Splitting another DDM collection - 2900 figs

[berk the black]

Hmmm...I used to have an arrangement with a buddy of mine to help my better half part out my collections in the event of my untimely demise, but that was a long time ago when all I had was a couple grand worth of HotWheels and action figures. I might just go Viking funeral with it all.

That’s right, give all those Heroclix a proper funeral instead of leaving them unprotected to be debased!

[Gopesh1]

Hmmm...I used to have an arrangement with a buddy of mine to help my better half part out my collections in the event of my untimely demise, but that was a long time ago when all I had was a couple grand worth of HotWheels and action figures. I might just go Viking funeral with it all.

That’s right, give all those Heroclix a proper funeral instead of leaving them unprotected to be debased!

There is one of those documenaries on Netflix about collectable baseball cards. The general story goes how baseball cards rose to be a collectable, then were produced as collectables, and the market collapsed in the 90's because... if everyone is collecting them, then they aren't worth anything because everyone already has them. They are only worth something because old cards were discarded and not collected.

The movie ends with them having tons of boxes of old cards that never gained any value (like 90's stuff). And they burn them in a bonfire. The idea is the best way to honor the baseball cards is to destroy yours to make all the other ones out there owned by other people slightly more valuable.

Kind of a neat thought for the final scene. However, it did really hit home the idea that collectables for 10-20 years from now are the things no one is actively collecting right now Once you are forward thinking and saving unopened boxes of things, you are probably not the only person and therefor likely not going to strike it rich by keeping a PS5 unopened in a box for 30 years.

[abirdcall]

There is another phenomenon which makes collectables valuable I think. Where a person wants them when they are young but can't afford them. Then when they can they pay more for them to finally get the things they wanted.

I think we will see that with minis. People can't afford them right now but they're useful for playing the game so they should retain their value going forward.

[Plastic Finn]

As I get older I'm getting worried about what happens to my collection. its pretty darn intimidating. I had hoped my kids would be into them and they were when younger but now they only come to me to help sell minis when they need money. They both begged to be included in my D&D campaign when they turned 16 but now they are 16 and 14 they won't even play. I worry about saddling my wife with a potentially valuable asset that she has no idea how to monetize. I'm going to put in my will to come to this forum for you all to help her out! I had 2 of my regular customers die of cancer this year and I know their families are in the same boat.

Been thinking the same with health issues sometimes turning the mood gloomy. It would be really hard for the family to get a real value out of the collection without me or someone else in the know. I think it would be great to have the community to help with stuff like that. At least with some advice.

And BB Shockwave: I used to be a bit like that (the collector you mentioned): in the old WotC DDM time of 8 miniatures in a booster I used to try and obtain 3 of each rare, 6 of the uncommons and 8 of the commons. It was for arranging realistic "sealed" DDM tournaments, as with boosters, but instead of buying the boosters, rolling a die for what you get to build your warband from (as well as RPG use, of course). I also repainted one of each (Harbinger to Storm King's Thunder) so it was nice to still have an original one alongside the repaint. I gave up that practice a long time ago, though, and have parted with many of those multiples - some willingly, some unwillingly.

[coyotee]

As I get older I'm getting worried about what happens to my collection. its pretty darn intimidating. I had hoped my kids would be into them and they were when younger but now they only come to me to help sell minis when they need money. They both begged to be included in my D&D campaign when they turned 16 but now they are 16 and 14 they won't even play. I worry about saddling my wife with a potentially valuable asset that she has no idea how to monetize. I'm going to put in my will to come to this forum for you all to help her out! I had 2 of my regular customers die of cancer this year and I know their families are in the same boat.

Been thinking the same with health issues sometimes turning the mood gloomy. It would be really hard for the family to get a real value out of the collection without me or someone else in the know. I think it would be great to have the community to help with stuff like that. At least with some advice.

Funny/wierd.... I just talked to my wife about this, 3 days ago; "if i die, here's what to do with my minis, because I know you have no interest in trying to sell them yourself."

I told her of the only 2 local game shops I trust to sell the minis on consignment.
Told her to give them about 100 -200 minis at a time, keep track of the minis/terrain, arrange a 70-30% split with them, and go back later to double check how much they are selling for.
I'm guessing at 30%, the FLG still stands to make around $25,000 from the collection, and they get the product for free. Good deal.
This needs to go into another thread.
Minis after death? Bequeath / Inheritance of Collection?

As for the kids comment- I have noticed that people who get their kids into ttrpg too early, end up having the kids out grow it. Maybe they will come back to it later in life, but usually when kids become teens, they move onto other stuff.

I think for most, 11-12 yrs is the magic coming of age year to discover gaming and have it hold for a while / form an identity. When I look back to my "good old days" I want to relive, it is my "coming into prime years"... not my pre-pubescent years.

[BBShockwave]

Hmmm...I used to have an arrangement with a buddy of mine to help my better half part out my collections in the event of my untimely demise, but that was a long time ago when all I had was a couple grand worth of HotWheels and action figures. I might just go Viking funeral with it all.

I'd ideally fund a museum and establish a trust fund to cover the cost of running it. I have a friend in Slovakia who had the same idea about his Transformers collection.
Of course maybe by then, people can just use a replicator to create any miniature or toy they want out of errant molecules and kids will laugh at our antiquated habits of collecting factory-made stuff.

Hmmm...I used to have an arrangement with a buddy of mine to help my better half part out my collections in the event of my untimely demise, but that was a long time ago when all I had was a couple grand worth of HotWheels and action figures. I might just go Viking funeral with it all.

That’s right, give all those Heroclix a proper funeral instead of leaving them unprotected to be debased!

My curse is to remember useless D&D and other fantasy/sci-fi trivia and I know at least 10 type of undead that Imbalance could come back as to haunt us if we de-base his Heroclix and Mage Knight collection.

Hmmm...I used to have an arrangement with a buddy of mine to help my better half part out my collections in the event of my untimely demise, but that was a long time ago when all I had was a couple grand worth of HotWheels and action figures. I might just go Viking funeral with it all.

That’s right, give all those Heroclix a proper funeral instead of leaving them unprotected to be debased!

There is one of those documenaries on Netflix about collectable baseball cards. The general story goes how baseball cards rose to be a collectable, then were produced as collectables, and the market collapsed in the 90's because... if everyone is collecting them, then they aren't worth anything because everyone already has them. They are only worth something because old cards were discarded and not collected.

The movie ends with them having tons of boxes of old cards that never gained any value (like 90's stuff). And they burn them in a bonfire. The idea is the best way to honor the baseball cards is to destroy yours to make all the other ones out there owned by other people slightly more valuable.

Kind of a neat thought for the final scene. However, it did really hit home the idea that collectables for 10-20 years from now are the things no one is actively collecting right now Once you are forward thinking and saving unopened boxes of things, you are probably not the only person and therefor likely not going to strike it rich by keeping a PS5 unopened in a box for 30 years.

Indeed. And then there are Beanie Babies, too...
Already, some 60ies action figures and train sets and pewter soldier models are starting to lose their worth now that the generation who even remembered them is gone.
Of course, you can never know when something might be re-discovered. Transformers movie (the Bay-verse era) toys are not yet worth that much, but perhaps when the generation who grew up on the 2007 movie becomes our age, it will be more valuable.
Though sometimes, it just never happens. See Beast Wars and Beast Machines, the latter especially is not worth the plastic it is made of.

There is another phenomenon which makes collectables valuable I think. Where a person wants them when they are young but can't afford them. Then when they can they pay more for them to finally get the things they wanted.

I think we will see that with minis. People can't afford them right now but they're useful for playing the game so they should retain their value going forward.

That's me in a nutshell! Back in 1993 I scrounged together enough money to buy ONE small Stunticon. It wasn't until 2002 when I started working that I was able to go out to flea markets and try to buy those toys I always wanted but could not afford as a kid.
I have a friend who is "worse than me" at this - since for him the memory was standing in toy stores, looking at the boxes of Transformers that are beyond his reach, he now pines to recreate this feeling by only buying AFA-graded figures that will remain forever unopened... Me, I can leave something sealed, so I have always sold off such toys, unless I already have the same toy, but loose.