On Mon, 6 Feb 2006, Phil Nelson wrote:

Donating a lifetime collection on the condition that it will all be kept
together seems rather unlikely to me. Not impossible, but there are very,
very few old-radio museums in the world, and most already have more "stuff"
than they can ever exhibit.

Have you tried contacting nearby radio collector clubs? You may meet someone
who would appreciate what you've got. One club list is available at
http://www.antiqueradio.com/clublist.html (no connection to me).

If you can't find anyone to take the whole shebang, and you aren't
interested in eBaying on your own, perhaps you could find a local broker to
sell everything on eBay for a commission. Selling piece-by-piece will get
you much more than trying to sell an entire collection in one lot.

I have already resigned myself to the idea that if I kick tomorrow, my
"treasures" will probably be hauled away by the nearest charity truck. If
you donate to a pick-up charity, at least you could take a modest tax
writeoff.

Regards,

Phil Nelson
Phil's Old Radios
http://antiqueradio.org/index.html


Its tragic that lots of XYLs have to deal with this problem, but I also
heard (many years ago) that places like The Smithsonian get tons of
donations that they cannot use and I'm talking about very large
quantities. It is possible that they may even be refusing to take stuff
unless arrangements can be made ahead of time.

I've told my wife she needs to just get rid of the stuff and not worry
about price. I hope to figure out some simplifying procedure or work out
some arrangement. However, I recall that there are "junk haulers" who will
come and take the stuff away for free and they worry about getting what
they can out of it to pay their wages/costs and I don't remember, just
now, the names of them but some are on the WWW.

It might be worth it for some business-orriented ham(s) to organize a
collection function along with a auction (eg. eBay) and pay for it with
the proceeds of the auction and (maybe) some kind of profit sharing with
the widow. However, I've seen "widow" tables at hamfests where they almost
gave stuff away or they tried to get new or almost new prices for stuff
that needed to be priced to sell, not priced so it would never sell.

I have a good friend who is a decent and honest man.
He feeds his family buying and selling old technology,
including ham radio stuff. I gave his name and number to
my wife and told her that he would be fair to her,
and he will. This idea that goes around that
anyone who deals in ham radio equipment is somehow
"tainted" is just envy with a cheap coat of fake moral
paint slapped over it.

D.S.