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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;jamesicus, post: 3762434, member: 14873&quot;]Thank you all for those kind comments and sentiments. Actually I do not consider myself wise, or smart, or noble, in this endeavor. Beverly and I have discussed this at great length and it has become a partnership project. I really became motivated to do this a couple of years ago when I was confronted by own mortality - developing several illnesses and the realization that I was growing really old and soon would depart this wonderful world - it happens to everyone and very quickly at that! And then the ever present question that confronts every collector of “anything” arose: what is going to become of my “stuff” when I am gone - and very importantly - what I am going to burden my survivor(s) with as they grapple with grief and face the monumental task of disposing of a large quantity of items they know little or nothing about - and also have to work with people they also know little or nothing about in order to dispose of them (and not get taken advantage of - a very discomforting thought indeed).</p><p><br /></p><p>The path I chose was based on an event that happened a few years ago:</p><p><br /></p><p>I was driving along a local street when I noticed a hand written sign in the window of a shop that had been vacant for some time that read OLD TOOLS FOR SALE - I couldn’t resist that (being a long time Woodworking hand tool collector) so I parked the car and went in. The large shop interior was bare except for several folding card tables on which were piled a variety of well used but clean hand tools such as screwdrivers, files, hammers, saws, pliers, clamps, chisels ………………… and so on. There were lots of them and each table bore hand-written price guides or labels something like: “All items on this table $2 each”; “nice hammer - no rust $3” …………… and so on.</p><p><br /></p><p>A nice elderly lady (the only sales person there) sat at the counter reading a paperback novel. It was a cold winter morning&nbsp; (for Tucson) so she was wearing warm clothing and a wool shawl (no heating). She bid me a cheery “Good morning” and said to browse as long as I wished. I selected a few tools (about ten dollars worth) - she wanted to knock off a couple of dollars because of the number I bought but I wouldn’t let her do that. I struck up a conversation with her (the Q and A are in my own words as best I remember them):</p><p><br /></p><p>Q: why was she doing this? A: When her husband died last year he left behind a very well equipped woodworking workshop, for that had been his main hobby for many years. Now her problem was how to dismantle it and dispose of all the tools and equipment he had amassed. Neighbors and friends helped some, but her family was scattered all over the country and led very busy lives so the help was sparse and sporadic. She called several used tool dealers/sellers in Tucson to see if they were interested in buying everything - some never returned her call - a few others stopped by her house and made a wide range of offers - she had no idea whether any of them were fair or reasonable (or even realistic). Finally one of the larger used tool dealers offered to buy all the power operated shop and hand tools - she was so weary of it all by now she accepted his offer not knowing if it was fair or reasonable - although he did have a long standing reputation for fair dealing. She asked him what she should do with all the hand tools. He advised her to rent a vacant shop for a while and set it up (like she did) - any tools that hadn’t sold when the lease expired - just throw away!</p><p><br /></p><p>Q: How long have you been doing this? A: about a month - the lease expires shortly and I will not be renewing it.</p><p><br /></p><p>Q: What are your business hours? A: I come in about 9am every day and sit at the counter and read most of the time - I take breaks for lunch and coffee.</p><p><br /></p><p>Q: How many tools have you sold? A: hardly any. Some days I do not sell any at all.</p><p><br /></p><p>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~</p><p><br /></p><p>I do not want Beverly to go through anything like that with any of my “stuff” when I am gone. And I do get to keep some of my favorite coins until the end - that is why I am following the path I have chosen.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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