What happens to your collection when you're gone?

[Drac of the Sharp Smiles]

I would want to see my collection go back into the hands of other collectors. The hurdle would be my mother... If I ever passed before she did, she would cling to everything of mine, no matter if she cared about the items or not. (I make this assessment given how she's acted with any other family member she loves passing.) It would not make me happy for my collection rot in the hands of someone who would have no idea how to care for it, no interest to learn, no interest in the pieces, and probably wouldn't even look at any of it, but would merely keep it for no other reason than to have it in her possession... Thus I should probably put in writing somewhere the name of someone capable of liquidating it back onto the collector's market.

Which leaves me thinking..... who?? The best person in my family to name would be my sister, since I have no doubt she would do her best to follow my wishes, but she knows NOTHING about the anime art market or community. It would be better to name someone who is or was a collector themselves, who would know how to go about selling it better than someone who didn't know the community or have any contacts.

I'm interested by how many people say they've kept very careful records about how much they paid for some pieces. I don't know this would be a big help to someone selling off a large collection. Mind you, when I say "large", I easily have at LEAST 5,000 pieces of varying quality and condition. Series go in/out of favor all the time. Worse, I'm a scene shopper, and I agree with the person above who said that the pieces which stand the test of time will probably be the ones that best show off given characters. (If any of it is worth anything later.) The things I paid a lot for because I love the scene are not necessarily the most collectible if you're looking for good poses of characters. Additionally, I collect some things from series which aren't as hugely popular. Finding people willing to pay what I've paid to get some of my pieces from things like Eatman, Monster Rancher, Curse of the Undead Yoma, Psychic Force, and other lesser-loved shows would probably be really hard. Equally tough would be selling off a lot of the lower quality pieces.... I have over twenty five books dedicated to Saiyuki ALONE. The contents are NOT all riveting images to someone lacking my interest in the show. It just wouldn't be worth a liquidator's time to wait around long enough to find the right buyer.

The bottom line would really be that it wouldn't matter what I paid for something anymore. You want to get fair prices if you can, but at that point, the goal is more to get the pieces back out to other collectors who will be excited to have them. ^_^

Interestingly, it is only my cels about which I have these kind of strong feelings. I also have a huge Hard Rock Cafe pin collection, but it just doesn't seem as important what happens to that. None of the pins are one of a kind. Only a handful or so are even considered to be "rare" by other collectors. If it's sold or worn or given away or sits in someone's jewelry box just doesn't seem important once I am no longer there to see it myself. The cels/genga, though... I guess THOSE have a value beyond the actual price tag, in my mind, and they need to be guarded by someone after me.

Many Sharp Smiles,
--Drac

[graymouser]

I have to agree with Drac. Keeping track of prices of things when bought will not tell people how much they will sell for. My records are mainly for myself. It is just that the records would also be a helpful starting point for people who do not collect at all, such as my family. I can totally see them holding a garage/estate sale and selling everything for $100. My family would get gypped, and who knows what would happen to the artwork after that. I am also hopeful it will help with insurance should anything happen to my collection. There really are no professional anime artwork assessors (maybe dealers) so the most I can do is keep track of how much I spent.

Ideally I would also like to know that the cels would go to someone who appreciates them for what they are. This may turn out to be my family selling things off to other collectors or going to a small museum for people to learn about the field. Right now it goes to my family, but the museum idea has its appeal too.

[kira]

i had asked this question before since i was curious as to what others would do.

since i'm still young, i really havent given this much thought. i would consider some of the beta board members since i dont have children. i certainly wouldnt leave it to my parents or sisters. i love them but they have no interest in anime. i would consider the art museums that sensei and cutiebunny mentioned.

[cutiebunny]

I really should take a trip to one of these museums and see if I can't talk to someone about what they, as a museum, are looking for. Granted, I figure that items must be in good condition and that they'll probably only want to preserve really nice items from more well known titles. I'm sure anything Sailor Moon or Inuyasha would be the most wanted items I own by any museum, but what about artwork from all those more obscure titles that never were that popular in the US? Would my large collection of Kobato and Cardcaptor Sakura backgrounds manage to impress anyone enough to want to preserve them? And what about all the original sketches I've amassed over the years - would anyone care about a nice sketch from the character designer of Magical Canan or from an eroge like Edelweiss?

I wonder if this would give me a better focus as to what items to collect, but then, I also wonder if I'll enjoy collecting as much if I feel that I should shun future purchases due to their long term appeal?

Maybe I should make this a 'to do' in the next year or so. I just hope they don't want me to trudge around some of my more favorite items - both museums are not in a good area of San Francisco.