[Closed] Box Advice

I'd fear they wouldn't sell. I know I've scrolled past cars without boxes.

We have a dedicated piece of furniture for the boxes, but I have 'only' 130 or so.

+1 Agree. I don't buy unboxed for fear for shipping damage.

By all means keep them. As Ed says, I don't even look at an unboxed handbuilt.

I don't even take resin models off their plinths anymore. Handling them by their plinths lessens the possibility of losing mirrors, antennae, etc.

I've been questioning this box saving game for quite a while. I had an enormous collection in the eighties by the time I realized folks were saving their models in the original boxes. At first I thought these folks were just unsure they would keep the model so they kept it ready for sale or trading. Now my collection (which included hundreds of Porsches) was all in glass cases on display in a special room of the home. The boxes were not even worried about. But now it's a little different. I've sold almost the whole of my collection, moved to a smaller abode, and you guys now make me keep the boxes of the new stuff I buy. But I still like to build a lot. I still like to display. I'm just scaled down to a smaller quantity I can manage.

A common car won't sell (or will sell cheap) but some rarer ones will still sell but cheaper.

Paperwork is only really a requirement for me on limited editions.

boxes

In the 90's I was getting overloaded with boxes and did a stupid thing. I disposed of all my boxes. A few years later I realized some of the cars on display were missing items like mirrors, antennas etc. Where did they go? Duh.

Do you ever envision selling them?

I think collectors of anything are pack rats by nature, it's the act of having that is so satisfying. I only take out one or two cars at a time, yet I find having all of them deeply satisfying. So, the boxes remain, in a separate big box. But, not for future sell off but just b/c it's part of the bigger process of holding on.

The question really is if you ever plan on selling them, really... as in mass sell off. If you do, if you can see yourself waking up some day and just ditching the whole collection, then, yes, save them and keep them clearly marked for their respective cars. And forget about your heirs, b/c it's unlikely they'll take the time to go thru all those boxes and match them to their respective cars.

So what you do really relates to a deeper question of what you envision yourself doing into the future. Worst case scenario is that you cannot sell the cars for as much, yet you have the added space. These things make lousy investments anyways, the few extra dollars one way or the other shouldn't matter.

We just went the a major basement project involving the dumpster, and let me tell you, the amount of stuff you save b/c "You never know" is amazing, What I now know is that stuff wasn't ever really necessary.

I also keep the boxes because the thought of them being "disposed of"

without the protection of the box is sickening. I do love my collection and regardless of who eventually gets it (or parts of it) I would like these little jewels to be enjoyed long after I'm gone.

1-2 years ago, a collector left his collection of thousands of models to a charity. Unfortunately, they had no idea of how to identify and sell what they had received because all of the boxes had been pitched. I don't expect my heirs to keep my approximately 375 models. Having the boxes for the better models should help in recovering a bit more on disposal, hopefully at least the 30%-35% often mentioned.

If a model was one that I really wanted & hard to get, no box was OK by me around a half dozen times

box advice

Dear Friends: The box advice is very much appreciated. Many factors I had not though about.

I've done both with all the scales I've collected. Inexpensive models that pleased my eye.....

I tossed the packaging. BUT all the higher end models have a box in storage above the garage. Even with that, when I croak, I doubt very seriously that whoever goes to sell my collection at that time will want to find the packaging for each car or truck. But then again once I'm gone ....... I won't be caring all that much. LOL And with me pushing somewhere in the vicinity of 2000 cars it would be a challenging task.

Agree Tom that the inexpensive models' boxes aren't worth saving. Train table cars.

Box Advice Part 2

Thanks again for giving me the benefit of your thinking. I can't imagine that my heir and assigns will want this collection. I am a small timer compared to a lot of you, my collection numbers about 350. Your comments made me think of another issue,the burden on my executor. I will leave an estate in good, organized condition. However, each state regulates how much an executor can be paid for services. When my friend takes a look, how much time do I think he will spend on marketing models? Best I can do is monitor the high value ones and flag them. The rest go to car model heaven. Whatever that is.