# Dividing up the assets/valuing collectibles



## honcho (Oct 5, 2013)

As with most divorce cases even though in the beginning we agreed to not fight over certain items once the lawyers start playing the games that for some reason ends. 

Anyway I am sure some other people have run into the problem of valuing a collection and was hoping to hear what others may have done to set a reasonable value on such items. Nothing in the collection is worth a great deal indivdually more the 15-20 dollar range for each piece it the sheer size of the collection. When your talking thousands of pieces obviously its a huge time consuming task to list each individually, value individually. 

Its not my collection, its hers and while part of me would love to have her waste time inventorying everything, practical side of me just says count how many there are use an average cost and you have a value. I dont care if one piece is worth 50 bucks and one only 10. 

I did my own unscientific experiment last night since part of the collection is still in my home. I looked up 150 of the items on ebay, found the lowest priced available and used that as the basis. Im not trying to be greedy and just looking up the 150 last night took all night. This collection is probably around 3000 pieces. I am sure people have run into this problem before whether it be baseball cards or figurines where the value is the collection, not the individual piece. 

Guess I am just trying to see what others may have done to arrive at a reasonable amount and not waste hours and hours


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## PBear (Nov 16, 2010)

Get it professionally appraised? That should have been done for insurance purposes anyway. 

C
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## honcho (Oct 5, 2013)

Realistically the nearest appraiser for her collection would be around 3.5 hour drive away one way if I could even find one in Chicago. Its not like we could just load up the car and drive somewhere to get them appraised. I'd need a big trailer. For insurance they would have recognized receipts from original purchase and we did put an additional policy on several years ago on the house. 

She probably has all the receipts somewhere but her producing them at this point? She can say she threw them out when she started to move or whatever. Original cost is most likely more than current value anyway. I would ballpark guess she spent 40 grand over the years on her collection. I figure current market is probably around 25-30 grand. I think that is a real number.


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## unbelievable (Aug 20, 2010)

Simple. A disinterested party sells them by X date and divides by 2. That'd be my offer. It's simple, it's undeniably fair, and she's sure to have a coniption fit when she hears it.


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## honcho (Oct 5, 2013)

Selling would be a last resort and while it makes the division number simple other than someone making cash on commission, ebay and paypal making money on fees. You'd loose 25%. 

While I would enjoy the fit she would throw, i'd much rather come to a simple realistic way to value it and in my simple world math I like to do, she keeps her stuff and its less equity I would have to pay on the house or less retirement I need to fork over. She loves these stupid things.


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## PBear (Nov 16, 2010)

For 25 or 30K, it's worth it to fly someone to your place, I'd think. Even a grand or two is cheap, relatively speaking. And that cost should come from the matrimonial property value, so you're splitting the cost. Have you talked to a lawyer about this?

Or you could just throw out a number on the high side that you can live with, and leave it to her if she wants to sell them off to prove they're not worth as much.

C


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## gulfwarvet (Jan 7, 2013)

Give her your proposed value, if she doesn't like it, then inventory all the items and tell the court since you weren't able to come to an agreed value that you want them sold at live auction. You will probably see her become agreeable in a hurry.


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