Dear Lee,

Some of the best things about collecting are the friends you make. Most collector friends are happy to join you in the hunt, or advise on buying and selling. Since you share a similar interest, you can find company looking in antiques shops, going to house sales or driving to flea markets in other towns. Or if your collecting is more specialized, you can join a group who digs for bottles or goes to Comic-Con. Plus, there are added benefits from belonging to a collector club.

Lives change, and sometimes, collectors must sell their collection, a difficult and emotional job. Most of us don’t check values every year, so it is a shock to learn prices have gone up or down. A lawyer, tax advisor, appraiser, or relative can’t give the information a fellow collector can. A husband or wife who doesn’t collect often thinks everything is just second-hand stuff and could sell the collection to the first person who offers.

Here are some tips on how to help spouses or children of collectors who want to sell all or part of a collection:

  • Offer to help with a quick walk-through to point out valuable collectibles.
  • Show them how to look for prices of paintings, bronzes, and art pottery.
  • Suggest antiques dealers and auction houses that might want some to sell.
  • See if other club members or collectors would like to buy. It’s tough to find people who want to buy telephone insulators or Gaudy Dutch plates if you aren’t in that “world.” But word of mouth to collector groups can help.
  • Often it is more profitable to give things to charity than to sell them. Check the current tax laws on charitable donations listing appraisal and deduction rules.
  • Warn your friends that time is money. There are house sale companies that sell everything and leave the house empty. But if there are collections and antiques purchased years ago, some may be real treasures. Some things like ivory figurines can’t be sold because of endangered species laws. Objects must be priced and displayed. Running a sale takes time, helpers, advertising, and security.

I always offer to help friends or families with suggestions on how to sell. But even more important for an estate, there are several ways to divide things without a disagreement among the heirs. Set rules to settle any arguments before hand. There always is someone who is only interested in getting the cash from the choices. And there are always a few things wanted by everyone because of past memories. In one estate, a grown grandchild wanted a bronze lion “because I always laughed when grandpa tickled it.” And in another estate, the five daughters all wanted the “picture over the dining room table.” It wasn’t very valuable, but they all bid for it among themselves. One got the painting, and the other four split the money.