Questions for the group. Numismatic Related.......

Hello everyone! I come before you to ask very good questions, I hope.
As we all get older, who's going to carry on the hobby in your shoes when you... you know..... I mean that I have noticed the age group here isn't necessarily getting any younger. I know that my collection will go to my Wife and Son. From there, I don't know but worry. As for my wife, she'll probably just cash them in at some "rip off" dealer's store but I hope not. That's why I have started teaching her the value of all the coins that I currently own. I say my wife because she's 7 years younger than me. Myson who is special needs, also has no interest. Other them, who have little interest in coins, I do have a brother-in-law who collect that is close to Us. I also just recently connected with two of my cousins from Florida, of which one of them, my cousin Jenny who casually collects coins. I plan on sending her some of my collection as a "housewarming gift". I just don't know what I'll send since I know little about what she collects. It's a surprise gift. I was thinking, a little of "this and that". Some error coins, some Silver coins and maybe a couple of my nicest currency from whom I received from an uncle which would have been her great uncle.
Comments and Advice welcome.
BTW: SO mad about the groundhog predicting 6 more weeks of winter.!
Stay cool and safe all.

 

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That's a tough one, Sal. I'm sort of in the same boat but I do have a daughter who shows some interest in my collection. I don't worry about her selling it as she's said she'd keep and maybe expand on it as she gets to know more about them. No one else has any interest in them .

Good luck to you.

Bruce

 

If I go first my wife will get them. She is worried about the best way to handle them. If she goes first, my church will inherit them.

 

Yes, I agree about it changing with new technology and if, if the aliens come back for more precious metals.

 

So your question is, what should you put in your will? Or what should you do with them now? Or what do we think will happen to our own coins? Or?

For myself, I don't think about it that much. When I'm gone, I'm gone. It seems like what happens to coins when they get passed along depends on the recipient's circumstances. How sentimental are they, do they need the money, do they have any interest in the hobby, and how big is the collection versus how many times they move and have to lug them around, how much storage space do they have, that sort of logistical thing.

From my family's experience with my grandfather's coins, they were split among two siblings and two cousins shortly before he passed away. The volume was relatively small (maybe 200 coins each) and financially it never really mattered to any of the five of us. My brother and I took an interest in coin collecting for a couple years in early high school, then dropped it. Nobody else did, they just got put into 2x2s and albums and haven't been touched since. I'm the only one who got back into it later in life. 50+ years later all five of us still have grandpa's coins though.

I think something similar would happen with mine. My two kids don't currently have any interest in it. But they would probably keep them as dad's and great-grandpa's coins (although they never knew him). One (or both?) kids might develop an interest later.

I forget whose major collection it was, but someone had a provision in their will that the coins couldn't be sold until 25 years after his death. I thought that was interesting. Gave them plenty of time to think about it!

As far as the hobby and young people, I bet there's a retro resurgence sort of thing coming. Look what happened with vinyl records. They all but disappeared and now all the cool kids have a turntable and records again.

 

I told my wife, who has no interest, that some coins are worth a lot of money and others pennies so I will leave details of which auction houses to use for the collection. I also need to catalogue which I am way behind with. We also have some complex tax rules. A single coin if sold for approximately $8000 or less is capital gains tax exempt. If sold as a collection or "set" the allowance only applies once so the balance is taxed at potentially 40% so by the time the auctioneer is paid the value is decimated. What this means is I'm not interested in any auction house attribution of the "Dafydd" collection so the coins may be dispersed amongst specialist auctioneers to get the best results, treasure coins with Sedwick, USA with Heritage etc. We don't actually believe in inherited wealth but have a disabled daughter so by familial consent the bulk of the proceeds will go to her. Her Siblings are all doing well and don't need further assistance.
I'm with @KBBPLL on this , I won't be around to worry about it but will do my best to ensure the family don't get ripped off.
My collecting is not investing so what its worth at the final curtain is not that relevant to me only that fair play takes place.
My son has an interest in Tudor and Stuart history and I have already gifted him some coins and maybe his interest will progress to collecting coins.

 

Likewise for me. No one in the family really cares about the coins. My wife and I have discussed a very general plan for her. This pile goes to auction, this pile take to the local coin shop and get what you can. I should probably write down instructions in case we both go but .....knowing me, that is unlikely.

 

A conundrum many share. I prepared a 2 page summary of what I have, how I've catalogued the coins and how best to dispose of the collection upon my timely demise. I myself got interested in coins when my mother-in-law passed and left their "collection" to her daughters which spurred a more extensive interest. So maybe whoever gets your coins will experience the same thing. Good luck!

 

I have had a rather unique position for several years so it is as simple as this. I have my entire collection broken down into currently 6 Great Collections Auctions. Just the dates and such are left blank. I sticky note which group to auction 1, 2 3 up to 6 now. My wife does not need a large lump sum; just some money to supplement each year.
This means that the newest coin I just got ; my 1905-O Micro Barber Dime: was both logged into my coin journal and added to an auction form on at the same time. james

 

For a bit of a twist on this topic, my sister-in-law (and brother) received her dad's coin collection while he was still alive and [mostly] well. According to my brother, neither of them never had any interest in anything numismatic, and really had no idea what was there or what to do with it.

When he told me about it, I offered to help him go through it and sort out the potentially valuable ones that I could spot. Very much to my surprise, my offer was declined and I was told to not mention it again. From what I've gathered, they took the whole collection to a not-so-local shop, and quite far from the shop I use frequently and recommended to him, and let it all go for whatever they offered.

One particular coin that piqued my interest in that collection (that I never saw) was an aluminum penny. I seriously doubt that it was the real deal, and I would think that I would be able to confirm it with relative ease, but they cared nothing for this gift of his lifetime collection that was bestowed upon them.

The point of this whole comment is this. Be wary who you give / send your life's labors and pleasures to, especially if you want it to be enjoyed instead of turned over for quick money, be it needed or not. When some people see an opportunity to turn a quick buck, they will seize it without hesitation.

 

It's really important to understand the laws in the state you live in. What I do may not work in your state. Have a lawyer with a practice in your state help you build your plan. Pick a lawyer that has many years in dealing with this type of planning.
I'll post the plan I'm using when I have more time. Today is demo. day on a house I'm working on. It's going to be fun.

 

I have an accumulation of over 75 years. Many complete sets. We have 6 married children, 15 grandkids and 26 great grandkids. I have been tutoring them for years about the value. Several have started serious collecting. I have already passed on some of my more unique coins to those I want to hold them.

I don't want to look down one day and see them on a garage sale table.

 

Wow! Does your family live nearby enough for you to see them often? I certainly hope so. That would be some awesome family reunions.

 

Sad but no. We have great grandkids that are 5 or 6 and we haven't met them yet. It was 30 years between family photos of just us and the kids. We do have 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms that we keep available for family. They do get used a lot.

 

A few years ago, I gave my older son my foreign collection and my ancients. He can decide what happens with them whenever he wants to. I'm just waiting for Godot (or whomever).

 

I'm in a similar boat. My wife and kids have no interest other than the little bit that comes up from time to time. My son is Autistic and has no interest either. The whole lot will go to my wife, or to my second oldest daughter (better head on her shoulders) if something happens to us both. Luckily, I have a friend that is the owern of a Local Coin Shop and have given instructions to my family, and notified him, that they are to reach out to him if and when they want to get rid of them. I'll be gone, so it will be their call, but he can be trusted to give them legitimate advice.

 

I'm 74 now. At this point, I intend to continue collecting until I die. The wife and children have no interest in my coin collection. But it is worth a fairly significant amount of money. So, about 18 months ago I took several steps to make sure they can make intelligent and informed decisions when I pass and to simplify that process as much as possible.

1) Made sure my will states all personal property belongs to my wife. And in the event we pass together, the estate is evenly split between the two children. Wife's will says the same thing.
2) Started composing a document explaining the things they will need to know to dispose of my coin collection. That document is about 80% complete and right now is about 15 pages long. I'll have to pare it down when it's completed during final editing. But it talks about rare coins, unique coins, raw coins vs. slabbed, tax issues, definitions of common numismatic terms and standards, and security. Among tax issues is a discussion of stepped-up basis for capital gains tax including suggestions for how and where to get an appraisal. Routes to evaluating value for different categories of coins. Suggested venues for sale for different categories including who/what to steer clear of. Where collection documents are stored and in what formats. Exonumia that has value.
3) Started paring down the collection with a goal of eliminating any raw coins of any significant value that would be more difficult for them to sell: Sold off collections I was no longer interested in. Had some raw coins graded to determine if I wanted to keep them or sell them now. I'm about 99% complete on this effort.
4) Started selling off lower-grade examples from the collections I'm retaining and upgrading those pieces to higher-grade and more valuable coins. Some of this is just a continuation of my collecting but it has a nexus to the ease and enhanced value of disposition.

If you put yourself into the mind of a person that knows absolutely nothing about coins, coin collecting, grading, buying/selling or any other aspect of the hobby/business you've been involved with for decades, then you can start figuring out how to guide them to a desirable outcome.

 

I'm reminded of the old adage "you can pick your nose, but you can't pick your relatives." If my inherited coins had belonged to the other grandfather instead, the cousins on that side would have sold them off for whatever they could get decades ago.

I need to do what @Publius2 describes above. Unfortunately I'm lazy and such a project is time-consuming and tedious when I'd rather be messing with coins.

 

I need to do what @Publius2 describes above. Unfortunately I'm lazy and such a project is time-consuming and tedious when I'd rather be messing with coins.[/QUOTE]

I resemble that remark! Something I've considered doing whenever I get around to finishing this document is generating a generic version and offering to share it as a template. Anybody have any interest in this?