posted 11-02-2009 12:44 PM               

Has the concept of family heirlooms been killed off by the economy and eBay?

I routinely hear about people assuming their collections will be sold upon their death, but have any members tried to emphasize to their family members the importance -- if there is such an importance -- to their collections (or some subset therein) being kept for their future generations to learn from and enjoy?

posted 11-02-2009 01:13 PM               

There are a couple of items I would like donated to Museums for display, and I have earmarked one item each for my two children which are both personal to them and suitable "keepsakes" or heirlooms from their Dads' collection which I hope they would in turn pass on to their children.

With the passage of time I can only hope my grand children and great grand children....should I have any, would appreciate and value these items more than my own children currently.

posted 11-02-2009 02:15 PM               

Granted, one can specify to family members that it is important to keep the collection within the family, if that is truly one's desire. But I have to wonder what value it will hold to descendents if nobody else places a similar value on the items. There is always the danger that a collection might be accidentally (or purposely) discarded by a future generation that assigns no importance to it (or doesn't realize it's worth).

posted 11-02-2009 08:58 PM               

I think of a family heirloom as something personal to the family. A painting created by a long ago artist, a chair handcrafted, even a photo of yourself or grandpa with Neil Armstrong (or another hero) that he autographed for you. An heirloom is something I think of is something that can't be replaced.

My space collection (modest as it is) and all the astronaut autographs I have are keepsakes for me but not heirlooms. Though it would not be cheap (by my standards) all of them could be replaced at the next auction or two.

posted 11-02-2009 09:20 PM               

I am hoping that my son will want some or all of what I am collecting, and I will leave much of it to him when I am gone, with hopes that he would preserve some or all of it for future generations. Other items will probably go to museums - although we have certainly seen that private collections often care better for artifacts than museums.

posted 11-03-2009 04:50 PM               

As I said earlier, in the absence of family interest in my own collection, I would prefer my own collection be sold off to other avid collectors who will enjoy and preserve the items as well as I did.

posted 11-03-2009 05:13 PM               

I was a Cub Scout, but Scouting never appealed to me as much as it did to my father, who was an Eagle Scout. Still, he took me to a few jamborees when I was young and encouraged me to pick up some of the patches offered at them. They never really meant much to me, other than what it meant to take part in a father-son activity.

His albums now sit in storage. I could try selling them to a collector or giving them to a local Scout troop, but in the back of my mind is the idea that perhaps among my children, or my grandchildren (or there on), one or more will take a stronger interest in Scouting and wouldn't it be something then, if a box could be opened and there before him/her was presented their (great) grandfather's patch collection. What a prize that would be.

My own interest in space collecting can be traced back in part to my mother's collection of July 21, 1969 newspapers, saved from her time then as a teacher. She couldn't have known that her son would take up such a strong interest, and a local library or school might have served those papers well in the years in-between. But the common interest, tied together with the family connection, made the discovery of those papers greater than any treasure I could imagine in my youth.

posted 11-04-2009 02:46 AM               

I am all for encouraging future generations to be interested in space however, I have two sons, one who isn't interested at all and one too young to know any different. Maybe they will become interested? I am not one for forcing them to like something just because I do. The "You can lead a horse to water but cant make it drink" kind of thing.

I am sure though that sometime in the future, they would both rather prefer a leg up in life, to have a deposit for a house or new car rather than a collection of stuff they aren't really interested in just because dad was into it all. Provided I died for some reason before they were old enough to need these things anyhow.

Sure there is the sentimental thing, but if we thought like that about everything we owned or inherited then 1) we would never ever get rid of anything and 2) what an added headache for our relatives in finding somewhere large enough to store it all if it's a large collection.

I wouldn't put pressure on my relatives either by asking them to keep a collection just for old times sake. Rather try selling the collection as a whole (If possible) and in life leaving them an idea of values and prices paid for items making "tags" as Scott mentioned with info about the item, and provenenace. I have a friend who has listed every item in his collection with it's history and how much he paid for it so that when he dies his family will have an idea of it's value. I personally would like them to at least know about the people involved in the hobby who I have trusted, respected and dealt with over the years where my family could turn for advise on all things space collecting related so they wouldn't be ripped off when the collection was sold. Then,for them to enjoy something in my death like a nice holiday away together to remember me by, or as I said a deposit for a house/car.

My wife, who is a lawyer who deals with tax, will's, probates and complex multi million £/$ estates and is power of attorney amongst other things has come across this in her line of work, where a will specifically asks for a particular item/items to be looked after once the client has deceased. This can have many outcomes and can impact in many different ways on relatives that are left.

I was once left some money by my grandparents who had died, what I did was went out and bought a nice wristwatch (not my Speedmaster) and every time I wear it and look at the time it reminds me of the wonderful times we spent together. Now That means more to me as a memory of them than having a collection of items in a store room some where.

posted 11-04-2009 07:31 AM               

quote:

---

Originally posted by LCDR Scott Schneeweis:
... Part of the reason why I strongly advocate applying durable tags with important information about the history/application of the item so that subsequent generations have at least a small shot at understanding the value of and are incentivized to preserve the artifact.

---

For example, I have a flown Apollo 17 flag originally presented to one of the first members of the Space Task Group, and the flag itself is signed "Flown around the moon on Apollo 17" by Gene Cernan. Its a nice piece, and taken by itself it would likely be considered something that has some value and should be saved. However, without accompanying information, no one would know that I also have copies of interviews with the Space Task Group member to whom it belonged, and a Saturday Evening Post magazine in which he was featured, and pictures of the gentleman ... well, you get the idea. These items all belong together to "tell the story" of the piece, but they could EASILY get separated absent some appropriate tagging to prevent that from occurring.

posted 11-04-2009 04:31 PM               

In my own case I have deliberately set out to acquire two examples of certain items explicitly for my children. They are too young to appreciate any of this yet, and I don't harbor any illusions that they will necessarily be interested in the future, but I'd like to be prepared just in case.

In the 'worst' case they won't be interested at all in space history, in which case they can sell the items to someone who is and use the money to buy themselves something that interests them. That's not really such a bad thing.

We are all just temporary guardians of the space memorabilia we currently own. As such, our most important tasks are to preserve the items themselves, and to ensure that their history and monetary value is not lost when the items are passed onto someone else.

Your family should be aware of your collection, and know where to find the recorded details and any accompaying documentation. I would also suggest you tell them (or write down somewhere they'll find it) the best people to contact about these items if they want or need to sell them at any stage.

posted 11-05-2009 01:38 AM               

You never actually own a Patek Philippe. You merely take care of it for the next generation.