What will become of your collection after you pass away?

[Sincity]

What will become of all of your stuff? I would like to keep it for as long as I am still coherent. But for those that do not have children, should we donate it to some historical society? Give it away? Ebay it before we pass away? I remember when I was a kid, there was this old man that had a very valuable HO train collection. As far as I know, he did not have children because he was always misreable and alone. He was just some old man that lived alone with his dogs. I was the only kid that would talk to him and the other kids were afraid of him. One day, he passed away all alone in his house and I guess the stuff just went to the state that probably sold it at an estate auction. I know if I pass before my wife, she will just throw it out. Since you guys are probably in your 40s like me, do ever give this any thought?

[Ross PK]

I've thought about this a lot, I sometimes worry what will become of my stuff when I die, and I'm only 32, crazy huh?

 

I want to give it to someone on here who I know will appreciate it and look after it, hopefully when they die they'll leave it to someone who will appreciate it and take care of it too.

 

Seriously, I even sometimes think if it'll be safe when the sun supernova's and destroys the earth, hoping that it'll be taken away with someone when they leave earth for another planet.

 

I just don't like the idea that it may not last forever and will be destroyed one day.

Edited April 2, 2008 by Ross PK

[+Philsan]

I too have thought about this.

If we will not have any person that will keep our collections, I think we should donate them to a museum, in particular *new and sealed items*.

Edited April 2, 2008 by Philsan

[Sean39]

YES I GAVE IT ALOT OF THOUGHT,AND i AM HOPING MY DAUGHTER WILL WANT TO KEEP IT. I ALSO THOUGHT ABOUT

GIVING IT TO A MUSEUM TOO. WELL THERE YOU HAVE IT SINCE I REALLY DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO WITH THE COMPUTERS.

 

 

SEAN39

[Trooper]

I've told my girlfriend that if I die before she does she should talk to a couple of my collector friends and they will tell her how much the stuff is worth and help her sell it.

[Fletch]

I hope that my now eight year old son will wish to keep it all. However, if he does not wish to inherit the stuff I should probably make plans to find a museum or collector that will keep it all together.

 

I guess I'd be happy as long as it doesn't end up in a landfill.

 

Fletch

[theking21083]

I will leave it with my daughter but if she doesn't want it then it will go to my brother and sister. If they both die before me then I guess I'll give it to a collector or museum.

[+remowilliams]

If I die old someone will throw it all in the garbage I'm sure. If I die young, probably several months of ebay sales.

[S1500]

I could foresee it going to the Goodwill, etc, and then the cycle will repeat itself many moons from now.

[puppetmark]

I think I would like to be burried with something from my collection, perhaps a favorite cartridge. The rest I hope is sold to someone who will enjoy it and the money can go to charity.

[nathanallan]

It would be nice if all my stuff ended up in a museum. The Cumberland Museum in Tennessee comes to mind, they let kids play (supervised, of course) with some of the items, and some of my stuff is in bad shape already. I would definitely donate it to museums, kind of a history of video games and computers type of thing.

[Fres]

Perhaps none of u will truly die, if these threads are preserved for eternity. Personally, I expect to give up at some point on striving to reach my primary [atari] goal, which is to obtain the actual Atari 130XE I bought in 1985. I'm rather passive about this goal, however, and will probably let out a yawnful "eh" and an ever so slight twist of the skull, if I'm able to speak about such things in my final moments.

[Sincity]

Wow....I'm glad I am not the only one with that thought. I definately do not want it to end up in a landfill. The problem is that I wonder how many of the "Younger" people will appreciate the stuff. We love this stuff because we grew up with it. I think the "Younger" set is concerned only with graphics and FPS.

[brucebidder]

All you pessimist's out there. I figure with the rate things both medically and electronically are advancing when my physical body dies I will just have my mind downloaded into a computer somewhere with all my emulation and rom software and then since I'm already in the computer I will run the emulation program and incorporate my consciousness into the game I'm playing, and be my favorite character. Can you imagine being a 2 dimensional stick figure jumping over barrels and running away from the scorpion.

[Shawn Jefferson]

Probably it will go up on eBay or be thrown in the garbage. The younger people have their own nostalgia... so I doubt my kids will want to have an old Atari computer around when they are in their 30s and 40s.

[Ransom]

If I die first, my wife will probably keep it. She's good at holding on to stuff like that. I'm the one with the problem of getting rid of stuff that doesn't seem useful any more, then having to re-buy it later on.

 

If I die last, then it'll all probably go in a landfill. Unless I happen to be the last of us collectors to die...then it might be considered valuable enough for a museum to accept it.

[brucebidder]

In reality I had a very similiar conversation with an antique collectible friend of mine. I have thought about it and wonder what will happen to it or if anyone will even be interested in it the way we all are now. WIll there be collectors in 50 years or not? Well my friend has an unbelievable collection of old phonograph players from the late 1800's and early 1900's. THese are the ones that played those records on the cylinders that looked like toilet paper rolls. Anyway his Grandfather is the one that collected them 90 years ago and he told him he would pick them up all over at auctions and town sells and such all over the country and that lots of people told him that in a few years there would be no interest in them once all the original users were dead and gone. SO why waste time collecting them? But he collected them none the less and now that same collection that his grandson has is worth a ridiculous amount of money.

 

Anyway so I believe that yes there will be collectors out there for this stuff in 50 years and that it will be even more valuable then. So I think I will always make a point of expressing this to my children. If they still find it uninteresting or have no interest I will at least make sure they are aware of the value and what channels to go through to sell it to other collectors. If there is interest in displaying at a museum or something down the road andI'm still around I would most assuredly allow them to be loaned out.

 

I just hope somewhere along the lines I have a child or grandchild that has the same passion and can enjoy these items as much as I do....

 

Bruce

[MEtalGuy66]

First of all, we're probably gonna have a nuke-war thats gonna wipe out everything and they will get destroyed with everything else..

 

secondly, once I die, I really dont give a damn if the whole planet collapses.. much less what happens to any of my stuff... not like i'm comming back..

 

I guess what i'll do is seal all of my ATARI stuff inside a huge granite crypt (along with my remains) with some kind of independant power source that can be activated chemically by mixing reagents that will be stored and sealed seperately.. This way, on the day of judgement, when the dead all rise, I can fire it all up and play a quick game of Star Raiders or Moon Patrol before I get sucked up to heaven or sent down to hell..

Edited April 3, 2008 by MEtalGuy66

[JayoK]

secondly, once I die, I really dont give a damn if the whole planet collapses.. much less what happens to any of my stuff... not like i'm comming back..

 

You don't have kids then?

[atariksi]

What will become of all of your stuff? I would like to keep it for as long as I am still coherent. But for those that do not have children, should we donate it to some historical society? Give it away? Ebay it before we pass away? I remember when I was a kid, there was this old man that had a very valuable HO train collection. As far as I know, he did not have children because he was always misreable and alone. He was just some old man that lived alone with his dogs. I was the only kid that would talk to him and the other kids were afraid of him. One day, he passed away all alone in his house and I guess the stuff just went to the state that probably sold it at an estate auction. I know if I pass before my wife, she will just throw it out. Since you guys are probably in your 40s like me, do ever give this any thought?

 

It's good to give REALITY a thought -- birth, death, old age, disease-- the facts of life. However, you should also consider that fact that the Atari products are also subject to birth, death, old age, and disease although they seem to have outlasted my IBM PCs and even some Amigas (one's with RTC batteries). The way I see it, as long as it served the purpose you were trying to achieve with it (or them), you can't ask for anything more.

 

I am not a collector but a user so I don't keep them for making some more money in the future. It's too bad for current generations that don't see the uniqueness offered by these simple machines with their addicting games and other things. I rather play some old Atari games then many of the current games which are too complex and more like watching a movie. So I promote the uniqueness of the machine-- www.mpdos.com. Some species have different features than other species but a more powerful species does not render the lesser species obsolete as long as the lesser species has anything unique.

[atariksi]

First of all, we're probably gonna have a nuke-war thats gonna wipe out everything and they will get destroyed with everything else..

 

secondly, once I die, I really dont give a damn if the whole planet collapses.. much less what happens to any of my stuff... not like i'm comming back..

 

I guess what i'll do is seal all of my ATARI stuff inside a huge granite crypt (along with my remains) with some kind of independant power source that can be activated chemically by mixing reagents that will be stored and sealed seperately.. This way, on the day of judgement, when the dead all rise, I can fire it all up and play a quick game of Star Raiders or Moon Patrol before I get sucked up to heaven or sent down to hell..

 

Nothing happens by chance. There's some relationship of interactions within the universe so we have wound up here on the Atari forum discussing Ataris based on what we desired and deserved. You need to do more research into who you are-- just a bag of chemicals or an unchanging ever-existing entity around whom the body is changing as a person riding in a car. It will require some contemplation effort on your part; don't assume this life is all in all.

 

Perhaps your taste for Star Raiders and Moon Patrol will be surpassed by future arrangements of the material universe.

[Math You]

I'd probably give everything to the grandchildren or maybe a friends children.

Edited May 14, 2008 by Math You

[tyranthraxus]

It will probably all go to the dump.

 

Stuff like a record or baseball collection might be known to be valuable because 'dad obsessed over it' but unless the kids know a rare early Beatles pressing from a cheap 1980s reprint how can they be expected to filter through a large collection where most of the stuff was just common crap obtain for completeness sake?

 

You need to make a detailed Will to identify the important stuff and where they might get good value for it. And name names as to who will get what if you think they will care about it.

Otherwise it will just be destined to thrifts and the dumpster.

 

My dad had the misfortune of being the oldest son, so my last surviving grandparent name him executor of the estate. It took nearly a year to deal with 80 years of stuff from selling the house & furniture, trying to be fair to other siblings and dealing with the boxes and boxes of books and knick knack 'collectibles' like her prized silver spoon collections (aka overpriced, worthless silver plate crap). A lot of trouble & time would have been saved if she had actually created a will and named names instead of 'it all goes to the kids'.

 

Its likely that pop culture collectibles, will plunge in value as the collectors get older. There will still be a market for stuff but what will still be valuable to collectors far removed from the nostalgia is anyone's guess.

[guyjin]

Hopefully, my (theoretical) children will appreciate these games; if so, they'll get 'em. If not, perhaps some sort of museum.

[Breakpack]

LOL,it doesn't matter.I'LL BE DEAD!!