What to do with your collection, final Part 4

[grwebster]

This is the last formal part of my series, I have by now seen a few auctions of my items come and go, and have seen some items sell exceptionally well, others for less than I paid a long time ago, but then it was never just about money.
There was only one item I regretted not keeping in the end, but it went to a good friend. It was a 1941 Dinky Toys Junkers bomber, black with blue undersides and swastikas on the tail, near mint, with no signs of metal degradation. It has a good home now so all is well.
I will eventually add some comments towards the end of 2012 should anything important need to discussed. Again these are just my personal reflections from over a 45 year long collecting adventure that still continues.

PART 4
So What Should You Do Now?
STOP, RECORD, FOCUS, and ENJOY

STOP adding to your collection as before. Make any purchase a strong exception. From now on out, buy only top quality. Remember the 3 most important things about any collection- Condition! Condition! Condition!

See if you can sell or trade items of lesser interest. Try putting a few on eBay. But generally, try and tighten your collecting focus. It will keep the collection smaller and more manageable. Buy only the top quality or the best you can afford or consider skipping it altogether.

RECORD. Have you prepared a fully detailed inventory with photographs, and are your estimates of its value realistic? You can use a hard cover accountant’s journal entry book as the minimum.
If you have a record already, does any family member know how to use your records? Is each item in your collection identified in some way? Like with a small and easily removable string tag {Google: jewellers tags}. Stickers can damage some items and become semi-permanent. Scotch tape can take with it more than the tape when removed.

By far the best way is to create a digital file that could include a small photo. Modern data base software programs, like Filemaker, are not that difficult to learn and allow full sorting, cost and value summaries, etc.

To create the basic inventory: the following entry columns are necessary - Inventory number, Maker, Name of item {B-17 etc}, Color, Material, Condition rating {10 Mint, 9 near mint etc} Date and Country of Production, Cost, Place Purchased, Special comments, and Current Value with a date.
Then start entering the information – one line per item.

Along the way you should photograph each item {with the tag number visible for each item}.

If you are not computer comfortable, stick with a simple note book or hard cover journal as it works almost as well.

Finally, make sure someone close to you knows how to use and understand the record keeping system you set up. Include a list of contacts in your records. The moderators on this forum are experts in their areas, and as I have known each of them for many years, I can assure you they will give good advice if contacted. But do you have a list and email/phone contacts for them? What about those dealers you bought from. Same with similar field collector friends? Include a list now while you are thinking about it, and keep it with the inventory record.

Just do it. Now!

FOCUS….and ENJOY
If you are not yet at the stage that you want to dispose of your collection, consider moving toward a tightened and more focused collection and insisting on top quality.

Consider a special category of something like WW2 single engine fighters, or just a selection the aircraft toys by a single maker like Tootisetoy or Hubley, or commercial prop liners or jet airliners, or broader categories like 1/200 scale, travel agency models, manufacturer’s models, 1950s tin, helicopter toys - or whatever is your primary passion and interest.

I decided to focus my ongoing ‘permanent collection’ on 1/200 scale airplanes. The rest was sold of with some small exceptions as mentioned earlier in other parts of this series.

You could follow some of the disposal routes mentioned earlier {auctions, eBay, trades, etc} to reduce and refocus your collection, and yet retain enough that you can continue to enjoy collecting till the end!

Some times at toy shows I see a happy man in his 70s or 80s walking away with a very expensive toy he just purchased under his arm. I love that. Makes me happy, too.

There was a bumper sticker a while back that I recalled seeing at a toy show that read ‘The guy with the most toys at the end, Wins!’

Well, may be I didn’t win but I certainly was on my way to making it through to the finals!

Happy Collecting
GR

[BoeingDriver]

Do you have any comments on your inventory numbering system? Did you start at #1 or did you serialize as in use 2xxx for die-cast or maybe 3xxx for cast iron?

[grwebster]

I would suggest that if the records are or will be digitalized one should start with 1000. I wouldn't get to fancy with it because a software file can have a special data 'field' for die cast or anything else and be sorted and printed out by any field and in any order you want.

Here is what one of my files looks like on Filemaker Pro
It has been tweaked over the years, and some of the fields I don't actively use any longer

[grwebster]

this image in the above post came out pretty small so if anyone wants one in larger resolution, PM or email me.
I can also provide a blank clone of the entire record system on Filemaker pro 7, I use mac computers, if anyone wants to start with that.

[hovermd]

I've read this series of posts with great interest. It's been eye-opening, to say the least...

Here are a few of my "glass half full" observations:

I would LIKE to think that the world-wide economic downturn is at least in part responsible for some of the apathy seen in the collecting market these days. I frankly think this is a tough time to liquidate a decades-old collection of ANYTHING. Just the same as it's a tough time to liquidate a decades-old retirement fund. Timing is everything, so this, too, shall pass.

I also think the historical significance of many of the items seen on this website will ensure that they'll be desireable for a very long time to come. Still, the proven adage of collecting will always ring true: if a item was produced in large numbers, it deserves the moniker "common," and will likely never fetch a very high value. Pay accordingly. But, the rare old birds will ALWAYS be the rare old birds. They'll not only retain their values, but will increase in worth over time.

Aviation plays a critical role in the quality of every human being's life. This will never change. As long as there are humans, there will be aviation collectors.

I hope...

[grwebster]

An update
now that the first and in some cases second and 3rd rounds of auctions carrying items from my collection are over, I wanted to add the following

BE SURE TO FIND OUT WHEN YOU WILL GET PAID
In one case, Morphys, it was automatic and done 30 days after the auction, another was 3 months, and another still has not paid but said all I had to do was ask. {So I asked!}

WHAT HAPPENS TO UNSOLD LOTS?
Not all your items will sell, or the buyers will not pay and back out of the sale, and then what?
The auction house will ask you if you want the items relisted, but be aware that probably they will be sold without any reserves, or you could ask that they be sent back to you { note the charge for repacking and postage}.

If you want them to relist be careful to clarify how they will sell them- One put them all together in an open unadvertised sale and, in my opinion, just dumped them.
Another relisted them but not in a live on the net auction.

Be sure to negotiate/set these details in your contract.

I would also add that in the case of vintage die casts, the market today is not what it was when most of us started to collect them, so keep back those rare items that you searched so hard for, and paid dearly for because you may be disappointed in the sale results. I regret selling my complete collection of mint in the box 1950s die cast Lone Star aircraft, for example. They sold for nothing close to what I had expected and I should have just kept them.Most of the older collectors who apprecited them years ago are no longer around or active and the younger ones have little interest.

As I mentioned in my earlier posts, I did keep back from sale many of the rarer items that were representative of a range or type of aircraft. I am glad I did. I might have keep even more back, knowing now what I saw with the weakened interest and markets.

The absolute best way to sell your collection is directly to a known collector, No hassles, and they don't need to be educated- they already know.

But all in all my now permanent collection has been greatly reduced in size, but it could still be considered a major collection, for whatever that's worth. And I enjoy displaying them.

I will put a few items on eBay at some point that were not shipped out for sale by oversight, and I'll update this post with what I have learned about that.

[MichaelB]

Thanks for that information - always curious about how these things go!

[Punks]

An amazing insight into a part of collecting that most collectors never really think about. Many thanks for eye opener, GR.

Your advice is bang on. A superb piece of very relevant advice.

It is also topical for all all ages because you never really know that is coming round the corner in life; there are no guarantees.

[grwebster]

enjoy life now, it doesn't end well
GR

[grwebster]

Punks, Thanks for your donation.
If anyone else wants to donate to cover the costs of this site, click on donate at the top right of any page
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GR