All very good points. This is why I'm putting together the organization I've described. It is to fill in where the surviving family members can't take on the burden.
Sellam On Wed, Jun 26, 2024, 11:25 PM Doc Shipley via cctalk <cctalk@classiccmp.org> wrote: > On 6/27/24 00:29, Sellam Abraham via cctalk wrote: > > On Wed, Jun 26, 2024 at 9:17 PM Doc Shipley via cctalk < > > cctalk@classiccmp.org> wrote: > > > >> Much, much more important than the money, though, is the impact leaving > >> a large collection would have on my descendants. News Flash: > >> > >> THESE TREASURES ARE THEIR TRASH. > >> > >> It would be unconscionable for me to put any expectation on them to > >> "properly" dispose of my computers. To do so would require a silly > >> amount of self-education for them to know even what these things ARE, > >> much less what they're worth and where to sell them. > >> > >> > > Not necessarily. It depends on the trash in question. The second-hand > > market is huge, and the computer collecting hobby is currently a thriving > > part of it. > > > > > > Bottom line is that vintage computer stuff now has a lot of value, and > > there's a generation of younger people coming up behind my generation > that > > has a definite interest in this stuff, from the 1990s PCs all the way > back > > to 1940s mainframes. So even if they were to hire one of those companies > > that comes and hauls everything away and sells it all on eBay and gives a > > cut back to the owner, it will still result in much of your effort to > > preserve historical computer stuff not at all being in vain. Bonus if > you > > leave behind a detailed inventory with historical notes. > > > > > Sellam > > My point was, and is, that my heirs must get a choice in all that. Even > casual listing on ebay takes time and attention, and in the case of > computers there's a significant up-front expense just *housing* them, > even temporarily. > > All my kids have kids of their own and not a lot of available time and > attention. It's on me as a responsible father to make it available if, > and only if, they feel it's worth their time. Otherwise I'm leaving > them a burden that's not of their choosing. > > I should add that organizing and making coherent the physical storage of > all this is a big part of my goal. > > *I* know what that open topped cardboard carton of circuit boards is, > but J Random Helper will have no idea how to tell the ISA adapters from > the AGB cards from the QBus RAM boards, and even if there's a detailed > inventory, somebody would have to find the *correct* set of characters > on the silkscreens and look them up. > > I feel that just sorting for some kind of coherency and consistently > labeling all the little parts and pieces, and packing them in stackable > cartons or tubs, will go a very long way toward making my collection an > asset to the heirs instead of a giant pain in the butt. > > > Doc >
