Instructions For Heirs?

BadThad,

No, it's on a 5.25" floppy hidden at the bottom of the cesspool, is that good enough for you? What the....heck? Did I say there were account numbers? No. Did I say there were passwords? No. You do not know exactly what is in the file, you do not know the fragmentation and storage and you do not know my personal threshold for potential privacy breaches. As such, I fail to see the motive behind your post. Now, if you had suggested a more secure alternative, then I could see some potential value to other members. And besides, after review of your post by my Homeland Security IT friend, he says he'd have that file info on screen in no time. I have no idea if that is true though. Anyway, spare me the lectures unless you care to add what you see as a more secure alternative outside of being 100% unplugged.

Kinda harsh, no? Seems to me Badthad was talking about his wife, not you. I do not fail to see the motive behind what Badthad is saying to the rest of the board.

I keep a current list of all my coins with notes on values as a set and individual keys. I keep one paper list in a home lock box with all our other important docs and the other one is on a flash drive in a safe deposit box. I also have business cards for 3 dealers that I trust with each list. My wife doesn't have any interest in coins but she knows enough to at least get a fair price. I'd also recommend being active with your local con club so your significant other has an idea of who to go to for advice.

To be realistic, most individuals hobbies, such as coins, are in many instances just a hobby of someone's and should be eleminated once gone. In many instances people leave all sorts of info for a relative on what to do with all their stuff. In many instances those relatives say OK, Yeah we understand, thanks for the info and lots of other statements intended to make older people feel good about their STUFF. Kids are great for that. Yet at coin shows I see all sorts of collections being sold to dealers for a fraction of value. Almost always it is from an inheritance. And when asked, yes they were instructed what to do with all that STUFF. But to most that is exactly what it all is. Just STUFF.
One dealer that gives me empty Folders and Albums once gave me well over 40 and all from one week at his store. All brought in by relatives of someone now passed on. And it goes on and on and on.
And not just with coins. Gun, knife, sword, cars and all sorts of hobbies are just sold off due to no interests.
Way back a neighbor was a small arms instructor in the Army. His entire basement had more guns, targets, gun powder, bullers, shells, reloading equipment and much more than most stores. He passed away and his relatives called a gun store that sent someone over and offered $1,000 for everything. They accepted. Some of his guns were worth a small fortune since they were such things as Mausers, Lugers, etc. Yet all went for $1,000. And yes he had tried telling them all about their values. And yes he did leave all sorts of paper instructions too. And yes all were ingnored.
Hopefully all your hobby items and personal effects will get a better ending.

I read this thread and it is bringing tears to my eyes. My grandfather died in 1982 when I was in grade 5. He had from what I have been told was a huge collection. He ran the liquor store in a small town and saw a massive amount of change pass through his till on a daily basis. He also made regular purchases from the Royal Canadian Mint as well. From what I have been told he was very knowledgeable and was the head of the local Coin Collectors Club. He passed away suddenly and obviously hadn't done much, if anything in preparing his coin collection to pass into someone else's hands.

The family story is that after his death my grandmother "lived off the collection for years". About 10 years ago when we were cleaning out my grandmothers house there was a small box that was the leftovers of his collection. Nobody else expressed any interest at all, so I got to take it home, and honestly, for the last 10 years it sat in my basement all but forgotten.

Then, just a month or so ago, I saw it digging for something else and thought "I really should pull that up and take a look at it." For the next four hours my daughter, wife and I sat enchanted by the coins coming out of that box. This may have been the dregs of his collection, but there are still interesting coins in it. Coins from countries from all over the world, from places like Newfoundland, that until a short while ago I didn't even know minted their own currency, German, England, Chinese spade coins and some Eastern European countries I have yet to identify. Small paper envelopes with my grandfathers handwriting on them with things like "US 1c 1951D filled D". Clips, hanging cents and lumps under the chin, I have been trying to wade my way through the world of numismatics and let me tell you to a beginner is a daunting world.

While I can appreciate the idea of collecting coins, I am not a coin collector. For the last month I have been buried in the internet trying to learn about coins. Trying to see if there are important ones left, trying to learn the absolute basics of coin values. I live in a fairly out of the way community and am probably looking at a 6 hour drive to get to some kind of coin dealer and even once I get there I really don't have any reason to trust that specific dealer at all, they would have been selected at random. I have been racking my brain over the last month to try and figure out how to get these coins into the hands of people, like the majority of you, who will appreciate the coins much more than I will. I still haven't come up with a great idea, but if I do I will make sure that I come back and let you know.

But there is one thing about your collection that is the most important in my opinion, something that is all most impossible to pass on, and that is the knowledge about your collection. I could read and study for the next 25 years and probably still not come to the level of knowledge that my grandfather had about this collection. OneBowl mentioned something and then Ceylon62 seconded that is a list of people that your heirs could contact, people that you trust with knowledge about your collection. If I had someone like that, who I could ask questions of that I knew my grandfather trusted it would greatly reduce the difficulty I am having now. I know this is a bit different, being 30 years since he died that I am actually getting around to looking at it. Things in the age of the internet are obviously different than they were 30 years ago.

So write it down like OneBowl mentioned. An Excel file with information is invaluable. But also, if you have someone who is old enough and who has the interest, teach them what you know.

Just my Two Cents (and circulated at that)
Chewy