Really appreciate all your comments.
I was fortunate in this incidence in several ways, First, the flood water was overflow of a foundation-level sump (sump pump had failed), so was clean and odorless runoff from the outdoor foundation drain tiles. Second, the albums were shelved reasonably high above ground, so only the bottom few inches were under water, moisture wicking up the cardboard sides being the real cause of damage. Third, catching the problem quickly allowed (i) immediate removal of vinyl to safety; (ii) spreading of paper-towel stuffed covers all over the house for individually-effective and odorless drying; and (iii), after several days’ pressing, substantial avoidance of cardboard warp and cover art damage. Finally, it helped that I have maintained over the years an extremely detailed excel spreadsheet for the 173 albums (378 data rows x 30 spec columns,1 row per platter side, many multi-platter albums), so had all that was needed to support a somewhat sort-of reasonable insurance recovery.
On the subject of divesting, responses so far have suggested either eBay or here on Audiogon as listing sites. There’s no way I’ll sell the albums piecemeal (well, other than if really good individual album offers are received), am way too old to administer all that. So I’d appreciate any other suggestions that would ease selling the whole collection as a single lot. Using album prices obtained pre-flood over several recent years from all over the net, the individual album lot total amounted to just over 14k, of which I was prepared to negotiate down to somewhere near half. Now post-flood, with covers substantially respectable and vinyl still pristine, I guess I’d consider some amount near half of the half, at least as a starting point. I certainly don’t want to be giving anything away, and it’s nice to think the value really lies in the music, but realistically collectors are looking at the whole package, so guess I have to be prepared. One thing for certain, it will be an interesting negotiation.
Any other suggestions, please bring them on. Anyone caring to see the spreadsheet, just ask. Again, thanks to all you responders, been a big help in accepting the reality of the thing, and in swallowing hard.