When a record collector dies...

ryan17 said:

Matt can i have yours when you pass on?

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WOEBOT inna obsessive collection thread said:

This is where I tell you not to sweat it: Don't sweat it! Its a valuable pursuit this "collectivitis" just be sure to share your knowledge and bequeath your collection to a good library in your will.

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This last thought being, if I may say so, one of the most redeeming things I've heard in a while.

a consideration for people

having done several shows at community radio stations that kept good libraries, I just want to put in that people leaving their collections when they died were the source of some of the best records in there, as the ones that are to get stolen usually get stolen around the year or so of release from promos, so to have a reverse infusion of incredible music from decades ago, labelled with little stickers saying 'the so-and-so collection' was a special resource for the people who did shows without having their own libraries to fall back on.

Don't tell K-Punk, but I'm a probate solicitor.

Some people do make provision to pass on their collections to specific people or institutions by their will. Others let it pass into the residue of their estate. In the latter case it is either appropriated by one of their relatives (ie taken in lieu of a cash entitlement) or it is dealt with along with the other chattels, usually being sold to house clearance firms who auction it off or sell it to record dealers.

I've only been at the job for about four and a half years and I've never come across a really substantial collection. My firm was involved in a family dispute where the deceased had an extensive collection of pre-war opera acetates with one side claiming it was worth around £100,000. More usually it is Jim Reeves and Val Doonican and they cost more to dispose of than they would ever get by being sold. Also, no library would ever take them.

If you are thinking of giving your collection to a library or other learning institution by will then check with them first to make sure they will take it. I'm tempted to offer a free service to charitable dissenters but I don't want to end up doing hundreds of wills and not getting any work done

ryan17 said:

did radio1 land all of peel's shit?

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no they are going to archive all the sessions on the net with loads of biog info.
(not sure if that is public info so keep it a bit quiet)

last heard they were giving the collection to the british library.

but i think they have to tally that with his family cos obviously it's a financial thing to for them.

From a tax point of view, Peelie's collection might be worth around the Nil Rate Band for Inheritance Tax purposes (£263,000 this year). Whilst there would be no tax to pay if everything passed to his wife it would be taxable as part of her estate in due course. There is a real compulsion to gift it to charity (and claim charitable exemption for Inheritance tax). There is also an exemption for works of art gifted to the nation and whilst I don't think it is likely in this case, it would be interesting to see whether this collection by it's nature (ie; that it was Peel's and Peel was Peel) qualifies as an art collection.

Don't the British Library get copies of all new records released in the UK anyway? They get copies of all new books. Anyone know?

Reading this post I realise that I appear to have put on my work head by accident this morning

Randy Watson said:

Don't the British Library get copies of all new records released in the UK anyway? They get copies of all new books. Anyone know?

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I don't think so - I've certainly never heard of such a thing, and they don't mention a vast record collection on any of their maps or leaflets.

Randy Watson said:

If you are thinking of giving your collection to a library or other learning institution by will then check with them first to make sure they will take it. I'm tempted to offer a free service to charitable dissenters but I don't want to end up doing hundreds of wills and not getting any work done

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yeah good point. i wonder how delighted the british library would be with my grimey whites?

my grandad is a quite serious collector of old master dutch/english watercolours (sothebys say he has the largest private collection inn the country!!!) what he's decided to do is keep each artists work together. so i'll be getting stuff by XXXXXXX and my cousin will be getting stuff by XXXXXXX.

how to do the same with a record collection? by genre?

You could leave it by genre/artist/format or by any other descriptive means. Any chattel must be capable of identification by description so your executors know what to do. Defining by genre can be problematic - where does ardkore end and jungle begin?

When someone wants to leave a lot of specific gifts of chattels I ask them to leave all their chattels to their executors to distribute in accordance with any list or note of wishes kept with the Will. This allows them to change their mind without having to re-draft the will. It also creates a binding trust on the executors. Some people mark their possessions with coloured dots - different colours for different people - and then state they have done so in their list.

Chattels are a bit of a nightmare and are the source of many family disputes