What happens to your Magic Collection when you die?

I've got about 300 tricks. Mostly pocket trick kind of stuff (Tenyo, Magic Wagon, Warner, generic
kind of stuff) Whenever I pass I would like to leave written instructions for my kids. I'm pretty sure they have no interest
in keeping it.

Notes- 1- I do have an itemized excel spreadsheet listing everything, many have a cost basis listed, but not all.
2- Many items are on display the rest boxed up in the basement.
3- Some displayed have original packaging, some I received in a Baggie. While that info is on the spreadsheet they would need to know the name of the trick displayed to match it up.

Four Choices?

1- Advise them to sell it all individually - maximizes money received. Problem, Since they have no idea what they are looking at, there would be a large learning curve to organize and list it all. & My kids have done OK for themselves so I doubt the would want the hassle of figuring it all out.

2- Sell it all wholesale as one lot. Just take pictures & print the spreadsheet. Simplest Solution- Problem - how to find an honest buyer willing to pay a fair price without my help.

3- Donate it all!! I think I really like this idea. Just pack it all up and donate it all. Let the charity match it all up and then they can take the tax write off. BUT, Are there any charities you know of who would be interested in this??

4- Advise them to box it all up, label Magic Collection, and maybe the grandkids when they got older would open it one day and wreck it all or enjoy it all. PROBLEM - I have seen a lot of problems in families trying to divide their parents stuff up. Even unimportant stuff.

Have you left any written instructions for your family?

What are your thoughts on this? Has this been covered elsewhere here?

Thanks for any help on this.

Ed

Maybe we could create a committee of magicians to take ownership of it, preserve historical and collectors items and pass the rest along to struggling magicians who are just starting out.

Just an ideer.

Bill Hegbli started a similar conversation about this here:
http://www.themagiccafe.com/forums/viewt......rum=34#6

Choice 5--start getting to know some young magicians. Will it to them with the proviso they may not sell within a specified number of years.

I've made a bequest of all my books, periodicals and DVDs to the Will Alma Magic Collection in the Victorian (Australia) Library.There it will all be available for magicians and historian to research.

I don't know how it is in Australia, but in the US that's probably not such a good idea. There are many stories of public libraries being very underfunded and the collections just sit in cartons in the basement somewhere, with no one to properly archive them, until they decide to throw them out for lack of space. Sad, but true.

I don't worry about it. I won't be around. Heh. None of my stuff is really worth anything though.

Landmark, its nor a problem. The Victorian Library is a state library, not a local public library. The Will Alma collection is well looked after, and has been featured on two or three TV shows. It does not allow access by the general public, but magicians and historical researchers can book access for research purposes. It is quite a large collection and well maintained. You can look up the Will Alma collection on google.

Ah, sounds fascinating, thanks.

Wonder if there is a U.S. equivalent to to Will Alma collection

I've always wondered how much stuff gets discarded either because family members don't understand the value or just don't want to be bothered selling it.

Don"t really matter to me as long as
my wife's new boyfriend doesn't play
with it.lol
Todd

Take it with you like the pharaohs of old so you can play with it in the afterlife.

But if I'm planning to grab it on the way out, should I put it in the attic or the basement? Hmmm...

Ever since I began buying Magic, I've kept and copied all the tricks instructions and have them in binders with alphabetical dividers. I've categorized them either by the name of the trick, or, types of tricks, wands, for instance, and finally by manufacturer, Mikame, Viking, etc.

All my stuff, books, dvds, tricks, props, etc. is kept pretty much in the same place in my house so anyone who must deal with it will at least have reference to what's there. I keep telling myself to do a spreadsheet with tricks and what I paid for them for a cost basis, but haven't had the inclination to get started yet.

No one in my immediate family is the least interested in magic and it'd be wasted if I left it to any of them. If I leave the planet before my wife, I've told her to sell it all as a single lot, or auction it somehow.

If I outlast her, then I'll probably put it all in my will to be donated, but as has been discussed, to who (at least here in the US anyway? Perhaps to the nearest local magic club to do with as they wish. That's my present thinking anyway.

Bob1,
You're family wont need a cost basis if you die!
Ask your accountant.

Ed

Donating it to a magic club might be a good idea. It will go to good use if its ever going to.

Several local magicians have passed away. The local SAM and IBM clubs have auctioned the items for the estates. A local magician reached the point where he could not perform. He asked that some of his items be taken to the club for people to take what they could use.

If there is a local young magician club, they would be a good place to give things too.

I hope this all isn't necessary for a long time for you.

Ed,
I guess I was more advocating my getting some sort of cost basis just so I knew what the total value of the stuff is for my own reckoning. But what are you driving at here, just curious because my accountant doesn't have a clue about the worth of my magic collection?

Bob,
I'm not an accountant, but;
1- knowing what you paid is not relevant to it's value today.
2- Knowing what you paid is only really important for tax calculation
3-When you sell something you pay capital gains on the appreciated value (selling price less cost)
4- However, when you die the market vale is added to your estate, they estate pays taxes on that value, and your heirs get the collection at a 'stepped up basis' .
5- by ask an accountant, I meant to learn how to calculate the tax on appreciated value. You would have to tell him their value.

Does that help?

Best,
Ed