I have close to 150 comics from the early 50s to 60s. They all came from my father in-law's childhood collection and he gifted them to our family for his grandchildren to read. They sat in a box in our basement for about a year before I finally went through them and found an X-Men #1 (in poor condition-- see my PGM post). Of course I got excited and looked up every book that had a cover. Due to their condition (brittle, ripped pages, deteriorating spine, missing covers, etc), most were valued by online searches at less than $2-3.
My plan for now is to preserve the "best" or "favorite" books, and let the kids enjoy reading the rest. My father in-law is happy to see the kids enjoy them-- and I don't get too worked up when little pieces fall off the books when they're handled because I know most of the value is sentimental.
I'm curious what the comic book collecting community thinks about this plan... What have others done with their large decomposing collections?