. But I'm not sure whether I will get around to the project before I'm hit by a truck. I even have dozens of action figures I received as holiday gifts, bought cheap I'm sure, where I don't have a clue whether any have value.

So thanks for all of the advice and ruminations. Webjon makes me wonder whether I should check through things I've bought over the years and try to add up "losses". But his other point that it should be set up ahead of time would get people off my back about "what am I going to do if he kicks off". And Raven, I do consider it "life long"! And barobehere, you live close enough where I could transfer the keys to the storage lockers, but you don't really live up to your moniker "timetoletgo".

quote:

Originally posted by allender:
And barobehere, you live close enough where I could transfer the keys to the storage lockers, but you don't really live up to your moniker "timetoletgo".

Holy Smokes! You recognized on Ebay that I am one of about 4 card collectors in Mississippi! When I made that ebay account I really was planning on selling more and buying less. Just never works out that way!!

quote:

Originally posted by allender:

quote:

Originally posted by Raven:
Card collections would probably be the least of it.

Aw, you're trying to tell me that my card collection is probably worth less than $12 million?

Nope. I thought I had gathered a lot of junk over the years, but I don't have any storage lockers.

It's no wonder your family wants you to start now. I'm jealous.

Take my word for it. Selling off years of collecting cards is mentally painful. I was able to collect some of the most amazing cards ever printed and when everything was gone, it was depressing. So much as I second guess what I had done every day since I let them go.

My wife and I were retiring and decided to sell the house. After 29 years, we started to pack up everything. Selling stuff at garage sales, giving furniture to family and donating items to charity. That was the easy part. When it came time to let go of my 1,000,000 plus card collection, I had to be realistic. How you move it and where would I put it once we moved to our new home. I would have needed a truck just for the collection. The other important issue was leaving behind such a massive collection. I had to consider that if I had passed first, my wife would have been stuck attempting to sell off everything, not knowing what we had or what anything was worth. I did not want to leave her with that burden.

Creating an Inventory was a daunting task. I actually had some-what of a list, but nothing that could describe in detail the massive amount of cards and card related items we had. Neither of my children had any interest in the cards, other than a binder filled with Godzilla cards that my son asked for.

In the end, I knew there was no way I could take it with us so I was very lucky to find someone who was interested in it. After spending the good part of a day going through everything, their van was loaded with my life long collection, and I stood in my driveway watching as they drove off with my heart and soul.

I did enjoy the hunt for the rare and exotic cards and even collecting and completing base sets was so much fun. Over the 40 years I collected, I met so many great people that helped me with my quest. Some still collecting and some no longer with us. I still go to the Philly show just to meet with old acquaintances and look through the random boxes of cards for fun.

Whether you are selling off your cards, leaving them to a family member or just giving them away does have side effects that you can't understand until that day comes when you are separated from your collection.

I miss pulling a binder off the shelf and flipping through the pages just admiring the images and color of the cards. I would spend hours actually reading the backs to learn the whole story behind the card sets. It has been over 2 years since I parted with my beloved cards and not a day goes by that I don't think of them.
In my office I have only one single card left in my book case. An Outer Limits Adam West autograph. I was a product of the 60's and Batman was my favorite show. So that auto, even though it is not Batman related, reminds me of my childhood. Every time I look at it, a flood of great memories comes rushing back to the hay day of collecting during the late 80"s and 90"s when you when to a show and waited on lines around the building for hours just to get in. I would spend time talking and trading with others on line before you even entered the show. And remember those crazy dealers who could ask any price they wanted for a card you needed and they got it!

What a great part of my life.

That must have been a very hard thing to do. Also very brave. I know how you must have felt. Every day, I think about selling off my high end cards and then going down the list and disposing of the rest of them, but I still so far have the spark left to keep them. I also take a binder down once in a while and flip through it, thinking, what's the point, sell! But so far I have not been able to do it. I have far less than a million cards, your collection must have been astounding, to say the least. As far as the shows, I remember the power was off one morning when I arrived at a show, but my dealer was there, outside the building, and I bought a LOT of THE COMPLETE JAMES BOND autos and relic cards from him. Ah, the good old days!

quote:

Originally posted by beamer:
In the end, I knew tere was no way I could take it with us so I was very lucky to find someone who was interested in it. After spending the good part of a day going through everything, their van was loaded with my life long collection, and I stood in my driveway watching as they drove off with my heart and soul . . .

Whether you are selling off your cards, leaving them to a family member or just giving them away does have side effects that you can't understand until that day comes when you are separated from your collection . . .

What a great part of my life.

Thank you for that post. If it matters any, I and a lot of other people reading this can easily stand in your shoes and feel the same emotion. Our collections of all types are more than just possessions, they connect us to our past lives. Live long enough and we have many, but always more to come.