I was reading a pamphlet on dealing with collections, but it was focused on art and coins. I wondered what advice this group might have on various aspects of our collections.

For instance, do you seek potential heirs to pass your collection on to, or do you plan to sell it all at some point while you're alive, or do you direct your executor to sell/dispose of your collection upon your death, or do you try to decide how to divvy up the collection(s) so that each heir gets a fair share? Do you have a list of auction houses to suggest to your executor (who may or may not be familiar with the hobby), or do tell them to announce your death on this chat room and let the vultures descend?

How do taxes affect your decisions? Are your collections owned by you? A trust? Do you physically begin distributing your collection to others while you're alive?

Do you keep your more valuable items in a bank safety deposit box? Or in a safe at home? Is everything in boxes or on walls or shelves? Or buried in the ground with a small packet of dessicant and an attack rat to guard them?

This is kind of an open ended topic, so feel free to discuss tangential items as well. Hopefully, this will be helpful to people like me who haven't been collectors for very long. Given the number of obits I've seen posted here, along with the bazillion condolences that go along with them, I assume there's a wealth of secondary experience here as well (spouses, friends of the deceases, etc) from those who have had to deal with collections after the collector has passed. What was done correctly and what mistakes were made.