It occurred to me that if I met an unexpected end, no one I know would have any real idea what my MPs are truly worth.
I might have to include a link to this forum in my Will with instructions to contact one of you fine folks to assist with a valuation.
It’s not really about making money from the collection. I get value out of just looking at my set and of course there’s the thrill of the hunt and finding a missing link or holy grail. I know you guys understand.
But maybe, just maybe, when I go (no current plans, sorry @atxalais), my daughter might see some value in my obsession.
What do you think? Should we offer a post-mortem collection valuation service?
You make a very important point. This is true for so many obscure collectibles.
It might make sense to produce a spreadsheet. I had started something like this to help keep track of what I had bought, But it’s buried in my computer files and I’ve gotten out of the habit of updating it. (This is a reminder!)
If you’ve got a large collection, probably makes sense to do this for pens/pencils above a certain value.
Note: Brand, model name/number, date acquired, price (if known), description, and “estimated value.” Print it out and put it with your important papers (a folder, drawer, lock-box, etc).
This also raises some points… about personal files. I have a folder called “important” where I put all sorts of files related to things important to me, like images of special documents, registry of important items like car information, computers, and other prized or expensive devices. And in my will, I have access information about where and how to retrieve them.
Of course, things change over time. Printed documents are static. It’s better to have a living electronic document you can periodically update. Of course, the other challenge is… identification. While we know the brand/model of a given pen/pencil, it may not be so obvious for some. Probably a good idea to do a group shot and then annotate (e.g. use letter/number identifiers, then have a legend below that describes them).
Same. I don’t plan on burdening my wife or child with them. They will be able keep, donate, or sell off however they see fit. I’m not worried about making sure they get what we see as the value.
I still got a while as I’m young, but I want my pencils to stay as a way to remember me. I’d try to get my family involved with pencils, but it’s beyond my control. The only thing I’d ask of them is to at least use them, almost as a final gift.
If they really needed to sell the pencils for money sake, I’d probably create a spreadsheet of all the necessary information to sell and how to sell these pencils.
I keep a spreadsheet with details about each pencil, various details about it (color, lead size, length, materials), when I bought it and for how much and where. I only started doing this belatedly in 2020 so there’s a fairly large backlog I still need to fill in. It does show a shocking amount I have spent on my collection, and hopefully provides a ballpark valuation if e.g. they were lost in a fire or theft. But initially I started recording everything because I couldn’t even keep track of what I had anymore otherwise.
