Some times, I wonder what will happen to my collection after I leave this world ... especially, bcos my family is not particularly keen to take it forward. For such instances, should numista give an option for collector to register a "nominee" who can trigger an auction of the listed collection?
This may motivate all collectors to keep updated & correct records of all items in their collection.
This may keep a good collection in "safe & willing" hands for posterity.
This may give the "nominee" a reasonably fair monetary value as a legacy from deceased collector.
I believe this would best be handled by a Will. I'm curious what others think though. I myself only get interested in coins recently and my grandfathers collection, I'm sure, would have stayed in the attic until an estate sale saw it go to some re-seller. I'm glad I was able to get it out of there and organized.
Even if Numista would facilitate registering a nominee, it will not be seen as a legal action. Inheritance law is generally very complicated and differs per country. If you want to designate your collection to someone else than your family, you have to record it in your last will and deposit it with a notary. Otherwise, it will automatically go to your legitimate heirs when you pass away.
Yes .. it is true that there would be legal aspects to "nominee" ... and inheritance laws are quite complicated & different in each country. Rightly pointed out by you'll.
Maybe ... numista can create a functionality to just inform the vast community that so-&-so person's collection is available for acquisition & those who are interested can directly contact on the given contact details (clearly disclaiming any liability on numista) ... anyone interested can view the collection details on numista site as a preliminary information based on what the user had submitted & the, if interested, they can contact directly.
If we could find some mechanism ... at least the collection will go into caring hands & will last longer .. for the sake of the time, money & efforts that the original collector has put in over many years.
The first steps are to find trusted person to take care of the collection and to arrange the legal aspects.
To properly take care of or sell the collection, the "nominee" should have access to the record of the collection. I believe that's the part where Numista could help. You could give the nominee the credentials to your Numista account, but that's probably not a good practice. You could also make your collection visible publicly, but that's not always desirable, and personal comments and buying value are not visible. Perhaps we need a new feature to allow designated people to view and/or edit one's collection.
If the nominee wants to sell the collection, this should happen outside of Numista: a local dealer, an auction house, eBay, etc.
Quote: "Xavier"Hello,
The first steps are to find trusted person to take care of the collection and to arrange the legal aspects.
To properly take care of or sell the collection, the "nominee" should have access to the record of the collection. I believe that's the part where Numista could help. You could give the nominee the credentials to your Numista account, but that's probably not a good practice. You could also make your collection visible publicly, but that's not always desirable, and personal comments and buying value are not visible. Perhaps we need a new feature to allow other people to view and/or edit one's collection.
If the nominee wants to sell the collection, this should happen outside of Numista: a local dealer, an auction house, eBay, etc.
I think a nominee email address is how best numista can be involved in this situation. A new feature required me thinks!
Quote: "Xavier"How would such email address be used?
I believe it might be a note to relatives who will take over the account.
While it is kind of useless to have dedicated field/space for that, we might evolve the idea to have limited personal notebook (visible only for user) on profile page. There everyone could include info for relatives..
I don't think that is a job for Numista. Like any modern some-time-to-be-dead-person with an internet presence one should have their things sorted out. Like deposit access information for all the social media or in this case asset cataloguing in a safe location if one has family or relatives to look after them.
The question in my mind is how much do I expect my family to do with respect to my collection after i have kicked the bucket?? What can i expect them to do with so many boxes full of notes, coins, stamps??
In my case, they are neither interested nor will they take the trouble of catalogging each item. There is a lot of work involved in getting a valuation - &, regrettably, i dont expect my folks to go thru that effort. Even now, when I am still alive, they just politely humour me so long as i do this with my money on my time :)
In such situation, my collection may languish in a suitcase in the attic .. or may get given away to some one who may or may not really take good care of it.
I just feel collections must get preserved by people who care for our historic heritage. Over time, it just becomes more & more important to preserve this history. If family of deceased collector can get some fair money value, then that is an added advantage.
Thanks.
P.S. I do hope to live & be active for at least another 20 yrs or so ... but this thought came up as i have been thinking about writing my will.
I don't know you but believe me, what you possess is not just a collection, its treasure which only a collector can understand. I am a humble collector, who journey started with
1 Riyal - Saudi Arabia Year 1977, given to me by my Late Father. At first I was wondering what do do with it, kept it safe. Later found Kuwaiti bank note, from then onwards have started collecting and currently holding over 385 different bank notes from over 110 countries.. well preserved, in album. I respect them, as this journey started with a note from someone really close to me.
My daughter will soon be completing her University studies in History / Religion. Her next step, graduate degree as a Museum Curator. She "gets" my obsession and would consider it an affront to History to just dump it into the collecting society. I sleep well at night!
PS: She is well versed with the Numista database.
It ain't what you don't know that gets you into trouble. It's what you know for sure, that just ain't so. Mark Twain
I have just finished my first will and decided to leave my coins to my local coin club, who will have a sale and keep the proceeds. This worked well in the past. A member died in 2020 and left his collection, after dividing it up, the best stuff went to auction and made over $100k for the estate and we got some dregs which still managed some $5.5k for our group and that quadrupled our bank balance.
I recommend this as generally many of us have families that show little interest in appreciating nice coins (I know my mob would sell the silver Victorian halfcrowns with the old 20 cent pieces to some 2nd hand shop that offers $100 to take them off their hands), and greedy dealers who will rip off naive family members. Giving them to a club will ensure the coins go to people who appreciate them!
Of course if you have a family member or friend who shows interest or cares about them, give SOME to them. Many times they may fake it as they will sell them to pay for drugs, gambling, fast cars etc.
I love coins. Especially silver, gold and anything really old.
Member of the Royal Numismatic Society of New Zealand and the Auckland Numismatic Society
IMHO you should document and notify your next of kin with regards to the approximate value of your collection, and you should have a will or at least some list of last wishes for how you would like your collection to be disposed of. This is not something Numista should deal with.
Following up on this, I still believe that Numista should not be involved into arranging the will. This should be done outside of Numista.
The data about your collection, which you can record on Numista, would certainly be greatly valuable to the person who inherits your collection. You may want to arrange so that the person can access your collection whenever needed.
Status changed to Rejected(Xavier, 27 May 2022, 09:40)
