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Giving loved ones a realistic idea of what your stuff is worth is something to think about. In the model train world, the widow who thinks her husband's trains are worth more than they are is so common as to be a cliche. Better to not add that bit of confusion to those who will be mourning your departure.

I went through a moment of this last year, selling a big chunk of my collection, including some farily rare/high demand stuff. Things like metal kasrkin, Praetorians, complete WFB regiments, etc. It was a ton of work, between shipping and fees a lot of what I made disappeared, I had to deal with the proceeds on my taxes, and overall.. it was a lot less than I'd hoped.

While I've spent a ton of money on the hobby, even the stuff that's worth a lot isn't worth that much, really. And some stuff is worth basically nothing. I figure if I die, my wife would offer my friends anythign they wanted, and then just take the rest to a gaming shop and take the pennies on the dollar they give her.

As we are all getting older we have had a couple of cases of club members dying. Typically 2-3 people will go and help the family sort through it, sell bits off to club members then ebay/advertise the rest, or if the family needs the cash now go to one of the 2nd hand sellers.

I'm actually going to be buried with some, as part of a little sealed time capsule thing containing lots of info about my life, video recordings etc. in addition to a permanent digital memorial.

Worth looking into it, there are lots of options these days, even if the minis are lost to landfill, a nice photograph of them can be preserved forever.

I have been taking this approach to declutter my life of sentimental things, photograph it, then bin it. I did this with some handmade Mordheim terrain which wasn't in great shape, built around the age of 16. Photographed it, then moved on from it.

It's better to think about the objects in our lives during them, if there are too many.

 Overread wrote:

Cyel wrote:Minimalism is the answer. Sell what you don't play. Don't hoard for no reason other than the hoarding instinct. Be aware of the endowment effect. Keep what you're using, get rid of the rest.

At the other end of the scale selling out of one hobby and buying into it again later when your interest swings back is always going to cost more. There's even a risk that when buying back in what you had before won't be on sale again and you have to hunt for rare copies that might be in worse condition or might cost a small fortune to get hold of.

For me that would be a good thing - an incentive to start an entirely new project.

For example I have sold all my WFB armies but if the Old World proves to be a good game (I wasn't holding my breath but then GW surprised me with Kill Team - I never suspected GW can realease such neat rules) I can start a new army using all the skills I gained in the interim and the newest painting tech that didn't exist 20 years ago to have a new and exciting project that will look much better than my old stuff ever could.

What good is a miniatures game if it doesn't inspire a hobby project? For me, not much.

My friend Dave passed in I think 2020 or 21'. I can't say without looking. He had a massive collection of games and models. His mother decided it would be divided between his friends.
He'd just gotten a new dog and that was all I could think of at the time. It's made me think about my own collections. I'm planning to down size even more so what ever I leave behind wont be a burden and can be sold or given away to who ever want it. I have too much stuff, imop even though it's only like 4 or 5 armies and my terrain now. Better to extracts what ever cash I can get for some of that before I go. I will set a few things aside for my Brother to do with as he wants. But the rest can be thrown in the trash for all I care, I'll be dead.

It is not just my mini collections, but I ma starting to approach a lot more in life with a much more minimalist view.

Before buying anything, I often wonder what it will fetch at my estate sale, and that typically dissuades me from purchasing it.

 Easy E wrote:
It is not just my mini collections, but I ma starting to approach a lot more in life with a much more minimalist view.

Before buying anything, I often wonder what it will fetch at my estate sale, and that typically dissuades me from purchasing it.

Not everything is an investment.

“How much will I use/enjoy this thing in my life” is also a valid lens to look at purchases with.

 Easy E wrote:
It is not just my mini collections, but I ma starting to approach a lot more in life with a much more minimalist view.

Before buying anything, I often wonder what it will fetch at my estate sale, and that typically dissuades me from purchasing it.

Thing is that will honestly lock you out of a LOT of hobbies and interests. Heck what's "hot" varies. A few years back doll houses were all the rage in the UK and for a time commanded good prices even secondhand. But it was over in a flash and quickly the value dropped.

There's a few things that can last out, but in general things go up and down all the time. Not to mention there's the issue of where and how you sell; a general estate sale might well get really low values on even good quality popular goods because its not marketed to the right group. In contrast if your stuff were sold at specialist auctions for specific niches that they fit into; then the price could be way higher than "normal".

It all depends what you've got; when and where it comes to market and how its advertised to the market.



Now that's not to say that buying with an eye to investment is a bad thing. It can be a very good thing if you do it right and set it up right (esp ensuring that those who come after you to inherit know the value of what you've got and how/where to sell it and such)

I think the caution people would say here, because this is a hobby forum and predominantly we are talking about our hobbies; is that if you only buy and hobby and engage with high value items it might mean that you are leaving yourself out of things you'd otherwise enjoy purely because it won't have a high return on investment when sold on secondhand.

For me, my three kids all enjoy the hobby as well so I'm sure my (probably far too large) collection from the past 25 years will be in good hands. Even if they didn't keep everything, they'd likely save my Ork, Marine, and Tyranid armies as that is was my two sons and daughter play respectively.

If I didn't have them though, I'd expect that my wife would offer them at a reasonable discount to the 40k group I'm a part of. She knows a few members of the group and my best friend is apart of it too, so she wouldn't have any trouble getting in touch with them. She also has a reasonable idea of what my models are worth on resale, so I expect that she'd be able to handle it well. Though she might keep my Kroot army as a memento because she knows they are my favourite and it's the army I work on the most when we're just chilling and doing art together.

I think the trouble might be with my MTG collection. My kids play that too, but the value on everything is so much more up and down I think they might have a bit of trouble parsing through what's worth something and what isn't just because that would take so much more work. My kids would keep some, but I have A LOT of Commander decks...

Honestly, the allure of resale value is always a bit of delusion. People get excited about big sales, but when you factor things like inflation and just how few items out of a collection sell at an increased value, you're almost never turning an actual profit. I've seen people spend thousands for the feeling of superiority that comes from selling a part of it for hundreds.

 LunarSol wrote:
Honestly, the allure of resale value is always a bit of delusion. People get excited about big sales, but when you factor things like inflation and just how few items out of a collection sell at an increased value, you're almost never turning an actual profit. I've seen people spend thousands for the feeling of superiority that comes from selling a part of it for hundreds.

Or jumping on the latest bandwaggon. Anyone remember when Beanie Babies were the "next hot investment" and people spent a fortune on them for investing only for the whole market to collapse about a year later or so. Or at least not collapse but it stopped being insanely profitable to trade with them.

 LunarSol wrote:
Honestly, the allure of resale value is always a bit of delusion. People get excited about big sales, but when you factor things like inflation and just how few items out of a collection sell at an increased value, you're almost never turning an actual profit. I've seen people spend thousands for the feeling of superiority that comes from selling a part of it for hundreds.

And yet, when I was trying to sell my Orcs and Goblins at the internet auctions a few years ago, I just added some auctions for my scratch built warmachines (Rock Lobbas, Spear Chukkas, Chariots) for pennies, fully expecting them not to sell. I was ready to just throw them in for free to some other items I would sell. It was just a few pieces of balsa and string superglued together...

Apart from regular units selling extremely well, despite being painted to quite an average standard (and with some damage due to extensive play for many years) my trash bin warmachines were bought after heavy bidding for the equivalent of 30$ each, leaving me equally happy and dumbfounded. Which means there were several people trying to outbid each other to buy my most basic balsa work from 20y ago...



On the other hand my beautifully painted, fully converted LatD army was sold mostly for prices similar to boxes fresh from the store

So, yeah, online auctions may go unexpected ways...

Yeah. That goes back to my initial comment that its important to understand that "I spent a lot of money on this" is not the same thing as "this is worth a lot of money".

 Overread wrote:

 Easy E wrote:
It is not just my mini collections, but I ma starting to approach a lot more in life with a much more minimalist view.

Before buying anything, I often wonder what it will fetch at my estate sale, and that typically dissuades me from purchasing it.

Thing is that will honestly lock you out of a LOT of hobbies and interests.

That is the point. To lock myself out of a LOT of things.

It keeps me focused on a few hobbies and not go chasing the dragon.

 Easy E wrote:

 Overread wrote:

 Easy E wrote:
It is not just my mini collections, but I ma starting to approach a lot more in life with a much more minimalist view.

Before buying anything, I often wonder what it will fetch at my estate sale, and that typically dissuades me from purchasing it.

Thing is that will honestly lock you out of a LOT of hobbies and interests.

That is the point. To lock myself out of a LOT of things.

It keeps me focused on a few hobbies and not go chasing the dragon.

I totally get it. There is so much great gaming stuff out there that finding reasons NOT to buy things can be very worthwhile.

I've used the very similar "what can I get when I resell?" test for many miniatures that I find appealing at one time or another. Usually with the outcome of not making the purchase. If I know I can flip it for the same or more if/when I tire of it, it's easier to justify the purchase. If I'd lose money on the deal, and it's not for a game I'm actively playing, I'll usually pass it up and/or wait for a better deal to come along. I've almost never regretted not buying miniatures after the "What can I get when I resell" test.

Another example of ways not to buy is training my preferences. An example, with electric bass (my main instrument) I had aquired alot of instruments and was constantly buying, selling and buying more. I got out of that rabbit hole when I discovered a particular ergonomic combination that worked very well for me on a second hand custom instrument. That led to me selling off alot of instruments and putting that $ into buying, fewer, better, custom instruments with those same ergonomics. I've decided (or maybe just fooled myself...) that this is the only feature combination for me and as it's not something that is typically offered, I find myself quite content with my bases, knowing that there's likely nothing I can buy and afford that will suit me better than what I already have .

A clear case of living a problem that does not exist. Life's too short to dwell on those

cody.d. wrote:
Kinda already have this covered myself. I included in my will that my best mate since childhood will get all my personal affects to do with as he wishes. Hobby stuff, computer, any odds and ends go to him, he's in the hobby to so will be able to sell them for an okay price and the extra cash would be a good thankyou for all his kindness ya know?

Thats the way to do it.

 tauist wrote:
I don't really care what happens to my "toys" after I'm gone. I have much more valuable items in my posession to worry about

You missed the actual point, which is - don’t be a burden to your family/significant others after you’re gone by leaving a mountain of junk behind for them to sort through and perhaps feel significant guilt over throwing out or selling. I’ve seen it too many times in the hobby. Someone dies, and their family has to grieve, and deal with a hobby hoard…

Haven't put it in writing yet but my intention is for my closest friends to keep what they like and pass on the rest in a way to grow the community (ie for free to newbies and the less financially capable)

 totalfailure wrote:

 tauist wrote:
I don't really care what happens to my "toys" after I'm gone. I have much more valuable items in my posession to worry about

You missed the actual point, which is - don’t be a burden to your family/significant others after you’re gone by leaving a mountain of junk behind for them to sort through and perhaps feel significant guilt over throwing out or selling. I’ve seen it too many times in the hobby. Someone dies, and their family has to grieve, and deal with a hobby hoard…

That's an important point. Really THE POINT here.
There will be someone who is sad due to your death, make sure that they don't have to then also deal with your things that they don't understand while grieving.

This became especially clear to me when I had an occasion that my will had to be in order; so I asked my brother if he would like anything in my collection if it comes to it.
He revealed that my wargaming is effectively part of my identity to him and that my miniatures will have sentimental value to at least some of my loved ones if I am no longer around.

 infinite_array wrote:

Have you ever thought about what's going to happen to your collection after you've passed? Has anyone else dealt with a situation like this?

The first and only time I ever bought something from a thriftstore that was warhammer related it was only 2 euros (for a full box of seraphon skinks) and the store I found it in was known to take bulk from people who passed away.

That is the only way I ever came in contact with the Wh-death scenario.

If I ever fly off into the astral realm I would like my warhammer figurines to make some kids happy, so pawn it off by all means.
I only value it in person and when I need to make some room (such as in the buy/sell sub post of mine) I just try to make even.

WH is so extremely niche that I had a friend of mine stagger when I said that a mere full army of painted WH figurines (mid to good paint at the least obviously) can catch 1K moneys, she started googling it to find proof lol. Most mainstream people just see "toy soldiers" thinking about those toystores where you can get a full batch for 5 bucks and think that WH isn't worth much to begin with.

To be fair that's the same with most things people aren't involved in.

If its a hobby they don't take part in they can be shocked how much things are. Especially if they aren't big things.

You get the same thing when someone hires a tradesman to do a job. A new boiler or fitment or such can appear to cost a fortune to someone not familiar with that line of work.

During the worst of my mania for collecting Space Fleet models I bought a couple of sets of ships from estate sales.

So rather than seeing your stuff tossed a good system can ensure it is sold to people who will enjoy it.

To be honest I don't give a gak what happens to my models after I'm dead. If my fam leave it all in the boxes in the loft for the next purpose who buy's the house to shovel into a dumpster then that's their business. I'll be dead so won't care.

On the other hand, my youngest (who's now 20 but used to play toy soldiers with me back when he was a kid, and at least knows one end of a dice from the other) cares enough to flog them off then I've told him where the good stuff is, and its up to him whether he wants to bother with the hassle.

I suspect they'll all end up in a dumpster. It does amuse me, because frankly my wife and the kids don't give a crap about my hobby. Which means that they'll lose what could potentially a few £k's worth of inheritance, that they could have had if only they had taken an interest!

Grumpy old gamer revenge! LOL!

The hard part is that it's a fair bit of work to sort out and attempt to sell the items to make that $$$.

Even just laying out all the figures to take pictures to send off to your FLGS or equivalent, to sell in bulk, would be a two+ day affair with my collection...

In a way I'm quite lucky that 3 of my son's game with me, my fourth doesn't but every family has it's strange outsiders!
The other 3 have already decided between them who gets what, at one point even discussing in the middle of a game who would get my newly painted Word Bearers that I was using at the time. Talk about feeling unwanted. It became of course we want you around Dad but I want them. I think I'll sell them in a case of spite.

We came to the conclusion recently that there's not really anyone to inherit from us, so we've been clearing out the stuff we don't need with a view to generate space/money *now* rather than hoarding it until it can be sold off for pennies to leave to the other *later*. That was reinforced by a lot of stuff getting weather damaged in storage.

Whilst my gaming collection is now pretty small, my wife would give it to some of our buddies who game to do with as they want.

Ditto my other hobbies; I don't really expect my wife to want to take time to figure out what everything is and then go through the hassle of trying to sell it. So I'd rather she just arranged for someone to donate it as appropriate.

They will join me in my tomb, so I can also not paint them in the afterlife.

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
They will join me in my tomb, so I can also not paint them in the afterlife.

Common wisdom is that you when you finally finish the Pile of Shame. Would the flip side be true? If buried with minis, would you be reborn/reincarnated when you finished painting all those.

<image of a mummy at the till picking up a pot of abbadon black and a detail brush, so he can chip away at the pile to be truely reborn>