Relative about to give me his collection

[Sqeggs]

It's family. You do it for free in this case since it's "your mother's other son."

 

I am in a similar situation right now with my only sibling who is going through a rough time. I see my brother once or twice a year and my parents see him maybe two or three times. He lives an hour away from them. Due to a few things going on he wants to get rid of as much as possible. He doesn't want "things."

 

He asked me to sell as much for him as possible and he would give me a commission. I am not taking his money outside of the fees it takes to sell things for him.

 

My brother can be an but he is my mother's other son.

 

You don't split the cost of the books. In this case, you ask him if you can take a couple of books and you sell the rest giving him 100% of whatever you sell them for minus fees. If you want to give him say, dealer rate for the books you took that is also an option.

 

Long after the comic book deal goes down, the rest of your family will always remember what happened and how it was handled so be sure to handle it well.

 

Man, I wish you were my brother!

[InvstmntComcSuply]

I think the majority of times relatives are gifting items, they are not expecting anything in return, they know that the item is more important to you, than to them. It may be, that bringing money into it, will cheapen the thought. If it is a few hundred bucks worth of books I don't think it is worth damaging that goodwill. So just reciprocate in the future.

 

Now if it is $1000 or more, it depends on your relationship with your brother. I still talk to mine regularly and we are pretty open. So, I would have no problem saying "Wow, thanks these are worth about $1000. I can use X, Y, Z for my collection and I really appreciate them. What do you think about selling the rest?" and let it go from there.

[ChicksCosmiComics]

Its easy look and see what he has got if there are some demand and $ for some of the books sell them off or keep them and cut him in. But if it is drek that will take up space and be time consuming to sell if ever don't give him anything.

 

Or buy something he might like instead great seats /tickets to a game. or a concert or take him out to a top notch resturant

[Phantalien]

If it was my sister (don't have a brother) I would say, "That was a lot of comics and while there were cool things to have I would probably sell a number of them too if that would be OK?"

 

If I get the go ahead I would then get things graded and sell everything I wanted to sell. Then after money was figured out for the fees and grading, I would give her a check. Or if I wanted to make it really fun, I would make the next Christmas or Birthday present be the money in cash form, probably all in stacks of 5s 10s, or 20's. Whatever seemed most impressive.

[mrwoogieman]

You are now the custodian of this collection. You will keep it intact until one day when you give it to your brother's grandson and tell him that it was his papa's collection.

 

 

[Doohickamabob]

Ask your brother what he wants for the comics. Let him set a price. Then haggle it down according to what you think is reasonable -- or if he sets a low price, buy them for his price. Your brother sounds lackadaisical, as if he doesn't care much either way and isn't depending on the comics for income. If he has real gems and you sell them for big bucks, definitely give your brother some extra cash as a thank-you -- possibly a 50/50 percentage or whatever. Since he's your brother, obviously you want to do right by him. However, you deserve significant compensation for your knowledge, research efforts, organizing, and all the time and energy and stress that goes into selling.

 

I wouldn't goof around with cherry picking or setting prices for different comics or runs. I'd just take everything off his hands and do the sorting on my own. It sounds like your brother just wants to be free of the burden of all the comics.

 

 

 

[Beige]

Your brother is giving you his books for free.

 

Pick them up, say thankyou and leave.

 

If in 6 months you have slabbed 40 keepers for your collection, and sold the rest for a modest sum, call him up and take him, his family and kids out for a great dinner on you - and show him some of his old books in their nice slabs, so he knows you are protecting and enjoying them for years to come.

 

It's a gift - you are making a gesture of kindness very complicated.

 

Of course if there is an AF #15 in there - well that would be different - I'd say you would be obligated to share the $$ if that were the case. But as you haven't mentioned any huge Keys (unless IH #181 is included), I'd just treat him and his to an enjoyable, memorable family dinner in a great restaurant.

 

If he wanted money, I'm sure he would have asked you for some?

 

[01TheDude]

first thought that came to mind when you mentioned the runs is that he has a Hulk 181 in that collection. Has he kept up with what some of his key books are worth?

 

I like the take the gift as a gift suggestion though -- once you have control of the books, pick out the ones that you need for your collection and keep the rest to the side for future selling as you have time to handle it. Make sure you make a note of the the ones he gave you (sort of a pedigree inside your own collection). DO this not so much for yourself but for him as well as one day he might want to know how you used the books. Or even if he decides to revisit some issues.

 

One thing I have found with my own brother is he has this strange memory that many things I have were at one time his. He is very often mistaken but arguing is pointless. While I doubt that will be the case here, it is always smart to have a good set of records backing up what you know to be true.

 

If you make some decent money off selling rest of the books-- use it to get him something nice and be sure to thank him for the generous gift.

[01TheDude]

one more note-- my brother and I use to collect beer cans when were kids. It was amassed together though it was more his collection than mine back then (he is 3 years older). Well I ended up with the whole thing. And to him-- it has no meaning whatsoever anymore. I added to the collection over the years here and there when I saw a new can come along. Honestly-- I've been trying to sell off parts of it on eBay along with other stuff. And he doesn't seem to care about it. Some people just are able to let things like that go.

 

 

[chrisco37]

Interesting and timely post. I'm actually meeting up with an old friend today that called me out of the blue and asked if I wanted his old books. He's moving and doesn't feel like transporting them. He just said he knew I'd appreciate them.

 

I was wondering the same thing (re: what to do). He said it's about 4 long boxes (so, not a ton of books) and I'm guessing mostly Marvel copper. I figure I'll fill in the gaps I have and, if I sell anything, just send him half of it to help cover moving costs or something.

[comixcroz]

You are now the custodian of this collection. You will keep it intact until one day when you give it to your brother's grandson and tell him that it was his papa's collection.

 

[Mark 1]

It's your brother and I doubt he cares about the money. I would take them, say thanx bro, and if I ever sold them I would give the money to his kids or somrthing.

 

[Silver]

I'd take the ones I wanna keep for nothing, and split the loot on anything I sold.

 

+1

[jaeldubyoo]

I don't think it's about the money. But it would be nice if you reciprocated the gift. Buy a nice gift that he would enjoy. If I received a great gift from my brother, I wouldn't give him money. I would buy a gift that he would enjoy.

[That Ron Dude]

Take a third of the sale price. Give him the rest. Think of a way to make him take the money-- you can do it. Keep the books you want informing him of the potential sold value.

[Radj4ck]

I'd take the books, thank him, keep the ones I wanted, sell all the others and give him 60%-70% of the money.