Doctor dies from Covid-19 leaves family collection worth $20 mill

[rdwyer]

https://www.cnn.com/2021/05/20/us/ne...rnd/index.html

[ullmandds]

WOW!!! Theres maybe 7 mill right there!!!

[philliesphan]

Originally Posted by ullmandds

WOW!!! Theres maybe 7 mill right there!!!

Thickest borders I've ever seen on a '33 Goudey Ruth

/s

[mrreality68]

That is going to be a high flying Auction with some top dollars

[insidethewrapper]

What a collection ! This is what we talk about on here all the time. Again a tax discussion . Does the wife inherit the collection at current market value and therefore doesn't pay any taxes on the sales or does the estate pay taxes between the current market sale value (auction result) minus the initial price paid for the cards.

[rdwyer]

If everyone here puts me in their will, 20 milllion will be nothing. Hint. Hint.

[BobC]

Originally Posted by insidethewrapper

What a collection ! This is what we talk about on here all the time. Again a tax discussion . Does the wife inherit the collection at current market value and therefore doesn't pay any taxes on the sales or does the estate pay taxes between the current market sale value (auction result) minus the initial price paid for the cards.

Under the current estate tax laws in place, there is still a basis step-up for inherited assets. To fully answer your question though we would need to know if he had a will, to whom were the cards left under the will, and if the cards were considered as owned solely by the doctor, or jointly by both him and his wife.

As it is now, all the assets he personally owned, and half of the assets he owned jointly with his wife, get valued at their current fair market value (FMV) on the date he dies, or an alternative date within six months after he passes if so elected by whoever is in charge of the estate. The total FMV of those is then used to determine if he has a taxable estate for federal estate tax purposes. If he leaves everything to his wife, there is no federal estate tax due as you are allowed an unlimited exemption from federal estate tax for everything left to a surviving spouse. Plus the spouse gets a step-up in the basis of all the assets she receives to their FMV.

So if the doctor was considered the sole owner of all the cards, and left them all to his wife, she gets the estimated $20MM FMV as her basis. So if she then sells them for $20MM, she has no gain to pay income tax on. Now if it was considered that she owned the cards equally with her husband, his half would be stepped-up to a $10MM basis and her half would be 50% of whatever her and her husband had originally paid for them. So in this case if she sold the cards for $20MM she would likely end up paying some capital gain tax, but we'd need to know their original basis in the cards to know how much gain would be taxable. (If they lived in a community property state the cards would be stepped-up 100% to the $20MM FMV regardless if originally acquired jointly or separately by the couple.)

And if some/all of the cards are left to people besides his wife, they get the stepped-up basis on whichever cards they inherit as well.

Now as for whether or not there is a federal estate tax on the value of the cards, as I already said, if he leaves them all to his wife, then no. But if he leaves some/all the cards to other people/relatives, there could end up being some federal estate tax due, but we'd have to at least know the FMV of all the other assets in his total estate, and how much went to his wife, and how much went to others, and so on.

And so you know, these estate tax laws are being looked at for significant changes in the very near future. So far just talk, discussions, and speculation. You can do online searches to see how some people think these federal estate tax laws may end up being changed. And also, this is just referring to federal estate taxes. There are a number of states that also impose an estate tax as well, which I'm not even going to try and get into.

[Papa Stephano]

Incredible...

I should have been a doctor.

[FrankWakefield]

Seems like he was a good fellow; someone who'll be missed by his wife, kids, and family. And co-workers and patients. Guys, it really isn't all about the cards. I hope the sale goes well for his family.

[benjulmag]

Originally Posted by FrankWakefield

Seems like he was a good fellow; someone who'll be missed by his wife, kids, and family. And co-workers and patients. Guys, it really isn't all about the cards. I hope the sale goes well for his family.

+1

[rjackson44]

Covid sucks sad

[kaddyshack]

In the early 1990s, I was at the Anaheim National with another dealer from VA. I sold a Cy Young T3 to a doctor from FL. The Turkey Red was from the Southern Card find. It probably would have graded Ex-Mt or better. I am not 100% certain that he is the same guy that I sold the T3 to, but he does look some what familiar (looking at the Memory Lane website). I remember that he dragged Bill Hughes over to my table to examine the Cy Young. After getting the blessing from Bill, the doctor paid me in AMEX traveler checks ($50 checks). I think my asking price was around $1800 ?

[bobbyw8469]

I bet all the members here have enough value in our collections to pay off the National debt.

[benjulmag]

Originally Posted by kaddyshack

In the early 1990s, I was at the Anaheim National with another dealer from VA. I sold a Cy Young T3 to a doctor from FL. The Turkey Red was from the Southern Card find. It probably would have graded Ex-Mt or better. I am not 100% certain that he is the same guy that I sold the T3 to, but he does look some what familiar (looking at the Memory Lane website). I remember that he dragged Bill Hughes over to my table to examine the Cy Young. After getting the blessing from Bill, the doctor paid me in AMEX traveler checks ($50 checks). I think my asking price was around $1800 ?

Funny you say that Roy because I was at that same National and thinking the same thing about the Goudey Ruths. Some dealer had all four and they all looked stone mint, and I often thought back to that day and regret I did not buy them. It wouldn't surprise me if those are the Ruths the estate is selling.

[Robert_Lifson]

Originally Posted by kaddyshack

In the early 1990s, I was at the Anaheim National with another dealer from VA. I sold a Cy Young T3 to a doctor from FL. The Turkey Red was from the Southern Card find. It probably would have graded Ex-Mt or better. I am not 100% certain that he is the same guy that I sold the T3 to, but he does look some what familiar (looking at the Memory Lane website). I remember that he dragged Bill Hughes over to my table to examine the Cy Young. After getting the blessing from Bill, the doctor paid me in AMEX traveler checks ($50 checks). I think my asking price was around $1800 ?

Roy, this was definitely the same guy. “Doc Newman” (that’s what so many called him) did a lot of business with Bill Hughes in that era and often asked his advice buying cards.