what would you do with your golden, silver, and modern comic collection when....

[Mantis Dad]

i have had 2 life time comic collections. one that i started collecting from the early 70s to the early 90s, and a new one that i started around 2000 to present. my collection has merged with my late daughters collection and now i have close to 80 thousand /if i had to guess/.
i have 2 young children with zero interest in comics, and a wife that has less than zero. no grand kids, and realistically, no grand kids during my life time.
my question is-

if you had a huge comic collection when you are older /like me/, and you knew you were getting close to the end of your journey, what would you do with your collection if you had no family members that wanted them?
my combined collection has many golden age dc and timely, atlas, and a ton of bronze to modern dc and marvel /mostly marvel/. very interested in your answers.
thank you!

my daughter, when we found out about her illness, wanted to give some of her comics away for free. she told me she tried to give away her submariner 23 to a namor fan /on this forum/, but the person didn't want it.

[Brad]

First of all, my condolences about your daughter.

Are you willing to spend the time and effort piecing it out in lots on ebay to maximize your money? With 80,000 comics, I'm guessing no. Are you willing to get rid of the entire (or nearly entire) massive collection at once for convenience in exchange for less money? Do you happen to live near a major comic book store that has the cash flow to make a reasonable offer? Probably not. Do you live in Texas where Lone Star Comics is located? In Colorado where Mile High Comics is located? Even if not, at least one of those companies would probably be willing to send someone to your location to scout out your collection. Don't let them cherry pick. They have to take the unwanted stuff along with the really desirable stuff. Pit them against each other and don't just take the first offer.

[Brad]

Re-reading you post and answering your question directly, my answer is that I would sell just about everything and keep whatever is your very favorite stuff.

[Cville]

Golden and Silver age stuff I would try to sell to a collector. My LCS knows someone who buys comics in Virgina.

Modern Age stuff, if its not character first appearance or a #1, I would give to GoodWill.

[Mantis Dad]

thank you. just so everyone knows, i plan to give away my collection to younger comic fans i run across at my local comic store. i am more interested in what "you" would do.

[Brad]

Well that is extremely generous. Hopefully the lucky recipients will know enough to appreciate and care for anything valuable. Have you run this by the comic store owner? The person may think he's losing back issue sales if you're giving out stuff.

Also, this thread may be better suited in Collected/Classic category.

[Digifiend]

I agree with this thread being in the wrong place, as it isn't Marvel specific.

80,000 issues, yeah, that's an impressive collection.

A caveat to Cville's point - modern #1s are actually very commonplace, so those might as well be given away too. A #1 is only worth anything if it's a character debut, and even then it needs to be old (you wouldn't get much for Ms Marvel Vol 3 #1, which is Kamala Khan's first full appearance but only four years old).

[DragonsChi]

I think it's very noble of you to give away a collection of that size.

I would possibly try to give them to a charity. There has to be a charity or foundation out there that takes in books of all kinds.

Another option is to give them away to friends who I think would appreciate them.

An option for you specifically Mantis Dad is possibly placing a link in the footer of your post that list/details what you have. I'm sure posters on CBR would be willing to buy some of the books from you.

[Mantis Dad]

An option for you specifically Mantis Dad is possibly placing a link in the footer of your post that list/details what you have. I'm sure posters on CBR would be willing to buy some of the books from you.

great idea dragonchi. most of the collection is marvel, so that is why i posted it here. i am not quite ready to 'ride off into the sunset', but when i get closer and retire for good, i will do a full inventory and catalog a link for everyone. they won't be for sale though, i will give them away to those that want to "collect them", not, "resell them". so for a true spiderman fan, i would send my spider books, for a true avengers fan, i would send my avengers books, and so on and so on. i would want them to pay for postage though /they are getting the books for free, so i would at least require that/
thank you all for your answers, a lot to consider.

[Iron Maiden]

First of all, my belated sympathies on the passing of your daughter. She was such a delightful member of this community. I think I would check to see if a local library is interested in your collection, particularly one that is attached to a university of some size. It seems to me one of the larger universities in California has a library of comic books that can be checked out. Or maybe it was just TPBs and hardcovers. If I were you, I would sell the most valuable ones and donate the profits to a cause that would be of interest to your daughter. And keep the ones you like for yourself. I have a handful of comics that are signed by Stan Lee, Jonathan Hickman, and a Fantastic Four issue signed by Waid & Wieringo. That one I framed. I didn't get it in person though, it was from a reseller.

[Brad]

I know Michigan State University has a extensive comic book collection in their Special Collections department. Went in many times as a student reading for pleasure and taking advantage of the opportunity to handle things in person. Of course, you can't check anything out.

[CentralPower]

Very sorry about your older/late daughter. At least you had something to bond with her though.

Passing them along to younger fans is not a bad idea. I do think it is important to keep runs together, and to keep well curated comics in the hobby. And, giving comics to younger fans is one way to do that. (I do frequent purges, to keep my collection manageable. Many of those comics go to friends and their children.)

[Mantis Dad]

thank you all for remembering her. if you knew mai like i did, you would understand that she would want them to go to people that had the deep passion that she had for her comics. she initially received her passion from me, but after a few years, her passion outgrew even mine.

[Skedatz]

thank you. just so everyone knows, i plan to give away my collection to younger comic fans i run across at my local comic store. i am more interested in what "you" would do.

This is what I was gonna suggest.

Identify people who would appreciate them for the special treasures like you have and bequeath it to them. After all, you've spent your whole life collecting these things and you'd want to make sure they're not going to just become a resale item or forgotten.