>If you want the best financial return for the collection, how
> do you proceed and why?
>
> Bill Fenzan
> Norfolk, VA

The best way depends on the value of your time. If you have the time, sell
it on Ebay. Requires time, but there is no middleman to pay. If time is a
concern, then sell to a dealer or the whole collection as a single
package, assuming the collection is worth what you think it is. The
problem is that many people have an unrealistic idea of the quality of the
collection.

While the specimens in a collection may have good locality data, the
specimens may not be very fine or gem quality. These would be acceptable
to a museum, however, a dealer may not find a buyer for a fair or good
specimen even with data. Also, a collection may have many common shells,
sometimes these are hard for a dealer to sell and make a profit on them.

One could write a very long and details paper on how to dispose of a
collection. I urge people to consider what will happen to their collection
when they are no longer able to take care of it or if they die. I have a
small collection and my wife and sons know that it goes to the Carnegie
Museum when I die. There are modest funds to accompany the collection to
help pay to have it incorporated in the Museum's collection. I urge all
collectors to discuss the disposition of their collection with their loved
one.

Example: 15 years ago I was asked to evaluate a collection. It was donated
to The Carnegie. The collection was mostly self collected, ranged from New
jersey to Florida, and built over a 30 year time period. Only a few
specimens had label, however, everything was numbered. The collector died,
the family threw out the catalogs, the bulk of the collection became
worthless. Only the small portion with labels (material he received in
trade) were eventually incorporated into our collection. Over 10,000 lots
became useless because the collector did not convey the importance of this
collection and plan for its eventual home.

Regards,
Charlie
.................................................
Charlie Sturm
Research Associate - Section of Mollusks
Carnegie Museum of Natural History
Pittsburgh, PA, USA

Assistant Professor - Family Medicine
Fellow-American Academy of Family Practice
Fellow-Academy of Wilderness Medicine

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