I decided to post that one comment and also make another, as I have also had the experience of being a (voluntary) refugee as I ran from my home country to the other side of the world.
As I did that on a whim, almost, and hadn't been planning for it, I had to deal with the fact that not only did I have enormous quantities of my own work, I had quite a strong collection of my contempories.
I was able to sell some of the strongest works, to another collector, for the same prices I had paid. (A lot of time had not passed)
I had some really famous works, that would have been worth quite a lot by now. I had a very good eye for art and artists, and almost everyone who I had in my collection has gone on to at least relative success.
I bought them before that had proven themselves, but as my life has worked out, I didn't get to benefit from that same judgement.
I kept some of the things stored in several places around friends houses and so forth, and when I lived in Australia for 14 months again a few years later I was able to relieve people of their burdens where possible, and then gifted several works to the Logan Art Gallery Collection, including a collection of forty watercolours of mine, and they had already bought two of my works, and arranged the gifting on another two or three works to other institutions.
also the Griffith artworks collection received several of my works, but it now seems they have been lost or stolen.
So I have a special place in the history of the Logan collection anyway, although most of it was arranged hastily and unofficially.
However I recently saw one of the (my) (lol) artists on facebook who had gone to the gallery, asked to see his work in the back room, and had been able to photograph it and had shared same on facebook with a big shout-out for me.
So that's got to be worth something.
That was the most fabulous work too, I really miss having lived with it for all these years.
I am trying to arrange to scan the photos that my wife has of our house there when I still was it's proud owner.
I had three big fabulous works hanging in that house, and many smaller things.
anyhow, it also seems relevant to your post, so hope you don't mind me rambling on like this.
big hugs, I have just run across you from the creatives challenge thing, so look forward to more.
Wow, @spaingaroo, what an interesting story! You've been very flexible and generous over the years with your work. A strange journey, though to have dispersed with a vast amount of work in many directions. I am glad to hear that your work has been respected with the Logan Gallery during this time. I am hoping that you have some photographs that you can post of some of these pieces? I would love to hear more about the work itself, especially since it sounds as though some of it would have been created during some trying times. Anyway, thank you for sharing this piece of your story! I will watch for more!