Carvings.... after you are gone?

[Cottonwood]

Have you all made any provisions for what will happen to your better carvings after you are gone? Recently I had the opportunity to visit the Swedish town on Lindsborg, Kansas which was the home of a relavitly famous Swedish carver, Anton Pearson. His old studio is located near a "touristy" old mill location in town. After he died his son-in-law did much of the carving out of his studio. Now his son-in-law is elderly and little carving takes place there and it is largely unused.

Here are some pictures of the studio, which I took about a year ago. The building exterior is fairly well kept up but the carvings inside are left to gather dust and crack in the sunlight which beats down on those near or in the window. The studio was locked and these pictures were taken through the window. It makes one wish that they could just take charge of them and care for them properly. Sad.

[Dan Wegiel]

Great post and it looks like he was a superior carver. It is a shame that no one is taking care of them, but the same will probably happen to most of us that hoard our creations. But in a century or so they'll show up on the "Antiques Roadshow".

Dan

[Kenny_S]

Probably mine will go to my Son, Daughter and Grandchildren. Anyways, Son has dibbs on several of the Fireman I have left. He has most of them.

[Paul_Guraedy]

About ten years ago, Diana and I moved everything into a revocable trust. A few things are designated for individuals; but, none of my carvings are included. Diana finally convinced me that, “I am not gonna be here to worry about it, let the boys sort it out” was not the proper way to do things. I thought about it for quite a while and, for some unknown reason, started thinking of the way Showlow (Arizona) got its name. This led me to come up with the following which has been written into our trust.


It is the desire of _______________ that family members who value their possessions be given an opportunity to retain these items. Ownership of all possessions of _____insert names___ to be retained by the Trust until both principal trustees are no longer alive.

Upon the demise of the principal trustees, the property within the residence is to be distributed in the following manner: ______insert names_______________will acquire “post-on” stickers of distinct colors. A neutral individual satisfactory to the recipients will shuffle a new deck of playing cards and spread them fan style on the dining room table. The neutral individual will then toss a coin to determine the first player. If the coin is heads _insert name will be the first player. If the coin is tails then ____insert name__ will be the first player. Upon this determination, the first player will select one of the “fanned” cards and place it face up on the table. The second player will then select one of the “fanned” cards and place it face up on the table. The winner will be determined by “showing low”. No order will be given to “suits” and “like” cards will be treated as a tie. In the event of a tie, a second card will be drawn in the above stated order and continued until there is a “show low” winner.

All individuals will depart from the residence. The winner, and his spouse, will enter the house and decide which single item they will place one of their stickers prominently on and thus claim it as their inheritance. Once they have placed a single sticker on an item the couple will leave the residence. A log will be kept of all items and the couple will list their item on this log in case a sticker should become dislodged. After a selection has been made by the initial couple the second inheritor and his spouse will enter the residence and place one of their stickers prominently on a single item. The inheritors will thus alternate turns until all items are claimed for inheritance.

Anything left unclaimed is to be sold and the proceeds split between the heirs. My son’s say that this fits in perfectly with my personality and that they think it is a great idea. Diana agreed and, although originally intended only for my carvings, it now covers all items in our home.

[Kenny_S]

My Kids fight all the time. Always did. After I am gone, They can still fight.

However Paul sounds like the same type of Trust the little bride and I have.
If we buy a new vehicle, it goes in and if we get rid of one, it comes out, Same with stocks, bonds, well, everything we have.

The way I take it, it eliminates the probating in Kansas.
Anyway, That was what a lady lawyer said. Course, not sure one can trust what they say. The latter sentence is my opinion and not here to start something or debate it.

[Ron T]

Very nice post topic, Millard.

Several years ago when I was going to a carving club, one of its members passed away. He had numerous carvings but his wife and children didn't want any of them. She brought them to the club abd those he knew selected one to keep.

I guess one of the reasons I chose to make sticks, aside from the fact I needed one, was I thought theere would always be those who would need one.

[Cottonwood]

Some things I carve the wife lays claim to right away and they never ever get to the web site or see a show. The things that haven't sold in a reasonable amount of time, I give away to family or friends. I would rather do that than sell them for a fraction of their worth to someone I don't even know. Anyway, this keeps things moving out and hopefully squabbles at a later date will be avoided.
As most of you know, it is fun to give things away to people or to worthy charitable causes to be used for fund raising.

[Lynn O. Doughty]

Give them away? No Way! I'm taking them with me. You never know......someone up there might be a collector! And if by chance I head the other way maybe they'll give me some extra credit for bringing along my own fuel??

[gene-messer]

You can see that those are great looking swedish carvings .. maybe someone could convince the son to get in there and protect those wonderful pieces ..

What a heartbreak to see those pieces just sit with sunlight damaging them ..

I think why I love to do those videos .. something to continue to help even when Iam gone ....

Gene

[Eddy-Smiles]

I understand that there is going to be a big bar-b-que in my honor and guess what the kindling for the fire is going to be?