Inheriting A Collection

When Jaye Smith’s mother, Carol Carlisle, passed, she left behind boxes of photographs that she had collected over her career as a photographer and managing editor of a photography magazine.  While Ms. Smith appreciated her mother’s eclectic collection, she was unaware of its quality.  It was not until a friend asked if she could have one of her mother’s photos did she discover that they were worth much more than she could fathom.  One photograph by W. Eugene Smith sold for more than $50,000.

“I realized I didn’t have the time or the skill to go through this,” said Ms. Smith.  Fortunately she had a friend who pointed her towards a professional archivist. 

Ms. Smith’s inheritance is distinctive in the value of the works she did not know existed in her mother’s attic.  Yet her feeling of being overwhelmed and tentative about what to do with the collection is something that many people can relate. 

After talking to friends who had inherited similar collections and been similarly overwhelmed, Ms. Smith decided to fund the creation of POBA, a nonprofit group that will display portfolios online but will also help people organize, archive and value a collection they inherit.  One of the services POBA provides is a guide for handling a collection, whether the value is financial and/or emotional. 

Although cataloging and valuing a collection can be a tedious process, it is one that is absolutely necessary.  Ms. Smith says that her one regret with her mother’s photos was selling some of them too quickly.  She says she got caught up in the enthusiasm of the sales, and needed the money, “Maybe I would have waited a little bit longer.  I might have ended up keeping them.”

See Paul Sullivan, The Weighty Responsibility of Inheriting a Collection, The New York Times, Sept. 19, 2014.

Special thanks to Matthew Bogin, (Esq., Bogin Law) for bringing this article to my attention.

Special thanks to Jim Hillhouse (Professional Legal Marketing (PLM, Inc.)) for bringing this article to my attention.