Echol's Action List for Your Collection

Help your family by taking a few steps now.

Action List:

1. Make a detailed list of all the pieces in your collection and keep it up to date. Anyone using a computer has to have the skills to use Excel or a similar spreadsheet. The idea is to put down the kind of information that would help someone, other than yourself, understand what you think your collection is worth. If the grade is very good, call it very good. Write down anything that would help a non-collector (your family) communicate what is in your collection.
2. Pull together any receipts or checks you have written for anything relative to your collection and put them in a folder with the other information you are going to gather for this project. At all costs, you want your family to avoid a 'taxing' situation. Planning for a 'non-tax event' will greatly depend on how the collection is sold. You want to sell directly to other collectors if possible. To avoid a problem, have all your receipts for anything you have ever purchased related to your collection in a folder to off-set any gain your family may make on the sale of the collection. If you sold or traded along the way, the bottom line is what you paid totally over the years against the 'reported' final sale.
3. Pick someone to act as an impartial 'expert' for the collection. Pick a well known collector or trusted friend and list his or her phone number, e-mail address, and any information you know about that person. Leave detailed instructions for that person and your family as if you were there to direct the process.
4. Believe me, when a serious collection is up for sale, personalities alter and go into the 'collector' mode. I don't care who you pick to do this job, if they collect, they are going to want to have a chance to buy something out of the collection. Make provisions ahead of time for the advisor to benefit from helping with your collection in return for their unbiased advice. Pay the experts.
5. You may want to pick a nationally known dealer to advise as a third party about the sale based on a percentage or fee basis. I don't think handing a whole collection to a dealer is a good idea unless you know them on a one to one basis, but they should be compensated for their advice and help
6. If a dealer is used, understand that they have connections with buyers you would never know. The trick when using a dealer is in knowing the approximate value before handing a collection or part of the collection over to that individual. Let's face it, it's easy to play games on the sale of individual pieces of a collection and you need someone you can trust or recent estimates to keep everyone on the same basis. Pick your expert or dealer very, very carefully.
7. Take photos of your collection. Not just photos, but good photos and use a digital camera or have first class 35 mm prints that can be scanned. The reason for this suggestion is so if it becomes necessary to place the collection on eBay, the work is done and anyone who knows how to post to eBay can do the sale. Again, the description of each item is absolutely essential for this process.
8. I think the most difficult part of this whole process is if you need to place a dealer in the equation. If you have one who is a good friend, then there is no problem. If you have a friend who is an expert and can lug your collection to a show and sell the collection for your family, again there is no problem. But the reality is that very few people are totally familiar with current prices for valuable pieces and prices can vary greatly from show to show. The buyers on eBay are not always the people who will or can pay the highest price for general pieces, but the odds of getting a fair price for unique or rare pieces is great on eBay. Word spreads fast if the piece is well documented and placed in the correct category. In the wrong hands, it may go unnoticed.

Personally, I would never want to see my collection sold at public auction. I would want it sold directly to other collectors without the possibility of collusion.

The other option for a sale is using a nationally know Auction house like Christie's or one of the on-line auction houses. The problem there is the limited audience at some sales where there are competing shows in another part of the country. The other problem with businesses like Christie's is the cost to the seller which can be 20%, plus a 1099 tax form. Without a plan like I've just outlined, many collections end up being 'liquidated' at auctions. Plan to prevent this happening to your collection.

About Michael Echols, DDS: