Sir Kill Alot wrote:Hey Everyone, I was just curious what people have in store for their collections.  I have not added anything in almost 5 years with other commitments taking precedence but I do have a plan for it.  I plan on handing it down to my son (who is six now) in several years.  However if he shows zero interest in it I will probably let it go.  It was great playing and just as much fun collecting it but I see a crossroads ahead...

A gp for your thoughts...

-Len

I see my collection being destroyed in a future flood or cataclysm.

Failing that, I see my grandchildren showing it off on Antiques Roadshow 2050.

Alexander1968 wrote:At the moment my collection consists of every RPG published in Italian and a large number of books and periodicals about gaming. I guess I'll auction it off when I'm old. I had the chance to peruse the boxes of a late collector years ago and I felt so sad thinking about him and the fate of his collection - being firesaled to a distributor. I got great deals, but I wondered "What about me? What about the collection? What is the sense of doing so much and seeing all these efforts ending this way?"       . It was a revealing moment.

What's the tragedy?  He died with all his toys and now someone else gets to enjoy them.

Sir Kill Alot wrote:
What a horrible way for a collection to be dispensed!  I have told my wife that some of the items are quite valuable but she has no clue...I know this sounds morbid but I should probably write up some instructions on how to she could go about and sell it.  Oddly enough, the collection didn't make it into our wills.

If I pass away with my collection still intact, my wife has instructions to have it auctioned at Gencon the next year....piece by piece.

Might want to think about attending Gencon that year if you see my obit!

Mike B.

Early on public libraries had bad luck with RPG books, which would inevitably get stolen. Some institutions are however true archives, usually associated with a university.

In the 1990s, author Bruce Sterling donated a collection of fanzines to the Harry Ransom Center. This particular library is also known for its HPL-tribute Necronomicons. The Smithsonian keeps pop culture artifacts like Archie Bunker's chair & Fonzie's jacket.

If you've really amassed a good collection of small-press items, you might be able to convince a serious library to accept inheriting it in your will. It would help if you can rationalize some kind of cultural significance to its contents. Contemporary military games could reflect historical political views, such as the Cold War. There might be a literary value, such as unlicensed 1970s Tolkien games [folk art!].

I would recommend the HRC, on the University of Texas at Austin campus, because a. it's already taken the sci-fi/fantasy items mentioned above, & b. it's walking distance from my home, so I'll be able to get my greasy paws on your stuff after you're dead.

If the time should ever come to dispense with my collection, it will probably be donated to the Merril Sci-Fi collection.  They already have some 1E/2E stuff, but are woefully lacking in early D&D.  Link here:

http://www.torontopubliclibrary.ca/uni_ ... _index.jsp

I will trade you two hotdogs & three pictures of Tonya for your collection.

lokiwookie wrote:In France there is no museum dedicated to RPG so if no one in my family have interest in it I think it will be great to create a fantasy RPG museum with my collection as a starting point

Hmm, my very good friend, you are like a brother for me !



And I can wear chainmail bikini if you really want...

FormCritic wrote:
What's the tragedy?  He died with all his toys and now someone else gets to enjoy them.

The tragedy was that the collection was dispersed as something insignificant because his family seemed not interested in keeping it, if only as a gesture in his memory, nor to grant it to some association. It was simply sold for a (I'm sure) not very high amount of money. I managed for example to complete my collection of Different Worlds, Space Gamers(s), various other periodicals and the very much sought after Italian gaming magazine Pergioco (very similar to your Games magazine, without crosswords and riddles, and of course folded since... 20 years   ) with a very reasonable amount of money. I was please and sad in the same time - very unusual for me. So I have decided to auction my collection UNLESS I find some association or entity being able to keep it together for study and/or reference . Well, I can dream sometimes  

sauromatian wrote: three pictures of Tonya for your collection.

You have THREE of Tonya???!!!! Wow, amazing, how did you get them? You were married?    

le rabbit wrote:Hmm, my very good friend, you are like a brother for me !

One book per month for you my venal "friend" I made my sacrifice this month héhé

Why don't you all give me your collections and I will open the museum now in France? I promise that you will not pay you entry when you will come to visit it!