Lego inheritance

[LetsgoLego]

Hi all! 

I am new around here! I'm not a collector; but a Canadian who recently inherited a MASSIVE lego collection. The lifelong work of my uncle. He was meticulous in his storage and record keeping; kept all his instruction books, and also every invoice from Lego factory. I added them up and they total almost $24,000 USD. As I'm totally new to this community, I had no idea the amount collectors invest! It is truly impressive. I'm looking forward to learning more about how to move large collections, and am hoping there are experts here who can me evaluate it. 

Within 24hours of posting on sales groups and websites as "make offer" I had about 150 messages. Lots of people trying to take advantage, and its truly been a nightmare not knowing whose information, or knowledge to trust. Hopefully the voices here can help me. Looking forward to learning, and maybe I can receive assistance in this endeavor. As soon as my account here is allowed to, I will make a thread on the sales subforum showing off the photos I've taken of the collection. 

Thank you for reading! Looking forward to sharing more.

 

[LetsgoLego]

I'm not sure I'll get any responses :( after two weeks of searching communities, I have had similar introductory posts deleted by all lego groups as "fishing" and been taken advantage my many in PM. After two weeks of effort into documenting this collection, I cant help but feel locked out of any help regarding the approx weight or approx value of my uncle's collection. I thank you all for the viewing and reading. If there's anyone who has handled large collections please don't hesitate to reach out. Thanks kindly. 

the.vander(@)live.com since I cannot PM :( 

High res photos of collection here: 
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/u4pr2c68xa4huoy/AABTauDxlvaMtV0AlMMfKto2a?dl=0
 

[Collector245]

Hello! Do you have any idea of what sets are in this collection? If you sort it into sets you will be able to get a lot more for it. 

[deraven]

Hi LetsgoLego!  I don't think you're being locked out, it's just that there wasn't much info to go on and your first message was kind of open-ended and didn't seem to be asking for immediate assistance, but I'm sure plenty of people here are happy to help!  

First, the $24K in invoices may or may not give you an idea of value.  For instance, the invoice for the Serious Play purchase you have in the Dropbox photos is a consulting/staff & team development training program and the cost of that is 3-4x what folks would generally pay for the parts it contains (when buying it from Lego, they're paying for all the Professionals Development components, course outline and materials, etc., not just the Lego elements).  Likewise, the Pick-a-Brick invoices showing thousands of dollars of purchases there don't equate to resale value as PAB is one of the more expensive places to get elements.  It's a reasonable option if you need very large quantities of elements and they need to be brand-new, or for elements that just aren't available in quantity elsewhere, but beyond that you'd usually find a better deal on Bricklink or buying bulk lots from other sources.

As Collector245 noted, if there are desirable sets in there and you're able to separate them out, you'd get a premium that way.  Not every set is worth more than the sum of its parts, but the Horizon Express, for example, that was on one of the invoices you showed was purchased by your uncle for $150, and used, complete with instructions but w/o box it's going for around $200-$225.  It might take you more time than it's worth to try to separate out sets, however, unless there are some that really are higher dollar individually (like some of the older Modular Buildings).  If you want to add photos of the other invoices in that book it would be pretty easy for folks here to flip through them and quickly pick out any sets of particular value.  Part of this whole equation, of course, is how much time you have to devote to it vs. just getting it off your hands for a reasonable price.

Generally speaking, there are 3 main options (including pulling individual sets):

1. Sell in bulk, by the pound.  It depends on the market you use, but realistic pricing is around $5/pound.  It can go as low as $3 (sometimes with much larger lots it can be lower per pound since the logistics can be a pain) and up to $15-20/lb if it's clear that there are higher-value pieces in a lot.  For example, lots with minifigures and Technic or Power Functions components included will go for a good bit more than a box that's obviously just basic bricks.  If you tried to sell by the pound with the way things are sorted right now that would still probably average out since if someone really needs orange pieces for something and you're selling a big box of that, it's great for them, but you'll also have boxes that are just regular bricks that won't go for as much and then a lot that has (what appears to be) a bunch of small containers with sorted pieces that might be more desirable which would bring more.  Honestly, it's not very likely that you'll get top dollar if you try to move the entire collection at once based on what I've see in the past, and your best middle-ground option if you go this route might be to sell it in 50lb batches or something like that.

2. Re-sort and sell as sets.  If there are sets that are desirable enough to make it worth the effort (and it might be easier than it seems if there is a good organization in the collection) you may want to pull those out and sell separately at the premiums they bring, and with everything else left over just go with the bulk option.

3. Sell by the piece or in small lots.  That is, basically start your own Bricklink store and sell the collection that way.  Much more effort, but probably your best total $ return especially if the collection is pretty well sorted already.  Not going quite that far, sell in small lots like the box of Power Functions motors and sensors you showed in one of the pictures, a lot of Technic bricks, XX pounds of XX-color Lego, the train track (and any trains you can pull out separately) has higher value, a big lot of minifigures and accessories, etc.. That might be the easiest for you to manage and still bring a good overall return.

Also, keep in mind that the Lego-branded containers themselves have value.  Not huge, but I'm betting folks who are buying in bulk don't care about the container and it may as well be cheap Rubbermaid type stuff (or good ol' reinforced cardboard boxes), and there's a different set of people who would buy just the Lego storage boxes.  If you search for "Lego storage box" on eBay you'll see that those types go for $5-$15 each depending on size (with no Lego bricks included).

Just a few thoughts to start with.  As I noted, if you want to post the rest of the invoices to get a quick idea if hunting for sets (or other things like the Power Functions stuff or train track) might be worth it, there's plenty of knowledgeable people here who would be happy to flip through that for you.  

Edited June 21, 2020 by deraven