Re: Your final arrangements for leaving this world.

[Mickey the Finn]

This is a topic which may or may not have been addressed exhaustively in an archived post.
Last Wednesday I was reminded once again of my own mortality when I received word of the death of an uncle. He was actually a first cousin, twice removed; for convenience sake, I always referred to him as my uncle.
Some people, on other forums I peruse infrequently, choose to sell off parts of their collections in anticipation of their own death. Having had some involvement in the settling of my younger brother's Godparents final affairs, I can attest that there is some wisdom in making prior arrangements for the disposition of ones personal belongings.
I suspect the course of prudence (for myself, at any rate) would be to sell off as much as possible of my collections to others with appreciation for such articles before my departure from this world, and to leave only a few truly exceptional items to my heir(s). God willing, I have no need to start selling or making other arrangements just yet.
Ones executor(s) and/or heir(s) may lack interest in, or even rudimentary knowledge pertaining to the collection(s) one has assembled during the course of ones life. Just two weeks ago, on a T.V. show, I listened to a woman describe how "they" sold off a decedent's entire collection of first editions for [one U.S. dollar] apiece because they hadn't the first, faintest, foggiest clue as to what they were worth. [I was about to say: even a slack-jawed, knuckle-dragging mouth breather could've gotten a clue as to their value simply by opening the cover and turning the first couple of pages... "I wonder if there's a reason Grandpa Julius held on to all these books he bought for all these years..."].
Anecdotal evidence and firsthand experience at estate sales leads me to believe that many collections are sold off as quickly as possible, with virtually no offer being refused.
When the time comes, I'm sure my worldly possessions will be the farthest thing from my mind, but until then, I don't like the thought of irreplaceable tosan aji being liquidated at fire sale prices.
To prevent my modest collection becoming the star in a similar farce, I've considered attaching one or more index cards to each item; the information on these cards would list: date acquired, amount paid for (in all currencies pertaining to the transaction, with exchange rates current on the day of, or as close as possible), list price (if different from amount paid for), actual value/best estimate of worth at dd.MM.yyyy HH:mm:ss (or as close as possible, if different from amount paid for and/or list price), as accurate as possible description of the item (in all languages relevant to the item [ie: language(s) of the culture of origin of the item, wherever and insofar as is possible), official language(s) of the native country and/or country of residence of decedent, and all languages known by, and/or likely to be understood in the native country and/or country of residence of and/or by executor/executrix and/or heir.
~monocle starts from right eye~ I'm just a layman trying to cover all the bases. If you thought that was complicated, I suspect the business becomes even more Byzantine in the European Union, Africa, Asia, British Overseas Territories, Caribbean Netherlands, France d'outre-mer, etc.

[Anthony G.]

Originally Posted by Mickey the Finn

This is a topic which may or may not have been addressed exhaustively in an archived post.
Last Wednesday I was reminded once again of my own mortality when I received word of the death of an uncle. He was actually a first cousin, twice removed; for convenience sake, I always referred to him as my uncle.
Some people, on other forums I peruse infrequently, choose to sell off parts of their collections in anticipation of their own death. Having had some involvement in the settling of my younger brother's Godparents final affairs, I can attest that there is some wisdom in making prior arrangements for the disposition of ones personal belongings.
I suspect the course of prudence (for myself, at any rate) would be to sell off as much as possible of my collections to others with appreciation for such articles before my departure from this world, and to leave only a few truly exceptional items to my heir(s). God willing, I have no need to start selling or making other arrangements just yet.
Ones executor(s) and/or heir(s) may lack interest in, or even rudimentary knowledge pertaining to the collection(s) one has assembled during the course of ones life. Just two weeks ago, on a T.V. show, I listened to a woman describe how "they" sold off a decedent's entire collection of first editions for [one U.S. dollar] apiece because they hadn't the first, faintest, foggiest clue as to what they were worth. [I was about to say: even a slack-jawed, knuckle-dragging mouth breather could've gotten a clue as to their value simply by opening the cover and turning the first couple of pages... "I wonder if there's a reason Grandpa Julius held on to all these books he bought for all these years..."].
Anecdotal evidence and firsthand experience at estate sales leads me to believe that many collections are sold off as quickly as possible, with virtually no offer being refused.
When the time comes, I'm sure my worldly possessions will be the farthest thing from my mind, but until then, I don't like the thought of irreplaceable tosan aji being liquidated at fire sale prices.
To prevent my modest collection becoming the star in a similar farce, I've considered attaching one or more index cards to each item; the information on these cards would list: date acquired, amount paid for (in all currencies pertaining to the transaction, with exchange rates current on the day of, or as close as possible), list price (if different from amount paid for), actual value/best estimate of worth at dd.MM.yyyy HH:mm:ss (or as close as possible, if different from amount paid for and/or list price), as accurate as possible description of the item (in all languages relevant to the item [ie: language(s) of the culture of origin of the item, wherever and insofar as is possible), official language(s) of the native country and/or country of residence of decedent, and all languages known by, and/or likely to be understood in the native country and/or country of residence of and/or by executor/executrix and/or heir.
~monocle starts from right eye~ I'm just a layman trying to cover all the bases. If you thought that was complicated, I suspect the business becomes even more Byzantine in the European Union, Africa, Asia, British Overseas Territories, Caribbean Netherlands, France d'outre-mer, etc.

I collect ancient Greek coins and keris etc. I suppose that all these items will be sold once I reach old age (example 70 years old) to get some cash. Keris is not allow to be sold in my country unless you got dealer license. I plan to give it to my best pals who are keen and/or donate to the museum before my pass so that people got chance to appreciate it.