How are you preparing your collection for your heirs? 1 1

[RWB]

On 8/24/2022 at 11:09 PM, Quintus Arrius said:

I wish I could approach this the way you have, but I no longer can. I am pretty much in the same boat as @Redline68. Worse, as I have [non-jokingly] said before, elsewhere: my wife does not know a loupe from a cantaloupe. I asked her if she knew where my assets were. She said, "I don't know."  I'm dead.

If you predecease your wife, she will need help in preparing the Estate. So your task might be to identify a good local law firm to help her, make accurate lists of your assets (all types, not merely coins) with values. Generally, everything will transfer to her unless you stipulate otherwise in your Will. The attorney can help her get a contemporary appraisal of numismatic assets.

[VKurtB]

Both my wife and my son are numismatists. The only problem occurs in the unlikely event both predecease me. 

[Henri Charriere]

With the OP's indulgence, our fellow member, @RWB has provided a valid response. Unfortunately, I am unable to walk unaided and my wife, whose psychiatric report had me gobsmacked, has the mind of a child, speaks French and is100% disabled. If anything were to happen to her, I could manage, albeit with some difficulty. I need to obtain a life insurance policy for myself to insure she does not become a burden to her family. Liquid assets I will turn over to her family shortly; she concurs with my decision as they have provided support for her her entire life, but the Roosters...?  @Woods020 @RWB @VKurtB: What say you all? A TPGS recently informed me my Best French Set, is again Best French Set, but I have no clue as to what to do. I had a dream. I walk into Stack's pushing a walker. The guy in front catching a glimpse of what I have reaches for the phone to the guys in the back, and says soto voce: "Guess what? September's rent just walked in." Then I wake up in a cold sweat. It was all a dream. It was just a dream. Whew!

[zadok]

On 8/27/2022 at 9:56 PM, Quintus Arrius said:

With the OP's indulgence, our fellow member, @RWB has provided a valid response. Unfortunately, I am unable to walk unaided and my wife, whose psychiatric report had me gobsmacked, has the mind of a child, speaks French and is100% disabled. If anything were to happen to her, I could manage, albeit with some difficulty. I need to obtain a life insurance policy for myself to insure she does not become a burden to her family. Liquid assets I will turn over to her family shortly; she concurs with my decision as they have provided support for her her entire life, but the Roosters...?  @Woods020 @RWB @VKurtB: What say you all? A TPGS recently informed me my Best French Set, is again Best French Set, but I have no clue as to what to do. I had a dream. I walk into Stack's pushing a walker. The guy in front catching a glimpse of what I have reaches for the phone to the guys in the back, and says soto voce: "Guess what? September's rent just walked in." Then I wake up in a cold sweat. It was all a dream. It was just a dream. Whew!

...as a last resort u mite try one of those Star machines at the local grocery store....

[GoldFinger1969]

On 8/27/2022 at 9:56 PM, Quintus Arrius said:

but the Roosters...?  @Woods020 @RWB @VKurtB: What say you all? A TPGS recently informed me my Best French Set, is again Best French Set, but I have no clue as to what to do. I had a dream. I walk into Stack's pushing a walker. The guy in front catching a glimpse of what I have reaches for the phone to the guys in the back, and says soto voce: "Guess what? September's rent just walked in." Then I wake up in a cold sweat. It was all a dream. It was just a dream. Whew!

I think you make it known you want a trusted friend who will either spend the time OR already knows gold coins/Roosters so that your loved ones/estate see a fair liquidation/sale of your more illiquid assets.

Providing specific instructions on how to dispose of a collection -- in pieces or whole -- would also help.  An estimate for bullion value and also a range for market value can't hurt, either.

Edited August 30, 2022 by GoldFinger1969

[Henri Charriere]

@GoldFinger1969:

Again, with the OP's indulgence...

Fine, now how do I explain that to a French-speaking woman with the mind of a child. As it stands, my wife is going to insist she should be able to feed them into a Laundry machine and the Chinese owner who understands very little English will insist otherwise. [Unless, of course, he decides to volunteer to exchange each gold Rooster for four (4) quarters. Hmm.]  

[Henri Charriere]

On 8/28/2022 at 7:52 AM, zadok said:

...as a last resort u mite try one of those Star machines at the local grocery store....

Just caught this now! Maybe I ought to hand them off to you and make my problem yours?  . . . 

[GoldFinger1969]

On 8/29/2022 at 8:39 PM, Quintus Arrius said:

@GoldFinger1969: Again, with the OP's indulgence...Fine, now how do I explain that to a French-speaking woman with the mind of a child. As it stands, my wife is going to insist she should be able to feed them into a Laundry machine and the Chinese owner who understands very little English will insist otherwise. [Unless, of course, he decides to volunteer to exchange each gold Rooster for four (4) quarters. Hmm.]  

I just noticed that the 20 FR Rooster is about the same size as the quarters that we need to put into the slot on Pac-Man, Space Invaders, Defender, and all the cool games I grew up with !! 

Either that, or use that plastic protective device that was on many household products like Pledge, waxes, cleaners, etc.  It was the same size as a quarter and if you slipped it up the change slot it would trigger a credit for a free game. 

Unfortunately, the pinball operators wised up and put some gizmo on the slot so after a few months they wouldn't work. 

[Henri Charriere]

The one thing that sticks out in my mind, re: coin width, was the time a Connecticut commuter inadvertently used a CT turnpike token in a NYC subway turnstile at Grand Central Station, and found much to his astonishment, that it worked!  There was a great brouhaha about it. The disparity in price was enormous. They had to reconfigure the turnstiles, primarily at G.C., to reject them. There was a tremendous run on turnpike tokens. Someone was arrested and another commuter came to his defense producing a 10-pack of subway tokens in! an official MTA plastic sleeve--with one CT turnpike within it. I am sure it's on Google somewhere, going back about 35 or more years ago.

Anyway, the width of a gold Rooster is officially 22 mm. (but actually 22.1 mm) or something like that. Between a dime and nickel.  I joke about my wife a lot, but with my loss of mobility, I am considering things I never thought of before. As a matter of fact, every time I see this topic heading pop up, it makes me feel uncomfortable. Tomorrow, thanks to @Woods020 I am going to sit down and get a basic life insurance policy. For me. I can subsist on my fixed income, but I need to get my wife a parachute. This is the first time a seemingly innocent topic/post/thread got me to stop what I was doing and look ahead. It's uncomfortable to dwell on, but it's real and must be dealt with. I am going to get that policy, make a copy, and send the original to the one financially savvy sister who, with the others, looked out for her for her entire life. They know the task I assumed when I married her was daunting and they have all been nothing but 100% supportive.  🐓 

[zadok]

On 8/29/2022 at 8:42 PM, Quintus Arrius said:

Just caught this now! Maybe I ought to hand them off to you and make my problem yours?  . . . 

...im in the melting refining business...melt $1732 currently....

[Henri Charriere]

On 8/30/2022 at 8:11 AM, zadok said:

...im in the melting refining business...melt $1732 currently....

Melting. MELTING? You are neither a collector nor hoarder. You are a scrap dealer. No Roosters for you, my friend!  

[zadok]

On 8/30/2022 at 8:42 AM, Quintus Arrius said:

Melting. MELTING? You are neither a collector nor hoarder. You are a scrap dealer. No Roosters for you, my friend!  

...thats a fowl attitude to take....AU n Au my too favorite things....

[Henri Charriere]

Me? Revive a thread? Not a chance.  I regard this topic as current today as the day the OP had posted it. I believe it is incumbent upon every member (lurkers included) to peruse it at his leisure and, all jokes aside, meditate on its content and implications. Thus far, two distinct groups of collectors have become apparent in skimming through these posts. There are those that have heirs, and those that do not, which begs the question: for whom are we all collecting?  Young collectors presumably haven't given their pursuit of coins much thought. It's an enjoyable hobby. Older collectors experience an epiphany and a change in perspective. What does one do when all the holes are filled and the finest examples of a series have been acquired? At some point, collecting for the pure enjoyment of the hunt turns to interest in investing and, as a matter of course, to final disposition. Fine points to ponder and kudos to the OP for introducing them.

Edited June 8, 2023 by Henri Charriere
To omit one word.

[R__Rash]

This has came up too many times, I find it to be much more personable than heirship. 
i collect a coin because of the art, the history, the detail. 
when I am done looken at ‘em, they will find their own life or grave, and with that, nothing else matters.

my compliments to Metallica and the SanFrancisco Phil harmonic Orchestra for making this perfectly clear.

[VKurtB]

I might have quit being active in numismatics long ago if not for my son’s interest in it. I get great pleasure in knowing my collection will be expertly conserved for at least one more generation, likely more. We’ve had great fun for over 25 years, from the first time I told him that the reverse of the Canadian nickel features the Queen’s Bea… well, you know.