[vcf-midatlantic] Downsizers, Sick, Old, and Dying Collector -- Special Interest group to focus on "artifact wills"

Mon Apr 1 18:48:13 UTC 2024

And just to chime in here, (especially with the vitriol in that thread)
Three things to keep in mind:

  1.  You almost never know when it is going to be your time.  A young and healthy person could be in the wrong place at the wrong time on the Turnpike and that is that.
  2.  The key to estate planning is the PLANNING part…
  3.  Appraisers are not well versed in this area because of the way appraisers are licensed, and can give wildly inaccurate appraisals. (the categories for appraisers are found here: https://www.appraisers.org/disciplines and this would be under personal property)

From: vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic-bounces at lists.vcfed.org> On Behalf Of Jeff Salzman via vcf-midatlantic
Sent: Monday, April 1, 2024 12:46 PM
To: vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic at lists.vcfed.org>
Cc: Jeff Salzman <jeff.salzman at vcfed.org>
Subject: Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Downsizers, Sick, Old, and Dying Collector -- Special Interest group to focus on "artifact wills"

This issue is valid and has been a concern for many for a very long time, regardless of the type of collection (computers, radios, cars, memorabilia, etc. ) they have been preserving for their own purposes. I'm sure there are many existing resources,
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This issue is valid and has been a concern for many for a very long time,

regardless of the type of collection (computers, radios, cars, memorabilia,

etc.) they have been preserving for their own purposes. I'm sure there are

many existing resources, and words of advice, that can properly guide

anyone toward creating or defining a meaningful plan to manage their

collection(s) after their passing.

The VCF Steering Committee will bring up this topic at our next meeting. It

won't be an overnight effort, but the Vintage Computer Federation has the

potential to become an information resource and/or advisory organization

regarding estate planning for anyone who has questions about the

disposition of their respective personal computing collections after their

death. It'll be a group effort to devise sensible options, steps, and

ideas... and public insight will be valuable.

Thank you,

Jeff Salzman

Chairman

VCF-MA Steering Committee

On Mon, Apr 1, 2024 at 11:26 AM Dan FitzGerald via vcf-midatlantic <

vcf-midatlantic at lists.vcfed.org<mailto:vcf-midatlantic at lists.vcfed.org>> wrote:

> Holy shit, that thread got _ugly_.

>

> Yeah, I feel that some sort of traveling estate planning series or VCF

> SiG is well called for.  I'm young and single, so my primary concern is

> that if something were to happen my mother coming in and deciding "its

> all crap" and pitching it to the curb.  And what got me re-interested

> in retrocomputing was going to a very tidy hoarder's estate sale,

> seeing his garage of every computer he had ever purchased (with boxes),

> and seeing the big red dumpster waiting outside to receive them.

>

> Its something all of us are going to have to deal with someday, and at

> the least we should be keeping personal inventories and have plans in

> place in our respective wills.

>

> Regards,

> Dan FitzGerald

> They/Them or She/Her

> Classical Computing Laboratory at IBM-Poughkeepsie

> https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://www.vm.ibm.com/devpages/dfitzger__;!!Ebr-cpPeAnfNniQ8HSAI-g_K5b7VKg!KRwHPiI_EeNwD6cjW6u9qlAk0IyLxRnojEKTe1XySFdZIlNbVz1qcNLN0Jiu2hpfSqtc9N3J6Z-e_vGQVzTUdAqLkzZ53Zzj4-6JSBs$<https://urldefense.com/v3/__http:/www.vm.ibm.com/devpages/dfitzger__;!!Ebr-cpPeAnfNniQ8HSAI-g_K5b7VKg!KRwHPiI_EeNwD6cjW6u9qlAk0IyLxRnojEKTe1XySFdZIlNbVz1qcNLN0Jiu2hpfSqtc9N3J6Z-e_vGQVzTUdAqLkzZ53Zzj4-6JSBs$>

>

>

> -----Original Message-----

> From: Steve Craft via vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic at lists.vcfed.org<mailto:vcf-midatlantic at lists.vcfed.org>>

> Reply-To: vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic at lists.vcfed.org<mailto:vcf-midatlantic at lists.vcfed.org>>

> To: vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic at lists.vcfed.org<mailto:vcf-midatlantic at lists.vcfed.org>>

> Cc: Steve Craft <craft.steve at hotmail.com<mailto:craft.steve at hotmail.com>>

> Subject: Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Downsizers, Sick, Old, and Dying

> Collector -- Special Interest group to focus on "artifact wills"

> Date: 03/27/2024 04:17:51 PM

>

> I like and support the idea of "something" and would be willing to

> help. As a long-time Apple ][ community member, I have watched a war of

> sorts going on with the passing of Tony Diaz a few years ago

>

> https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://68kmla.org/bb/index.php?threads*local-estate-find-in-san-diego.43513*__;Ly8!!Ebr-cpPeAnfNniQ8HSAI-g_K5b7VKg!KRwHPiI_EeNwD6cjW6u9qlAk0IyLxRnojEKTe1XySFdZIlNbVz1qcNLN0Jiu2hpfSqtc9N3J6Z-e_vGQVzTUdAqLkzZ53Zzjkk0_k7k$<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https:/68kmla.org/bb/index.php?threads*local-estate-find-in-san-diego.43513*__;Ly8!!Ebr-cpPeAnfNniQ8HSAI-g_K5b7VKg!KRwHPiI_EeNwD6cjW6u9qlAk0IyLxRnojEKTe1XySFdZIlNbVz1qcNLN0Jiu2hpfSqtc9N3J6Z-e_vGQVzTUdAqLkzZ53Zzjkk0_k7k$>

> , as he was not an organized person in a lot of ways and ownership of

> "stuff" and what is valuable from a historical perspective vs financial

> is still very muddy. If there was a (sub)org that had information and a

> practical guide to professional services, that would probably help our

> community. By proxy/association, being into Vintage Computing puts us

> all into a kind of narrow set of (aged) demographics, mostly not 15-

> year-old Xbox gamers. 😊

>

>

>

> Slightly on a tangent from this, I could imagine being able to take

> detail video of an entire collection, putting it in some long-term

> redundant digital storage, and then letting some AI models reason over

> the video to make an index of what it thinks is there (and put that

> into some storage after you curate it). Even something like that would

> be better than having your nephew pick through your things if something

> happened to you because they "know about tech". And the video indexing

> wouldn't care about the mess level.

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

> -----Original Message-----

> From: vcf-midatlantic

> <vcf-midatlantic-bounces at lists.vcfed.org<mailto:

> vcf-midatlantic-bounces at lists.vcfed.org<mailto:vcf-midatlantic-bounces at lists.vcfed.org>

> >> On Behalf Of Bob Roswell via vcf-midatlantic

> Sent: Wednesday, March 27, 2024 1:18 PM

> To: vcf-midatlantic

> <vcf-midatlantic at lists.vcfed.org<mailto:vcf-midatlantic at lists.vcfed.org

> >>

> Cc: Bob Roswell <broswell at syssrc.com<mailto:broswell at syssrc.com<mailto:broswell at syssrc.com%3cmailto:broswell at syssrc.com>>>

> Subject: [vcf-midatlantic] Downsizers, Sick, Old, and Dying Collector -

> - Special Interest group to focus on "artifact wills"

>

>

>

> While on the sad topic of Bryan,  I would love to start/participate in

> a special interest group to focus on best practices for "artifact

> wills."

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> As the curator of a museum, I get calls, and emails many times a month

> from (usually) widows and children trying to figure out how dispose of

> their loved one's collection.

>

>

>

> There is a mature industry for estate planning, but they usually don't

> include the collections of stuff.  Some general articles exist like

>

> https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https*3A*2F*2Fwww.kiplinger.com*2Fretirement*2Festate-planning-for-memorabilia-collectors&data=05*7C02*7C*7Cc31d905fe2984b51f48108dc4e81e68d*7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa*7C1*7C0*7C638471567046344569*7CUnknown*7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0*3D*7C0*7C*7C*7C&sdata=TfIyqJfZRQyKcxppJQ74dKAlsbor0DmS6gNBUzgxRnE*3D&reserved=0__;JSUlJSUlJSUlJSUlJSUlJSUlJSU!!Ebr-cpPeAnfNniQ8HSAI-g_K5b7VKg!KRwHPiI_EeNwD6cjW6u9qlAk0IyLxRnojEKTe1XySFdZIlNbVz1qcNLN0Jiu2hpfSqtc9N3J6Z-e_vGQVzTUdAqLkzZ53ZzjkhhKZO8$<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https:/na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https*3A*2F*2Fwww.kiplinger.com*2Fretirement*2Festate-planning-for-memorabilia-collectors&data=05*7C02*7C*7Cc31d905fe2984b51f48108dc4e81e68d*7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa*7C1*7C0*7C638471567046344569*7CUnknown*7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0*3D*7C0*7C*7C*7C&sdata=TfIyqJfZRQyKcxppJQ74dKAlsbor0DmS6gNBUzgxRnE*3D&reserved=0__;JSUlJSUlJSUlJSUlJSUlJSUlJSU!!Ebr-cpPeAnfNniQ8HSAI-g_K5b7VKg!KRwHPiI_EeNwD6cjW6u9qlAk0IyLxRnojEKTe1XySFdZIlNbVz1qcNLN0Jiu2hpfSqtc9N3J6Z-e_vGQVzTUdAqLkzZ53ZzjkhhKZO8$>

> <

> https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.kiplinger.com/retirement/estate-planning-for-memorabilia-collectors__;!!Ebr-cpPeAnfNniQ8HSAI-g_K5b7VKg!KRwHPiI_EeNwD6cjW6u9qlAk0IyLxRnojEKTe1XySFdZIlNbVz1qcNLN0Jiu2hpfSqtc9N3J6Z-e_vGQVzTUdAqLkzZ53ZzjSuiP4ac$<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https:/www.kiplinger.com/retirement/estate-planning-for-memorabilia-collectors__;!!Ebr-cpPeAnfNniQ8HSAI-g_K5b7VKg!KRwHPiI_EeNwD6cjW6u9qlAk0IyLxRnojEKTe1XySFdZIlNbVz1qcNLN0Jiu2hpfSqtc9N3J6Z-e_vGQVzTUdAqLkzZ53ZzjSuiP4ac$>

> >

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> I could imagine the following results off the top of my head:

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> 1)  Documentation Corps: VCFED would have a corps of volunteers who

> could visit home/storage units while the collector is still alive.  We

> could document what is there and capture oral histories from the

> collector.

>

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> 2) Publish a document on disposition of the stuff

>

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>                 *  Donation to museum (with tax write-off)

>

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>                * Gift to other individuals

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>                * Consignment or Swap Meets

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>               * Ebay/Craigslist

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>                 * High end Auction houses (RR Auction Etc)

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>               * Electronics Recyclers

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> The document would provide contacts as well as a brief overview of the

> process.

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> Anyone interest?

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> Bob Roswell

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>

> Curator, Computer Museum @ System Source

>

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> https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https*3A*2F*2Fmuseum.syssrc.com*2F&data=05*7C02*7C*7Cc31d905fe2984b51f48108dc4e81e68d*7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa*7C1*7C0*7C638471567046353657*7CUnknown*7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0*3D*7C0*7C*7C*7C&sdata=bNkbFDu0rt1hl2ic4KfURYIost*2ByAMVDNAEx7WDU378*3D&reserved=0__;JSUlJSUlJSUlJSUlJSUlJSUlJSU!!Ebr-cpPeAnfNniQ8HSAI-g_K5b7VKg!KRwHPiI_EeNwD6cjW6u9qlAk0IyLxRnojEKTe1XySFdZIlNbVz1qcNLN0Jiu2hpfSqtc9N3J6Z-e_vGQVzTUdAqLkzZ53Zzj3aNzvto$<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https:/na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https*3A*2F*2Fmuseum.syssrc.com*2F&data=05*7C02*7C*7Cc31d905fe2984b51f48108dc4e81e68d*7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa*7C1*7C0*7C638471567046353657*7CUnknown*7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0*3D*7C0*7C*7C*7C&sdata=bNkbFDu0rt1hl2ic4KfURYIost*2ByAMVDNAEx7WDU378*3D&reserved=0__;JSUlJSUlJSUlJSUlJSUlJSUlJSU!!Ebr-cpPeAnfNniQ8HSAI-g_K5b7VKg!KRwHPiI_EeNwD6cjW6u9qlAk0IyLxRnojEKTe1XySFdZIlNbVz1qcNLN0Jiu2hpfSqtc9N3J6Z-e_vGQVzTUdAqLkzZ53Zzj3aNzvto$>

> <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://museum.syssrc.com/__;!!Ebr-cpPeAnfNniQ8HSAI-g_K5b7VKg!KRwHPiI_EeNwD6cjW6u9qlAk0IyLxRnojEKTe1XySFdZIlNbVz1qcNLN0Jiu2hpfSqtc9N3J6Z-e_vGQVzTUdAqLkzZ53ZzjhOQjakc$<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https:/museum.syssrc.com/__;!!Ebr-cpPeAnfNniQ8HSAI-g_K5b7VKg!KRwHPiI_EeNwD6cjW6u9qlAk0IyLxRnojEKTe1XySFdZIlNbVz1qcNLN0Jiu2hpfSqtc9N3J6Z-e_vGQVzTUdAqLkzZ53ZzjhOQjakc$>>

>

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> broswell at syssrc.com<mailto:broswell at syssrc.com<mailto:broswell at syssrc.com%3cmailto:broswell at syssrc.com>>

>

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> 410-771-5544 ext 4336

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