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Debating selling off WWII memorabelia

nick1985

nick1985

Lifer
I collected most of this stuff in high school, and it seems since Saving Private Ryan and Band of Brothers the prices on a lot of this stuff has skyrocketed.

I have no place for this stuff in my apartment, so its just sitting in my parent's crawl space collecting dust. I'm thinking now would be a good time to sell it and make some decent cash, but the other part of me wants to hang on to it.

ugh.

Thoughts?

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Some really cool stuff there. Where did you pick up that baseball? Do you have any idea when Dick Winters signed it? During the war or after? Looks like it just has his name no rank.
 
I got that baseball shortly after the BoB miniseries released. An ex GF at the time mailed it to him and he signed it and mailed it back.

I remember checking ebay a while back and stuff with his signature on it went for a decent amount. Not to sound morbid, but I'd have to assume since his passing the stuff will only be worth more (as he won't be signing anything else anytime soon)

*edit*

Quick ebay check, only 2 things on ebay with Dick Winters' autograph, both with a buy it now over $700. Obviously thats way too much, but I would think that baseball could fetch a few dollars.
 
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I say keep a few pieces that you could eventually put on display when you get more space and sell the remaining items.

Maybe keep the Japanese flag, a helmet or two, the Winters baseball.
 
You will kick yourself later if you sell it. The money won't mean shit in a few years when your earnings (hopefully) increase.
 
How much do these things mean to you? If you're keeping them in storage, I'm guessing they're not of tremendous emotional value. If you had a larger home, would you keep them displayed, or do you really not care?

What I'm getting at is that you should keep them if they're something you like having, but don't think of them as much of an investment. Unless you manage to hit a fad dead on, these things will rarely be a better investment than, say, an index fund over the long term. In other words, your money could serve you better elsewhere.
 
crashtestdummy said:
How much do these things mean to you? If you're keeping them in storage, I'm guessing they're not of tremendous emotional value. If you had a larger home, would you keep them displayed, or do you really not care?

What I'm getting at is that you should keep them if they're something you like having, but don't think of them as much of an investment. Unless you manage to hit a fad dead on, these things will rarely be a better investment than, say, an index fund over the long term. In other words, your money could serve you better elsewhere.
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Yes if I had a bigger place I would probably display them, as they were in the above photos. I do still have the Japanese flag displayed above my computer desk, but everything else is in storage.

Honestly I'd love to have the money from all of it and pay off one of my student loans. I owe a little over 2k on one of my loans that I pay $135 a month for, and if I liquidated this collection I could easily have most, if not all, of that covered. Not paying that bill and saving interest on a loan is a lot more useful to me now than a helmet in a crawl space is.
 
Hardest part of getting older is selling off stuff you collected in your younger years that you still value because it represents an earlier time in your life to look back fondly on. Sorry to hear you may need to sell it, Nick.

I managed to keep a lotta b-ball cards and a few comic books over the years, but nothing is particularly valuable yet.
 
To be quite honest, you have pieces of history there. I personally feel that no amount of money would suffice for those great things, and I would hold on to them since you are not in dire straights. IMHO, what you have is worth more in value than the $2k you have left on your S.L. Maybe not in monetary value, but history value.
 
I say sell off some for the cash if that is the root of the problem. People are always in need of cash and you have to do what you need to do.

Keep a decent amount for the future, incase your grandkids want to hear your 'war stories'. Gives them a sense of learning too while at it.
 
Time for a compromise! I'd keep the stuff that has personal value. The baseball your ex sent to the real Dick Winters and then gave to you as a gift is a pretty awesome thing to hang onto, and it takes up little to no space. No idea what the story on the Japanese flag is, but again, it's a very cool, interesting decoration that takes up little space.

The helmets, on the other hand, what's their story? Did you buy them because they were in a tv show? I wouldn't call that a close, personal connection like the baseball, and unlike the flag, they take up a lot of space. I vote keep the ball and flag and sell the helmets.
 
WT said:
I managed to keep a lotta b-ball cards and a few comic books over the years, but nothing is particularly valuable yet.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I collected baseball cards when I was a kid. Stuck em up in the attic and forgot about them 10 years ago. Recently I checked on a whim and discovered they're worth less than what I bought them for. 🙄

My guess is that everyone else started collecting cards around the same time I did, so even though the cards are somewhat old (15-20 years), there are so many of them out there they'll probably never be worth anything.
 
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