What Should I Do with My Valuable Beanie Baby Collection?

Learning a foreign language, making wine and crafting are popular stay-at-home activities, there’s a new trend: childhood collections of Beanie Baby, baseball cards, comic books, video games, sneakers, model trains, and Barbie dolls are being uncovered and re-examined.

The Wealth Advisor’s recent article entitled “Estate Planning for Your Collections May Be a Smart Decision to Make” explains that the legacy we leave isn’t always a lot of money or real estate. Artifacts and collections have a value that goes beyond dollars and cents. The importance of hobbies and collections in a person’s estate plan should be noted.

A collector should catalog their collection because an heir might have no idea what he’s holding. Is it a three-buck toy from the local department store or is it a Devi Kroell Barbie from 2010 that sells now for at least $1,100?

One way to start a catalog is to take photos on a smart phone and save them in a shared file called “My Collectible Beanie Baby.”

Next, get an idea what your collection is worth. You can get some idea by looking at prices for similar items on eBay prices. You also should be aware of the “grade” of your pieces. Is your Beanie Baby still in its original packaging in pristine condition, or has your niece chewed on it for a few years as a baby? Of course, the condition makes a huge difference in the price.

You can gift a collection to a trust through a gift memorandum and specifically listed it on a trust’s Schedule A. If the collectible has its own title, like your 1954 Chevrolet Corvette Convertible, the title can be transferred to the trust. When it’s part of a trust, a collectible can be distributed or maintained the way other trust assets are governed.

Trusts avoid probate and let a collector have more flexibility to control how her collection is handled, appreciated and sold.

Without a specific bequest in a last will, something like a Beanie Baby collection worth thousands of dollars may only be mentioned as “personal property” in a catch-all category for non-financial accounts or real estate belonging to the decedent. As a result, it’s lumped in with clothing, furniture and household items. An executor who is unfamiliar with Beanie Babies or Barbies may not know enough to maximize the collection’s value.

Some collectors dispose of an unwanted collection while they’re still alive. That is because the owner is the one who understands the market for the collectibles. Obtaining the best prices and letting your heirs  use the windfall for their individual plans may be a win-win.

Reference: The Wealth Advisor (Feb. 2, 2021) “Estate Planning for Your Collections May Be a Smart Decision to Make”

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