Hello Ian and MMD friends,  Ian Gillis posed a very timely and
important question in 191107 MMD: when is it time to break up or
dispose a collection, or just let survivors deal with it when you
are gone.

I had to deal with this question seven years ago when I had a stroke
and I had a couple of respectable collections.  I made the hard
decision to liquidate the collections when my health mandated seeking
a place to live with assisted living.  It is a hard question, but
I was able to find a museum which paid a fair price for most of my
pieces, I sold a few to interested persons, and even chose to give
a couple of good pieces to people I thought would enjoy them and may
not have had the funds to purchase them.

Now that I'm living in a retirement community, life is a bit easier
and knowing where my most valued pieces are gives me a sense of
satisfaction.  It was the right choice at the right time.  Since then
I have built two hand organs, I subscribed to MMD, and am finishing
a band-organ-style organ that will be on display at a local historic
organization.

People like Craig Smith and Bill Klinger (also MMD subscribers) made
it possible to see these projects to completion.  My mechanical music
collection is now limited to less than a dozen pieces and will be no
burden to family to dispose of them.  My family is aware of who will
get the orchestrion and its rolls (previously owned by Dr. Bill Black)
and the smaller pieces will go to family and friends.

This exercise helped me to "let go" of high maintenance pieces and
enjoy my retirement without the responsibility for their care and
storage.  This may not be the right path for many collectors, but
being in my 80s with waning health issues it seems to work for me.

Al Good
Waynesboro, Pennsylvania