Contact with his collecting friends is an excellent suggestion.
I'd also recommend considering distributing some of the collection to friends and relatives. Something small like a single cuckoo clock could be a great memento to remember them by. It's not a burden to take one clock the way a whole collection would be, of course people should still be asked if they would like to have it rather than being voluntold.
My great uncle had a wonderful collection of beautiful old hand tools and made a point of distributing a portion of them to his various relatives and friends who had expressed interest. The bulk of the collection went to the relative who was his son in all but fact, but I have some lovely calipers and a handmade hammer that have a cherished place among my tools. Far from a burden, I remember uncle Mac fondly each time I see them while grabbing some pliers or a drill.
My grandmother has made us go around putting sticky notes with our names on all the stuff we want when they downsize or pass. Everything else will go to goodwill or the dump. The secretary desk my grandfather fished out of the dump in the 60s is a hot commodity that everyone is trying to lay claim to.
They're definitely not "small" being wall clocks but the idea of giving away mementos is excellent. I'm not aware of him being member of some circle, formal or informal, understandable when you live in the sticks and don't do much internet either...
I'd also recommend considering distributing some of the collection to friends and relatives. Something small like a single cuckoo clock could be a great memento to remember them by. It's not a burden to take one clock the way a whole collection would be, of course people should still be asked if they would like to have it rather than being voluntold.
My great uncle had a wonderful collection of beautiful old hand tools and made a point of distributing a portion of them to his various relatives and friends who had expressed interest. The bulk of the collection went to the relative who was his son in all but fact, but I have some lovely calipers and a handmade hammer that have a cherished place among my tools. Far from a burden, I remember uncle Mac fondly each time I see them while grabbing some pliers or a drill.
My grandmother has made us go around putting sticky notes with our names on all the stuff we want when they downsize or pass. Everything else will go to goodwill or the dump. The secretary desk my grandfather fished out of the dump in the 60s is a hot commodity that everyone is trying to lay claim to.