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Cash out or leave to heirs?
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164 posts in this topic

I commend all the people who enjoy all of their collection and want to enjoy them to the very end.  But if you feel the collection (or even some of it) is a hindrance then it make sense to sell off books slowly and not have your relatives accept pennies on the dollar when they try to sell off your entire collection in one shot.  Selling books is a pain but if you can spread out the sales you typically do much better.

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If I'm lucky enough to live until old age and die of natural causes, then I will have gotten rid of it already. I want any surviving relatives to have the least amount of burden possible. The death of an immediate family is difficult enough; having to deal with disposing of and disseminating a lifetime’s worth of possessions can make it overwhelming.

If I go suddenly and unexpectedly, I’ve spoken to the missus about what to do. Its not written into a will, but she knows who to call.

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On 5/18/2019 at 1:38 AM, shadroch said:

Aren't state schools free in NY now?

As said, it was introduced but only those making $125k or less qualified.  The problem is the number of families that are on the cusp of that where they make say, $126k combined, living on Long Island and college is a real struggle. 

Edited by Buzzetta
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On 5/18/2019 at 4:43 PM, shadroch said:

In the next couple of years I have three traveling goals.

An extended road trip crisscrossing the country

An extended vacation of six to nine months in Central America

The Path of Saint James.

Having an extensive collection hinders those things. That's one reason I'm downsizing.

I had to look that up - that's impressive - would you do the full 35 day walk. 

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I intend to cash out most, but leave a few prized books to my kids. Can’t ask them lug about hundreds of book, but would still like to leave a few baubles for them to remember me by. I guess I’m the sentimental type as my father gave me his father’s Masonic ring and his mother’s gold pocket watch that her father gave her for her 16th birthday (engraved January 17, 1899 on the inside). My father served in WW2 so my brother and I split some of his war items: guns, swords, medals etc. 

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Read through everything... I retire in 4,058 days.  It is starting to dawn on me that I may have too much that takes up too much space. 

There are other things I could do with the money.  

However, I want to get rid of more of the little stuff first.

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What I did a few months ago, was go thru my "B" and "C" books, grab the undercopy of anything I have three or more copies of, and  I came up with just short of a short box and sent it to MCS. Two months later, half  the consignments as sold and I've gotten just under three grand. I also went thru a few boxes of moderns, sold what I could to MCS and sent the rest to auction. So far, I've reduced my collections footprint by about three percent without losing a single book I care for and gotten my walking around money. I got lucky in that I ended up with a few books I never collected but that exploded.

I sold the weakest of my three WWBNs for $400., and a beat up TOD 10 for $140.

I'm pretty sure they came out of my 3/$1 boxes as I don't usually save 2.0 books.

While those were nice surprises, I was shocked by some modern books. Somehow, I had four copies of Young Avengers 1 and two copies of #6.

At my local auction, I've committed myself to a short box a week, usually divided into five lots. As they are generally lame moderns or late 80s trash, clearing fifteen cents each works for me.

It looks like I'm moving in September so I really need to move some of the multiple boxes of trade paperbacks and hardcover I have. Those suckers are heavy.

Edited by shadroch
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2 hours ago, Buzzetta said:

I had to look that up - that's impressive - would you do the full 35 day walk. 

That is my goal. However, everything is on hold while my eleven year old dog is around. It wouldn't be fair to leave him for six weeks or so. I need to look into the bicycle option. Offhand, it feels like cheating. 

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4 hours ago, shadroch said:

That is my goal. However, everything is on hold while my eleven year old dog is around. It wouldn't be fair to leave him for six weeks or so. I need to look into the bicycle option. Offhand, it feels like cheating. 

You’ve seen the Martin Sheen movie about it, right?

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3 hours ago, MisterX said:

@shadroch Would you mind sharing more of your experience with MCS' consignment feature?

I'll be happy to answer any questions you have. It's pretty straight forward.  Go to their site, look up the books they buy and consign and ship it to them. They list on ebay and their site, ship the books , pay the ebay fees and cut you a check for 90% of the sale price. There is a minimum of $5 per book so if a book sells for less than $50, its $ 5 per. You pay the shipping cost of sending the books to MCS.

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3 minutes ago, GreatCaesarsGhost said:

You’ve seen the Martin Sheen movie about it, right?

I did. I read the book first. Late in life, my Mother, who was legally blind and a stroke victim  decided she was going to do it. I promised her I would do it for her.

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Here are my options for my collection:

1) Pass it along. If my son (or future son/daughter) wants them, the comics go to them.

2) If my son and future children decline, I will work to sell the collection. I will probably determine all of this by the time I am 60 or so, giving me enough time to sell off my collection. The money will likely be used partially for myself and my wife, the rest to my children. Perhaps we all take a nice family vacation or something together and then the rest of the money goes to the children.

As for stuff that does not sell, I have always thought of mailing out random comics to people who need them. Basically, they cover postage, the book (or books) are theirs. In this way, everything truly finds a good home. This or donating to a school or someplace where they can be enjoyed by the original people they were meant for, kids. 

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1 hour ago, shadroch said:

I did. I read the book first. Late in life, my Mother, who was legally blind and a stroke victim  decided she was going to do it. I promised her I would do it for her.

Somehow that manages to be both heartbreaking and uplifting at the same time. I may see you out there, friend 

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11 hours ago, shadroch said:

What I did a few months ago, was go thru my "B" and "C" books, grab the undercopy of anything I have three or more copies of, and  I came up with just short of a short box and sent it to MCS. Two months later, half  the consignments as sold and I've gotten just under three grand. I also went thru a few boxes of moderns, sold what I could to MCS and sent the rest to auction. So far, I've reduced my collections footprint by about three percent without losing a single book I care for and gotten my walking around money. I got lucky in that I ended up with a few books I never collected but that exploded.

I sold the weakest of my three WWBNs for $400., and a beat up TOD 10 for $140.

Sounds like a good tactical strategy to sell off you worst and lowest value books first and leave your best and most valuable books for the end as they continue to move up in value.  (thumbsu

Since you've been on the boards for almost 2 full decades, hopefully some of your "A" books are some of the HTF or classic cover GA books because that can push your proceeds into 6-figures very quickly.  :wishluck:

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10 hours ago, lou_fine said:

Sounds like a good tactical strategy to sell off you worst and lowest value books first and leave your best and most valuable books for the end as they continue to move up in value.  (thumbsu

Since you've been on the boards for almost 2 full decades, hopefully some of your "A" books are some of the HTF or classic cover GA books because that can push your proceeds into 6-figures very quickly.  :wishluck:

 My A list is probably many people here's B list or worst. I do have a nice collection, not a spectacular one. Multiple Avengers 1, a nice Spidey run, but no AF15. Lots of GA Timley, and Schomburg covers.

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1 hour ago, shadroch said:

 My A list is probably many people here's B list or worst. I do have a nice collection, not a spectacular one. Multiple Avengers 1, a nice Spidey run, but no AF15. Lots of GA Timley, and Schomburg covers.

Multiple Avengers #1??? how many?

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Perhaps several would be a better description.  Rather than chase runs, I focused on a few key books. With Spidey, any Ditko issue made the cut.

Edited by shadroch
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