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Other Stuff => General Wargames and Hobby Discussion => Topic started by: Daeothar on 18 August 2014, 11:38:52 AM

Title: What happens to your collection when you're gone?
Post by: Daeothar on 18 August 2014, 11:38:52 AM: Yesterday, when I was digging through part of my collection of hoarded miniatures, looking for that one particular mini I know I have (but is it in this box, or that one?), I had a sudden thought:

'I have accumulated an awful large amount of hobby stuff over the years, and it is representing a pretty large monetary value by now. What would happen to it, should I suddenly die?'

See; my wife lovingly allows me my hobby shenanigans, accepts that I spend some of my disposable income on it every month, but she obviously does not have the faintest idea of exactly what is stored away on those shelves and in those boxes and what it's all worth.

Now, I'm convinced she's not daft enough to simply bin the lot, but I'm also not sure what she would do with it. My best guess is that she'd store it all in the garage for years, simply because she does not know what else to do with it, and she won't get rid of it because it used to be mine. You know; emotional attachment and all that.

Truth be told though (making an educated guess), I'd say there's enough there that, when sold for a good price, it could go a long way in putting our daughter through university. Now of course I'm hoping I will be able to help her through her education by being there and earning the money, but should the unthinkable happen, I'd rather have my miniatures, books, games, terrain and what nots being sold to help her out, than have it all going to waste.

I don't know it's because I'm all of a sudden hit by a bout of midlife crisis, or the birth of our daughter has made me more aware of my own mortality. Who knows? But I'm now slowly pondering on how to go about ensuring that my hobby collection will best benefit my wife and baby girl should I, in whatever way, die on them. (No; I'm not ill or planning anything rash; I'm fully anticipating to do the Funky Chicken on my 100th birthday :D )

Seeing the average age of the LAF population, I can't imagine nobody ever had such considerations. I know I've seen one member here a couple of years ago, who, on behalf of the widow, sold off the collection of another hobbyist who had passed away.

Is there anyone who has made plans for such an occurence? Did anyone include their collection in a will perhaps? Did anyone do an inventory of their collection? Maybe made a price estimate on their stuff (I know I had to, as part of the inventory done for our home insurance). Have you asked a befriended gamer to sell your collection when you're gone?

So; without being morbid or angsty about it and from a rational point of view, I'd be very interested to learn other people's thoughts on this...
Title: Re: What happens to your collection when you're gone?
Post by: Mason on 18 August 2014, 11:44:22 AM: I was thinking the same thing not too long ago.

Leaving stuff to other people in your will is one thing but planning what to do should something unexpected happen and there may be a good use for all that value locked up in hobby-related crap (and I certainly do have far too much... ::)) is a far better idea.

I dont think my missus is going to suddenly start gaming, after all.

Maybe a pact needs to be made with someone similarly minded, and within a sensible distance, is the answer.
???

And just to be clear, I dont plan on pegging it any time soon either.
Title: Re: What happens to your collection when you're gone?
Post by: Shahbahraz on 18 August 2014, 11:52:13 AM: I have appointed a wargames executor, who will dispose of my collection and ensure the proceeds make it back to the good lady. :-)
Title: Re: What happens to your collection when you're gone?
Post by: traveller on 18 August 2014, 11:53:13 AM: I share your thoughts. I guess the only rational thing would be to start cataloging all the stuff with photos and estimated value for, hopefully, a very distant ebay, or better LAF sale. The only option would be to start selling now :'(
Title: Re: What happens to your collection when you're gone?
Post by: von Lucky on 18 August 2014, 11:59:12 AM: I am departing this world on a funeral pyre onboard a Viking longship as it drifts into the sunset, so the collection is coming with me.
Title: Re: What happens to your collection when you're gone?
Post by: Banderium on 18 August 2014, 12:02:46 PM: deleted
Title: Re: What happens to your collection when you're gone?
Post by: matthais-mouse on 18 August 2014, 12:03:22 PM: Quote from: von Lucky on 18 August 2014, 11:59:12 AM
I am departing this world on a funeral pyre onboard a Viking longship as it drifts into the sunset, so the collection is coming with me.

Well your sorted lol

I think the cataloging idea is grand and would be a benefit to you as well as you will HAVE to sort it finding miniatures you didnt remeber you had and probably find ones that youve always wanted to finish :)
Title: Re: What happens to your collection when you're gone?
Post by: Dr. Zombie on 18 August 2014, 12:12:12 PM: My biggest fear is that when I die my wife will sell of my collection for what I told her I spent on it...
Title: Re: What happens to your collection when you're gone?
Post by: Dr.Falkenhayn on 18 August 2014, 12:19:36 PM: Quote from: Dr. Zombie on 18 August 2014, 12:12:12 PM
My biggest fear is that when I die my wife will sell of my collection for what I told her I spent on it...

lol lol Jeez if my Wife ever finds out how much i paid for my Steve Jackson Ogres and unseen Battlemechs i'm a dead Man for sure lol
Title: Re: What happens to your collection when you're gone?
Post by: Conquistador on 18 August 2014, 12:26:35 PM: If I precede my Beautiful Princess she has directions to do with as she sees fit. These are toys and I refuse to pretend they are anything else. The OOP stuff from the 1970s and 1980s will not change anyone's life.

Maybe she will put them in a pile give everyone 48 hours to pick out what they want and then have a trash service haul the remains off.

Gracias,

Glenn
Title: Re: What happens to your collection when you're gone?
Post by: Dr. Zombie on 18 August 2014, 12:30:13 PM: Quote from: Mason on 18 August 2014, 11:44:22 AM
Maybe a pact needs to be made with someone similarly minded

I call dibs on Upsheet Creek!!

On a more serious note. What does it really matter?

I would think that if I went before my time my collection would be either chucked in the bin (I could totally see my wife doing that! She would do that even now if I didn't keep a close guard) or be sent into recirculation. I myself have bicked up quite the bargains at carboot sales and even on eBay by people just wanting to get rid of stuff.

I think either way if I am gone I would not care. I am not planning on comming back or anything. Perhaps only as a ghost to haunt Dr. the Vikings gaming dungeon and knock over minis when he is not looking...
Title: Re: What happens to your collection when you're gone?
Post by: maxxon on 18 August 2014, 01:03:27 PM: In the past few years I have had the dubious pleasure of assisting in this sort of process a couple of times.

To put it bluntly, your collection is probably the least of the worries at that point. When you need to empty a house for selling, there is no time to carefully consider knickknacks to sell for best possible price. The costs for the house are running every day, it needs to be sold now -- and no one will buy it while it's filled with some old geezer's random junk.

If you care about what happens to your stuff after you go, the only real solution is to deal with the issue before you go.

- If you want it to have a "good home", donate it to whoever seems deserving
- If you want to recoup the financial investment (personally I wouldn't hold my breath on this...), negotiate the sale in advance. Add a delayed delivery clause if you want and can. There is a very good chance that whoever buys it will dismantle the models and strip paint off the figures... if the thought causes you distress, se the other option above

Learn to let go before you have to let go.

I'd rather be remembered as the generous old grognard rather than the miserly old hoarder...
Title: Re: What happens to your collection when you're gone?
Post by: Daeothar on 18 August 2014, 01:09:04 PM: Quote from: Dr. Zombie on 18 August 2014, 12:30:13 PM
On a more serious note. What does it really matter?

Well, that's the whole point of my musings really.

I'm not counting on coming back, or using my toys in Walhalla, but as I pointed out; they do have quite the cumulated intrinsic value. My thoughts were that, even though I would not care what happened to the stuff, the proceedings of their sale could help support my loved ones.

Not going totally overboard, I estimate that my collection, as it stands now, will certainly not be worth less than €5000,- and may well be worth more (current value, not retail prices). Now, obviously somebody could sell the lot for a couple of hundred and call it quits, but I would like for those I leave behind to have to biggest possible benefit from it.

I mentioned the example of my daughter's tuition; with that €5000,-, I could easily pay for 4 years of college right now (but who knows what that would cost in 18 years time of course...). Now, for some that might not be a lot of money, but to me/us, it certainly is.

So even though they're 'just toys', tossing them all out the window or putting them up for grabs, to me, seems wasteful and not fair to my family.

The problem I run into there though is; who's going to take on that task? Will they know the ins and outs of the market like I do? Do they know the right channels? Would an illustrated catalogue help my wife selling them? that sort of stuff...
Title: Re: What happens to your collection when you're gone?
Post by: Lowtardog on 18 August 2014, 01:30:20 PM: I have asked for it to be burried with myself (tongue in cheek) ideally with a parade of little men on the coffin lid, subject to environmental laws, alternatively I want to be stuffed and wheeled out on my brithday to be at a table where the miniatures will be displayed, together with a strong cooffee a designer beer and an open bar of fruit and nut chocolate ;D

to be honest I would get a mate to sell them for my partner e-bay etc :)
Title: Re: What happens to your collection when you're gone?
Post by: von Lucky on 18 August 2014, 02:32:05 PM: Quote from: Daeothar on 18 August 2014, 01:09:04 PM
The problem I run into there though is; who's going to take on that task? Will they know the ins and outs of the market like I do? Do they know the right channels? Would an illustrated catalogue help my wife selling them? that sort of stuff...

I would consider having a wargaming friend sell it (organising out the details beforehand). They get a cut (10% or whatever), and the rest of the proceeds go back to your family after the initial grieving period (as there's no rush to sell it as the collection is out of the house).
Title: Re: What happens to your collection when you're gone?
Post by: Mason on 18 August 2014, 03:00:21 PM: Quote from: Dr. Zombie on 18 August 2014, 12:30:13 PM
I call dibs on Upsheet Creek!!

I think that those that the buildings are named after should get dibs on that place.
;)
Title: Re: What happens to your collection when you're gone?
Post by: former user on 18 August 2014, 03:31:21 PM: now that's an interesting discussion...
here my 2ct:

most of the collection of anyone will be unpainted lead and un- or half assembled kits
good idea would be to store them with an inventory and pictures, best idea would be to write a name on it who should get it and mention these in a will

I always thought about installing an online repository where everyone can submit pictures and addresses of their collections and other members can call dibs on. In the unhappy case this might help a lot redistributing them.

As to the painted collections - let's be honest
I have seen large 20ys old collections untouched dusting in glass cases, and collectors preferring the new shineys over their 10 year old miniatures (which are still excellently painted).
if they pass away, and this will happen sooner then later, the handful of friends who they share the hobby with might distribute them among themselves (out of nostalgia for the old fellow) and they might contribute some financial tribute to the widow, but not because they are worth anything to anybody but a decreasing number of other senile geezers. And noone will play with them but You and possibly a few friends. Their value is decreasing exponentially every year

the only purpose the miniatures available now might serve 10-20 years from now is in a digital museum for the hobby, where they have been 3D scanned and can be printed out for everyone to buy for tuppence.

and this only if such luxuries will be affordable then - otherwise they might be sought after for the metal and melted down on sight ;-) (like many lead, pewter and bronze miniatures from the antiquity that could be bought at every temple corner)
Title: Re: What happens to your collection when you're gone?
Post by: Mr.J on 18 August 2014, 04:09:44 PM: My Dad is currently in the process of sorting through a close friend's collection since he passed.
A lot of it was based and ready and has gone onto ebay with the money raised going to his friend's wife and family, other bits he is rebasing, touching up etc. with the ultimate aim being for it to end up on ebay and the money to his friend's wife and family. It has been a long process and is still on going but I think it has been worthwhile, especially with the amounts of money that he has made for them.

Myself, I have told my wife to give everything to my brother and my dad, who both wargame, to do with as they see fit.
Title: Re: What happens to your collection when you're gone?
Post by: former user on 18 August 2014, 04:17:41 PM: this is a good thing...
but apart from the service he is doing to his friend's family, would it have recompensed the work he has put into it?

what I want to say - is this kind of collection evaluation not grief work for our passed away wargaming buddies in reality?

my point actually being:

our collections are only worth the time and passion we put into it, and the fun we share with others (especially that one) - the monetary value is negligable
Title: Re: What happens to your collection when you're gone?
Post by: WitchfinderGeneral on 18 August 2014, 05:47:44 PM: Most of my stuff is still blistered/boxed or at least labeled. My wife should dump them on ebay. The same with most of my record collection (which may be even easier).
Title: Re: What happens to your collection when you're gone?
Post by: FramFramson on 18 August 2014, 06:20:25 PM: I think that at the very very least, even if you don't catalogue anything, make sure one or two people you TRUST IMPLICITLY know that the collection is worth money. That should at least prevent it being thrown out willy-nilly.

If you have a ballpark figure then you can add that, though if you're telling someone who knows little or nothing about wargames, make sure they know the real value (i.e. What people might actually pay) could be notably more or less and that they should find someone who knows about the hobby (probably one of your gaming friends) to help them dispose of it. This is still valid advice even if you want it to be given away rather than sold.

That's a conversation that only takes five minutes.

As for me, I suspect my collection would net maybe a few hundred, and only then because it's somewhat decently painted (ego! lol) . Where things get really terrifying is my and my wife's collection of Magic cards. We've been collecting and playing since 1993-94 and the value of that stuff is plain insanity now.
Title: Re: What happens to your collection when you're gone?
Post by: Cubs on 18 August 2014, 06:35:19 PM: My will stipulates the collection is to be divided between my brothers (if they want it or are still around ... although secretly I hope to outlive them both by at least half a century) or sold/disposed of as my wife sees fit otherwise.

Frankly once I shuffle off this mortal coil I don't suppose anyone will feel much like having fun anymore, since their brightest light will have moved on. But in any case, I care not about worldly things, such as my possessions, my organs or pectoral implants and frankly it matters not to me what happens to them once I have transformed into a beautiful butterfly angel, or the scary skeleton thing at the end of the corridor in 'Poltergeist'.

The most likely scenario is that my spirit will inhabit my toys and they will drag my carcass into a giant mausoleum, from which I emerge every now and then to feast on the living. They will act as my protectors and facilities department in the undeath afterlife.
Title: Re: What happens to your collection when you're gone?
Post by: traveller on 18 August 2014, 06:58:55 PM: This discussion raise another interesting question...what is the average age of the wargaming community. I would guess we are becoming older...
Title: Re: What happens to your collection when you're gone?
Post by: Cubs on 18 August 2014, 07:25:58 PM: Quote from: traveller on 18 August 2014, 06:58:55 PM
I would guess we are becoming older...

I'd say that's a safe bet.
Title: Re: What happens to your collection when you're gone?
Post by: goon3423 on 18 August 2014, 08:07:59 PM: Leave it all to my son, hopefully by then maybe the grandkids too so he/they can remember & possibly pass on some of the fun and quality time we shared.
Title: Re: What happens to your collection when you're gone?
Post by: Sardoo on 18 August 2014, 09:48:33 PM: Quote from: goon3423 on 18 August 2014, 08:07:59 PM
Leave it all to my son, hopefully by then maybe the grandkids too so he/they can remember & possibly pass on some of the fun and quality time we shared.

My thoughts exactly!
Title: Re: What happens to your collection when you're gone?
Post by: Blackwolf on 18 August 2014, 10:08:25 PM: It's just stuff,frankly when I'm gone it can all go into a skip,my wife does not need the worry; you have to be realistic.
Title: Re: What happens to your collection when you're gone?
Post by: fastolfrus on 18 August 2014, 10:13:49 PM: My wife & son both game - so we have a house full.
Books are our main downfall - we went to Hay on Wye again last week and exceeded all previous visits, buying 82 books on one day (including another 16 Ospreys to add to the Osprey bookcase).....
Title: Re: What happens to your collection when you're gone?
Post by: former user on 18 August 2014, 11:06:57 PM: Quote from: Bezzo on 18 August 2014, 05:07:02 PM
Like it or not what we have amassed has a pecuniary value. Or in the case of the art collector a Monet-ary value.

how much does one get for 2nd hand miniatures or painted ones (by the regular wargamer, not pro painters like Cubs etc)?
would it pay off the work put into selling it?

hardly my experience, but I am willing to learn better
Title: Re: What happens to your collection when you're gone?
Post by: thebinmann on 18 August 2014, 11:17:56 PM: WOW Happy thread

I have been selling off my old stuff to paint for family holidays etc and I can tell you if you started in the 1980s so of it is Worth a mint§ I have made thousdands rather than hundreds. But it takes knowledge for how/where to list and time.

Mine goes to my brother/gamer friends to be sold for my wife and children. With a chunk for charity (as I have be doing since I started).
Title: Re: What happens to your collection when you're gone?
Post by: thebinmann on 18 August 2014, 11:19:34 PM: PS clearly in the spirit of LAF any non gamers listing here would be adivsed/given a fair deal.
Title: Re: What happens to your collection when you're gone?
Post by: thebinmann on 18 August 2014, 11:20:24 PM: Quote from: traveller on 18 August 2014, 11:53:13 AM
I share your thoughts. I guess the only rational thing would be to start cataloging all the stuff with photos and estimated value for, hopefully, a very distant ebay, or better LAF sale. The only option would be to start selling now :'(

You know this should be done for insurance any way....
Title: Re: What happens to your collection when you're gone?
Post by: former user on 18 August 2014, 11:35:20 PM: maybe I should test it...
Title: Re: What happens to your collection when you're gone?
Post by: joroas on 18 August 2014, 11:36:25 PM: Ditto, Geoff, no idea what'll happen to it, either.........
Title: Re: What happens to your collection when you're gone?
Post by: maxxon on 19 August 2014, 07:52:32 AM: Quote from: Bezzo on 18 August 2014, 05:07:02 PM
I hear what you are saying but if someone's hobby was maybe collecting paintings and he had a Monet would you say the same about selling it off? Like it or not what we have amassed has a pecuniary value. Or in the case of the art collector a Monet-ary value.

My father actually did collect paintings. Not real famous stuff, but classic pieces by less known artists nonetheless. Real antique, several were over 100 years old. The walls of my childhood home were plastered with the stuff.

When he passed away, we were nearly begging people to take them because we had nowhere to store them. I had a couple of auction houses refuse to take them to sell. People's tastes change and they just don't buy art like they used to.

I actually once contacted one of those "we'll buy your minis" guys that advertise in wargaming magazines. He was offering 25% of retail (yes, one quarter of original price) -- for unopened kits. Anything I had already messed with would be less. Plus I'd have to foot the postage since he wasn't offering pickups outside UK.

I figured it would be cheaper for me to just give the stuff away if I had to.

The business model of these vulture operations relies on buying really cheap in bulk, quickly separating wheat from the chaff, having buyer contacts for the really hot stuff but also very much in having ample storage capacity for the stuff that needs to wait for the right buyer to come along.

I've sunk thousands into my collection but I don't really expect anyone to get a dime out of it.
Title: Re: What happens to your collection when you're gone?
Post by: joroas on 19 August 2014, 08:08:26 AM: Quote
transit van Laugh Laugh

You're only taking the Ancients then?
Title: Re: What happens to your collection when you're gone?
Post by: v_lazy_dragon on 19 August 2014, 08:11:46 AM: Quote from: former user on 18 August 2014, 11:06:57 PM
how much does one get for 2nd hand miniatures or painted ones (by the regular wargamer, not pro painters like Cubs etc)?
would it pay off the work put into selling it?

On that note - I used to do the Lincombe Barn wargaming table-top sale and had a stall at Reveillie every year to clear off my 40k, pulp/colonial and sci-fi/post apocalyse collections and would regularly make £400-700 a session. Over the course of the different shows over 3 years I atended, I must have made around £2,500, and LAF sales across the same period would probably total another £1000. I sold a lot (somewhere between 500 and 1000, but no idea exactly how many) of figures, but no where near my whole collection... Painting was goot table top at best, 9 year old learning to paint at worst.... Based on that and the size of some of the collections that people on here mention, I would say that it's definitely worth persuing a sale...
Title: Re: What happens to your collection when you're gone?
Post by: former user on 19 August 2014, 08:14:46 AM: could it be that GW resells better than everything else because they have so many crazed fans and so high prices?
Title: Re: What happens to your collection when you're gone?
Post by: maxxon on 19 August 2014, 09:03:59 AM: Quote from: former user on 19 August 2014, 08:14:46 AM
could it be that GW resells better than everything else because they have so many crazed fans and so high prices?

Yes, definitely, but it mainly applies to the most recent stuff. Older versions are not so easy and obsolete versions are landfill material. Nobody wants it if isn't in the latest army book.

The other sellable items are ready to play DBx armies (or whatever the hardcore anc/med tournament crowd plays these days). There you'll also find people who are interested in just the game and ready to buy the necessary equipment so to speak.

If you have a collection of, say, old BattleTech minis they might fetch a good price -- but you'll have to wait for the right buyer.

Things are also probably best if you are in the UK. Elsewhere you'll have to deal with much lesser gamer densities.

There are local differences. Over here in Finland basically no one will pay a dime extra for painted. The first question in mind when buying second hand is "how easy are they to strip and repaint?" Recently a big lot of painted 15mm was offered for less than the cost of the metal. Last I heard the seller had to ship it out to UK because no one here was willing to pay (it didn't help that he insisted selling it as single lot).
Title: Re: What happens to your collection when you're gone?
Post by: Relic on 19 August 2014, 10:22:19 AM: Good topic! I have thought this also and I will let my friends to sell the stuff and give the cash to my family. Some things will be given to my best friend. Selling this kind of stuff takes time and rarely you can sell all in one go with a good profit. So it will be a long process to get rid of everything.

If my son shows interest in miniature gaming, then he will get the stuff.. Time will tell.
Title: Re: What happens to your collection when you're gone?
Post by: Cubs on 19 August 2014, 11:15:50 AM: Quote from: former user on 18 August 2014, 11:06:57 PM
how much does one get for 2nd hand miniatures or painted ones (by the regular wargamer, not pro painters like Cubs etc)?
would it pay off the work put into selling it?

hardly my experience, but I am willing to learn better

My work obviously goes for thousands, partly due to the breathtaking quality, but also because of the sexual aura that people assume is absorbed into the model.

But the simple answer is, it depends.

The long answer is, sometimes it goes for crazy money and sometimes for peanuts and then everything inbetween. It's really hard to predict, because all you need is two bidders, anywhere in the world, who want something and you have yourself an eBay bidding war!

Unless I am specifically 'flipping' something on eBay (ie. I've bought it at £X and need to sell it for at least £X x 2, for profit) I will go for a bidding auction with a low-ish starting price, not a 'Buy it Now'. Statistically you tend to get higher end prices.

If you set the auction up properly, with good photos, put in the work to make it available worldwide, with clear postage options, you can get maybe 3 or 4 times the retail value for miniatures painted to a good (not exceptional) standard.

As an example, I once had a client who had bought a 15mm Napoleonic Spanish Army (basically painted for gaming) and immediately suffered buyer's remorse. He asked me to sell it for him, being an eBay novice, and said he wasn't looking for profit, just some of his money back. I split the army up into individual units, touched up some bits of chipped paint and gave them all simple, but uniform, bases and then relisted the lot. I took a 25% final price fee and even taking that into account, plus listing final value costs, plus postage, he came out with a 10% profit on his initial investment.

The way in which you go about selling something affects its price a hell of a lot more than most people appreciate. In essence, if you make it accessible (break it up into smaller, more affordable chunks and also do your homework with postage costs) people are more likely to bid. The more work someone has to do, or the tougher it is to justify to themselves, the less likely they are to bid. It sounds obvious, but you'd be amazed how many people neglect to break an army up for selling (listing fees are usually minimal if not free), or who don't want to bother with overseas postage, then come out with a disappointing total.
Title: Re: What happens to your collection when you're gone?
Post by: former user on 19 August 2014, 11:30:39 AM: Quote from: Cubs on 19 August 2014, 11:15:50 AM
My work obviously goes for thousands, partly due to the breathtaking quality, but also because of the sexual aura that people assume is absorbed into the model.

have You been at the Absinthe again, Vincent? careful with the ears ;) :D
Title: Re: What happens to your collection when you're gone?
Post by: Cubs on 19 August 2014, 11:55:54 AM: (http://laughtertab.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/And-I-am-an-artist.jpg)
Title: Re: What happens to your collection when you're gone?
Post by: v_lazy_dragon on 19 August 2014, 12:16:38 PM: Quote from: former user on 19 August 2014, 08:14:46 AM
could it be that GW resells better than everything else because they have so many crazed fans and so high prices?

Actually, no. It was the non-GW stuff that typically went first and for the best prices. I still have a (big) box full of 3rd Ed 40K era Orks which noone has touched despite being at near give-away prices. Pulp, some dark ages stuff, colonials and zombie survivor tpyes all did well. Vietnam stuff did not...
Title: Re: What happens to your collection when you're gone?
Post by: Doomhippie on 19 August 2014, 01:00:42 PM: When a friend of mine passed away his girlfriend invited all his gaming buddies over to take what they wanted for free. She believed that would be in his interest. That was a great gesture
Title: Re: What happens to your collection when you're gone?
Post by: Dr. Zombie on 19 August 2014, 01:03:10 PM: It is a well known fact that the day you have painted all your miniatures is the day you die.

And by that same logic I am going to live forever!
Title: Re: What happens to your collection when you're gone?
Post by: FramFramson on 19 August 2014, 05:02:01 PM: I think the only reason I give much of a damn about my minis at all is because they're painted. My wife states she would probably just keep the painted ones if I were to predecease her. Of course that's a bit easier to say because my painted minis only take up three small cases... so far (PA has ramped me up such that one of those casefuls is from this year alone).

Though with rare stuff I tend to think of other gamers a bit. There are things I managed to find which were rare or limited and maybe someone else really would like that. If my stuff all gets binned, that makes those minis just that little bit less accessible and a little bit more the province of rich sods. I feel for the gamer who's been trying for years to find some hard-to-find gem - it's easy for me to understand that collector bug!
Title: Re: What happens to your collection when you're gone?
Post by: matthais-mouse on 21 August 2014, 02:35:12 PM: Quote from: Dr. Zombie on 19 August 2014, 01:03:10 PM
It is a well known fact that the day you have painted all your miniatures is the day you die.

And by that same logic I am going to live forever!

Hmm damn good logic here, must buy more minis haha lol
Title: Re: What happens to your collection when you're gone?
Post by: Conquistador on 21 August 2014, 03:10:30 PM: They will probably be melted down for bullets for black powder weapons in the Zombie Apocalypse? ;) o_o lol

Gracias,

Glenn
Title: Re: What happens to your collection when you're gone?
Post by: DeafNala on 21 August 2014, 03:23:57 PM: Quote from: Dr. Zombie on 19 August 2014, 01:03:10 PM
It is a well known fact that the day you have painted all your miniatures is the day you die.

And by that same logic I am going to live forever!

One of my old gaming friends actually did die within days of finishing his long term Seven Years War Project...I have thousands of minis yet to go as a consequence.
As far as my stuff, I'm not a collector & haven't had an opportunity or really an inclination to game in long years. I'm into creating various thingies; once completed giving them away or, when money is short, selling them would be cool with moi, but I'd like to see the expression on the Guy/Gal's face as I hand the whatever to them.
Title: Re: What happens to your collection when you're gone?
Post by: Tactalvanic on 21 August 2014, 03:40:20 PM: If there are friends or family with interest - pass those pieces to the person with interest in them.

After all toys are to be enjoyed.

If there is value, make sure she has someone to help selling those pieces (see the first comment). She should get some benefit from putting up with it for all those years.

What's left, make my urn out of, and stick me in there.

Label it with my name and OOP in large letters.

Painting it is optional of course.
Title: Re: What happens to your collection when you're gone?
Post by: Buff Orpington on 21 August 2014, 05:14:06 PM: My son will get the job of dealing with it. Hopefully he will keep what he wants. He knows how much the Battletech stuff is worth.
Title: Re: What happens to your collection when you're gone?
Post by: warlord frod on 21 August 2014, 05:37:55 PM: We recently helped a gaming friends widow dispose of his large collection. He had indicated prior to his passing that his frequent gaming friends could each have one of his armies. The rest was sold to those of us who knew him and the money given to his widow. Both our local game stores purchased some of the materiel and resold it as well.

The point is we should plan for what is to happen. The gaming community we hang with may be very willing to help if we do not have family to do it for us. I personally have cataloged everything along with ideas as to who is to get what and where the rest can be sold. My children and grandchildren will take most of it I suspect and the rest will be sold or donated to my gaming friends.

As to value some collectible stuff can bring a good price. I recently sold some of my collection of board games and was able to earn a good chunk of change. Value of anything depends on a number of factors (Age, condition desirability etc) But even given that anything is better then nothing. We buy our toys to enjoy not as an financial investment after all.
Title: Re: What happens to your collection when you're gone?
Post by: Mad Doc Morris on 21 August 2014, 05:55:12 PM: I've learnt not to care. My family doesn't appreciate the hobby at all, neither do most of my friends. Thus, should I meet an untimely end my collection will most likely get scrapped. And I wouldn't want to bother my dear ones anyway. It's been established here that even 'people in the know' often have a hard time reselling miniatures. Why would I want to give the impression all those models are a hoard of gold? That's just as bad as the grandparents' collection of porcelain cats – maybe once expensive and held in high esteem, now useless scrap to anyone else, if not an item of grief.

Brace yourselves, I've actually binned figures and hobby stuff myself, and I'm prepared to do it again! (Despite there's not much left at the moment.) It's the easiest way to get rid of stuff literally no one wants – if not for free, overseas postage included. Don't mention charity, e.g. schools round here aren't even interested in mint-condition books, let alone wargaming figures. Definitely not worth the hassle.
Title: Re: What happens to your collection when you're gone?
Post by: joroas on 21 August 2014, 06:03:27 PM: Quote
schools round here aren't even interested in mint-condition books, let alone wargaming figures.

Pity you aren't near my school, I always take anything........
Title: Re: What happens to your collection when you're gone?
Post by: Belgian on 21 August 2014, 06:26:49 PM: Quote from: Bezzo on 21 August 2014, 06:13:30 PM
Oh that is appalling, but sadly not surprising.

In the UK the average O-level grades in English are down this year. Whenever we have to shortlist for vacancies I am obliged to read CV's and application forms in which the applicant is unable to write a six word sentence without errors or even comprehensibility.

I have honestly seen "I is a gud team palyer."

That's a really bad sentence, although the palyer mistake could be easily corrected if they cared to read their text again. Regarding the subject of this thread, way to young to think of that and my collection isn't that big yet ;)
Title: Re: What happens to your collection when you're gone?
Post by: Bergil on 22 August 2014, 03:33:59 AM: Have them all buried alongside me as some sort of terracotta army. Sorry if someone has already said that...
Title: Re: What happens to your collection when you're gone?
Post by: Monstrum on 22 August 2014, 07:34:35 AM: hopefully I'll have a kid someday and he/she/ll inherit it ... if not as Bergil said "Have them all buried alongside me as some sort of terracotta army."
Title: Re: What happens to your collection when you're gone?
Post by: former user on 22 August 2014, 08:13:36 AM: Quote from: Monstrum on 22 August 2014, 07:34:35 AM
"Have them all buried alongside me as some sort of terracotta army."

actually illustrates very well certain psychological aspects of gaming with miniatures that I have always suspected to play a rather major role in this hobby, especially when it comes to large armies....
Title: Re: What happens to your collection when you're gone?
Post by: Vanvlak on 22 August 2014, 10:18:32 AM: At this rate, if I live to be 83 the pile of stuff should have sufficient mass to implode and form the core of a new star, problem solved.
At this rate, however, I will not live to be 83 ;D
Title: Re: What happens to your collection when you're gone?
Post by: Arteis on 22 August 2014, 02:21:14 PM: If my family were to sell off my collection after I pass away, their biggest problem would be post and packing. It would be a horrendous task!

But restricting to pick-ups only would mean a fairly limited pool of potential buyers. In fact, probably no buyers at all, judging by the number of attractive but unsold armies I spotted on the second-hand table at a local convention the other day.
Title: Re: What happens to your collection when you're gone?
Post by: Bergil on 22 August 2014, 06:08:35 PM: Quote from: Bezzo on 22 August 2014, 08:23:11 AM
I suspect the terracotta army remarks are not intended to be serious, and inferring psychological motives like meglomania might be giving them a significance they do not warrant :

;)

No no, I can assure you I am intent on world domination. ;D
Title: Re: What happens to your collection when you're gone?
Post by: former user on 22 August 2014, 06:17:38 PM: Quote from: Bezzo on 22 August 2014, 08:23:11 AM
I suspect the terracotta army remarks are not intended to be serious

abolutely - everything I write on the internet is deadly serious
after all, I do have a german passport - I have exchanged it for my sense of humour...

if I behave I might qualify for a Swiss upgrade
Title: Re: What happens to your collection when you're gone?
Post by: Neotacha on 26 August 2014, 02:50:21 AM: It'll be Michael's problem, unless he goes before me or with me. If he goes first, I keep them 'til I die. Then they're his brother's problem. If we go together, they're still his brother's problem.

See? Problem solved.
Title: Re: What happens to your collection when you're gone?
Post by: joroas on 26 August 2014, 06:32:02 AM: Quote
if I behave I might qualify for a Swiss upgrade

At least you'd get a nice knife with lots of modelling gadgets......
Title: Re: What happens to your collection when you're gone?
Post by: joroas on 26 August 2014, 06:35:05 AM: Quote
I do have a german passport - I have exchanged it for my sense of humour...

I could never pay that much.... Wink

I understand that there are several LAFers willing to fund this for us, fairly desparately judging by the PMs I have received.......
Title: Re: What happens to your collection when you're gone?
Post by: former user on 26 August 2014, 07:55:45 AM: let me get this straight, You are issuing german passports in exchange for sense of humour?
Title: Re: What happens to your collection when you're gone?
Post by: former user on 26 August 2014, 07:56:57 AM: Quote from: Bezzo on 22 August 2014, 06:31:36 PM
I could never pay that much.... ;)

You are getting this wrong, it is not a matter of choice...
Title: Re: What happens to your collection when you're gone?
Post by: Barbarian on 26 August 2014, 08:16:27 AM: And the ability to dance.
Title: Re: What happens to your collection when you're gone?
Post by: eilif on 27 August 2014, 03:45:38 PM: As to the original question, I have no doubt that assuming my kid's didn't want it, my wife would give it all to my gaming buddies. We socialize with most of them and their wives, so it would be the most natural thing. I think maybe I should go through and loosely catalog what I have though, to make it easier for them.

There's ALOT to dig through.
Title: Re: What happens to your collection when you're gone?
Post by: Conquistador on 27 August 2014, 03:57:24 PM: Quote from: former user on 26 August 2014, 07:56:57 AM
You are getting this wrong, it is not a matter of choice...

Play the Marseille!

;)

Gracias,

Glenn
Title: Re: What happens to your collection when you're gone?
Post by: Dr. Zombie on 27 August 2014, 04:54:01 PM: There are a lot of people who would give their collection to their gaming buddies.

And I am not sure I understand that. If I go before my time, it will probably involve some or all of my gaming buddies and they will probably go to. Blaze of glory and all that.

When the remaining wives put everything on eBay prices will plummet and bringing the world economy to its knees.
Title: Re: What happens to your collection when you're gone?
Post by: Meier_Elf_Fanatic on 08 September 2014, 11:07:11 PM: I have actually prepared several formal valuations for people who want to make sure loved ones get what's due in the event of bereavement. Peace of mind for £50 has been popular.

on the other hand my own stuff is to be left untouched in my studio in perpetuity.
Title: Re: What happens to your collection when you're gone?
Post by: janner on 20 September 2014, 01:08:40 PM: I have a mate on stand by for this task :D
Title: Re: What happens to your collection when you're gone?
Post by: Meier_Elf_Fanatic on 20 September 2014, 01:16:55 PM: I will in the next day or so, respond, Bezzo.
Title: Re: What happens to your collection when you're gone?
Post by: Brian Smaller on 23 September 2014, 09:11:58 AM: Quote
'I have accumulated an awful large amount of hobby stuff over the years, and it is representing a pretty large monetary value by now. What would happen to it, should I suddenly die?'

well today I was contemplating throwing all my collection in a skip. So when I die they can do what they want with it. I wont care.
Title: Re: What happens to your collection when you're gone?
Post by: WitchfinderGeneral on 17 August 2016, 11:53:47 AM: Resurrecting this topic because an article showed up some days ago that reminded me of this thread.

This guy had a large collection, but not miniatures but big video game arcade cabinets - they needed several trucks to move his stuff: https://arcadeblogger.com/2016/08/06/pete-davies-the-invadar-arcade-collection/
Title: Re: What happens to your collection when you're gone?
Post by: SteveBurt on 17 August 2016, 03:05:17 PM: Painted historical figures are worth less than you think, if my ebay experiences are anything to go by.
You'll be lucky to recoup the cost of the bare metal/plastic. It can also be a hassle to photograph, list, post & pack (and deal with the odd complainer).
It's probably not worth the effort.

I've got many thousands of painted figures (don't know exactly how many - I have better things to do than count them), and a few hundred at most unpainted.
Best thing is to leave them to gaming friends who can do with them as they wish
Title: Re: What happens to your collection when you're gone?
Post by: Elbows on 17 August 2016, 06:26:43 PM: One of three things will happen.

A) My nephew may be of suitable age to inherit it.

B) My best friend will receive all of my gaming materials.

C) My rubbermaid bins and cardboard boxes and carrying cases will be set about me, a tape measure placed on my chest...I shall be sent out into the cold waters of the Atlantic whereupon an archer will set my grave-barge ablaze with an arrow.
Title: Re: What happens to your collection when you're gone?
Post by: fastolfrus on 17 August 2016, 10:54:08 PM: Or you could be buried in a tumulus surrounded by your grave goods sorted into ceramic pots.
Or maybe interred in a pyramid if you want your modelling tools to stay sharp in the afterlife :~}
Title: Re: What happens to your collection when you're gone?
Post by: rebelyell2006 on 18 August 2016, 03:32:53 AM: Depending on how soon I die, my collections will be sold by the student loan people to help pay off my debt. So if I die, watch for the auctions!

Or if I manage to live a long time from now, they will probably be tossed into a dumpster by whatever children my sister might create with her questionable soon-to-be husband.
Title: Re: What happens to your collection when you're gone?
Post by: Too Bo Coo on 18 August 2016, 04:16:08 AM: It's all getting buried with me....
Title: Re: What happens to your collection when you're gone?
Post by: Too Bo Coo on 18 August 2016, 04:16:46 AM: Quote from: rebelyell2006 on 18 August 2016, 03:32:53 AM
Or if I manage to live a long time from now, they will probably be tossed into a dumpster by whatever children my sister might create with her questionable soon-to-be husband.

LOL
Title: Re: What happens to your collection when you're gone?
Post by: rebelyell2006 on 18 August 2016, 04:50:03 AM: Quote from: Too Bo Coo on 18 August 2016, 04:16:46 AM
LOL

I'll only go to their wedding if she pays for my plane ticket. Or if she bribes me with sufficient plastic and lead ACW minis.
Title: Re: What happens to your collection when you're gone?
Post by: Harry Faversham on 18 August 2016, 06:50:08 AM: The mercenary little twats I call my children will have the whole lot on evilbay...
before my alcohol riddled corpse gets cold.

>:D
Title: Re: What happens to your collection when you're gone?
Post by: zemjw on 18 August 2016, 09:45:42 AM: Quote from: Too Bo Coo on 18 August 2016, 04:16:08 AM
It's all getting buried with me....

probably not all, but there are a couple of dwarfs that will be. I may take some sets of rules as well. Who knows, I may finally make time to read them in the afterlife ;D

At the rate the pile is growing, however, there's a good chance I'll have enough figures to build a full tomb from them when the time comes.
Title: Re: What happens to your collection when you're gone?
Post by: grant on 18 August 2016, 11:51:08 AM: I'm doing a will on Tuesday and this is now something I will address. Interesting topic!
Title: Re: What happens to your collection when you're gone?
Post by: Dr. Zombie on 18 August 2016, 11:53:46 AM: Quote from: Elbows on 17 August 2016, 06:26:43 PM
C) My rubbermaid bins and cardboard boxes and carrying cases will be set about me, a tape measure placed on my chest...I shall be sent out into the cold waters of the Atlantic whereupon an archer will set my grave-barge ablaze with an arrow.

This is now what I am going to do.
Title: Re: What happens to your collection when you're gone?
Post by: Too Bo Coo on 18 August 2016, 12:37:09 PM: Quote from: Bezzo on 18 August 2016, 12:34:06 PM
(https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-hpTVdCTO4F8/U1VuTkWWvHI/AAAAAAAAFvE/7xspi8w4Z8Y/s1600/Vikiing+Funeral+-+The+Vikings+burning+ship.jpg)

Local fish will be dying of lead poisoning?

THIS! This is how I told my wife I wanted to go out... Put me on a boat, push it into the ocean and light er' up.
Title: Re: What happens to your collection when you're gone?
Post by: Aaron on 18 August 2016, 12:38:10 PM: I have often told my wife I want a Pittsburgh Viking funeral. Load me and my loot on a coal barge, set it alight, and send it down the Monongahela River. She insists I go in some nasty hole in the wall of the crypt. I'll barely be able to fit a pair of DBA armies in that place!
Title: Re: What happens to your collection when you're gone?
Post by: WitchfinderGeneral on 18 August 2016, 01:02:14 PM: Quote from: Too Bo Coo
THIS! This is how I told my wife I wanted to go out... Put me on a boat, push it into the ocean and light er' up.
Better this way because the graves in Holland are too shallow to take a lot with you. ;)
Title: Re: What happens to your collection when you're gone?
Post by: Too Bo Coo on 18 August 2016, 01:39:08 PM: Quote from: WitchfinderGeneral on 18 August 2016, 01:02:14 PM
Better this way because the graves in Holland are too shallow to take a lot with you. ;)
And I think they're only good for a couple of decades anyway.... :(
Title: Re: What happens to your collection when you're gone?
Post by: YPU on 18 August 2016, 01:46:49 PM: Quote from: Too Bo Coo on 18 August 2016, 01:39:08 PM
And I think they're only good for a couple of decades anyway.... :(

Surprisingly short indeed, though how long does that burning ship last for... lol

I say bury my in the backyard, unmarked grave, with all my tools and toys, give future archaeologists something to think about.
Title: Re: What happens to your collection when you're gone?
Post by: Too Bo Coo on 18 August 2016, 02:00:36 PM: Quote from: YPU on 18 August 2016, 01:46:49 PM
Surprisingly short indeed, though how long does that burning ship last for... lol

I say bury my in the backyard, unmarked grave, with all my tools and toys, give future archaeologists something to think about.

My thought was if it's gonna be a short stay, make it REALLY short. besides, no one can dig me up from the ocean :D
Title: Re: What happens to your collection when you're gone?
Post by: YPU on 18 August 2016, 02:02:06 PM: Quote from: Too Bo Coo on 18 August 2016, 02:00:36 PM
My thought was if it's gonna be a short stay, make it REALLY short. besides, no one can dig me up from the ocean :D

You realise that our dragnet ships regularly bring up mammoth bones right? If they ain't save nobody is. ::)
Title: Re: What happens to your collection when you're gone?
Post by: Too Bo Coo on 18 August 2016, 02:26:42 PM: Quote from: YPU on 18 August 2016, 02:02:06 PM
You realise that our dragnet ships regularly bring up mammoth bones right? If they ain't save nobody is. ::)

DONT CONFUSE ME WITH FACTS!!! :P
Title: Re: What happens to your collection when you're gone?
Post by: N.C.S.E on 18 August 2016, 04:07:40 PM: I'm 20, so I'd like to think I won't have these issues for a while, but having read the entirety of the thread the terracotta army option suits me fine. 8)
Title: Re: What happens to your collection when you're gone?
Post by: Pijlie on 18 August 2016, 04:11:37 PM: A few years ago one of my best friends died unexpectedly. On behest of his wife I catalogued his wargame-related library, rulesets and miniatures and divided these among everyone willing to make good use of it.

It was a strangely satisfying thing to do. making sure all those things he put love and energy in would end up in a good place. I have since played against armies that used to be his.

I hope my stuff will end up the same way one day.
Title: Re: What happens to your collection when you're gone?
Post by: YPU on 18 August 2016, 04:15:32 PM: Quote from: Pijlie on 18 August 2016, 04:11:37 PM
A few years ago one of my best friends died unexpectedly. On behest of his wife I catalogued his wargame-related library, rulesets and miniatures and divided these among everyone willing to make good use of it.

It was a strangely satisfying thing to do. making sure all those things he put love and energy in would end up in a good place. I have since played against armies that used to be his.

I hope my stuff will end up the same way one day.

I found this sincerely heartwarming and touching.
Title: Re: What happens to your collection when you're gone?
Post by: FramFramson on 18 August 2016, 06:39:23 PM: He who dies with the most toys wins.

(http://i.imgur.com/k3gj0Ko.png)
Title: Re: What happens to your collection when you're gone?
Post by: von Lucky on 18 August 2016, 10:33:16 PM: Quote from: Too Bo Coo on 18 August 2016, 12:37:09 PM
THIS! This is how I told my wife I wanted to go out... Put me on a boat, push it into the ocean and light er' up.

And I'm another one that's had this wish for years. I blame Return of the Jedi and being in awe of Vader's funeral pyre.
Title: Re: What happens to your collection when you're gone?
Post by: WillieB on 19 August 2016, 12:09:49 AM: All my painted soldiers will go to good friends and I'm hoping they will get as much fun out of them as I did.
Since we're talking about several thousand figures they have to do me one favour. I'm also sitting on a nearly complete Mithril collection which is worth a few pennies, so they have to sell that for my wife.
Title: Re: What happens to your collection when you're gone?
Post by: grant on 19 August 2016, 03:07:06 PM: Quote from: von Lucky on 18 August 2016, 10:33:16 PM
And I'm another one that's had this wish for years. I blame Return of the Jedi and being in awe of Vader's funeral pyre.

Am I the only one who hoped an Ewok would wander too close to the fire and run around burning?

lol
Title: Re: What happens to your collection when you're gone?
Post by: pops on 19 August 2016, 04:11:16 PM: I am pruning mine down to just one or two time period armies and selling off all the rest. I am making halfway decent progress in this - but need a buyer for my humongous 25mm Napoleonic collection! Somebody, please?!!

My wife wouldn't have a clue - what's left in the end should I be successful in the sell off can go to someone who really will enjoy them.

Just my two cents - cause I'd hate to wait til the end and see them dumped in the trash or sold for peanuts when wife and family can use the money.
Title: Re: What happens to your collection when you're gone?
Post by: Dr. The Viking on 23 August 2016, 06:15:31 AM: I hope to live long enough to get impaired vision from old age.... at which point I will sell of my collection and go to the Bahamas using the money.
Title: Re: What happens to your collection when you're gone?
Post by: Tactalvanic on 23 August 2016, 06:33:35 AM: Quote from: Tactalvanic on 21 August 2014, 03:40:20 PM
If there are friends or family with interest - pass those pieces to the person with interest in them.

After all toys are to be enjoyed.

If there is value, make sure she has someone to help selling those pieces (see the first comment). She should get some benefit from putting up with it for all those years.

What's left, make my urn out of, and stick me in there.

Label it with my name and OOP in large letters.

Painting it is optional of course.

Just to re-visit, considering recent gaming developments and scale creep, if whoever ends up with me, in my urn, wants to use me as a Nagash proxy or whatever, I am game.
Title: Re: What happens to your collection when you're gone?
Post by: MartinR on 23 August 2016, 09:05:08 AM: In recent years I have been the recipient of bits of a number of peoples collections.

The general procedure which seems to work is trusted friend(s) sell the stuff which is worthwhile to contribute to the estate and then divvy up the remainder.

I have trusted friends lined up already to do this, as the last thing my wife would need is to be sorting through my accumulated decades of stuff.

My father (who is still around) is just doing this for one of his friends with end stage cancer. Different hobby, same process.
Title: Re: What happens to your collection when you're gone?
Post by: Malamute on 23 August 2016, 04:41:07 PM: Quote from: Dr. The Viking on 23 August 2016, 06:15:31 AM
I hope to live long enough to get impaired vision from old age.... at which point I will sell of my collection and go to the Bahamas using the money.

lol

I'll see you there! :D
Title: Re: What happens to your collection when you're gone?
Post by: fastolfrus on 23 August 2016, 07:53:17 PM: Wonder what the price would be for JimBibbly to build a mausoleum.
It's that or start casting Hirst Arts blocks now on an industrial scale....