UBB.threads
Posted By: Dave Exit Strategy? - 06/27/2012 11:54 PM
Anyone got an exit strategy?

We all get older and I have reluctantly concluded that at 69 I have more years behind me than ahead of me. I'm not the only one in this position.

Soooooo ... what to do?

Dave
Posted By: JohnZ Re: Exit Strategy? - 06/28/2012 01:05 AM
Dave:

I have a good catalogue of what I own, who I got it from and what I paid.

I also gave my sons the names of a couple of good guys to talk to if they want to dispose of my collection. My only advice to them is to go to more than one guy to keep them all honest.

One of the other things that I am doing is that I have gotten out of and will not entertain acquiring anything that is controversial any more... 'textbook' only going forward.

John
Posted By: Mark Carter Re: Exit Strategy? - 06/28/2012 03:32 AM
Depends on what kind of exit strategy you are talking about.
If talking about your living... just enjoy. My mom and dad are both 85, and they still every day ,if not painting the house, or starting another garden out in the field, they are buying houses and flipping them. And when they get restless, hell, dad starts up his GOLDWING trike and they just go like the wind.
If talking collections of militaria... Sell off every thing and go SPEND THE HELL out of it.
You start talking exit strategy, etc. man, that gets to you after awhile, depression/worry/ anxiety/all will get in your head. I get into trouble daily because my wife/kids/friends all want to talk about the past!! WTF??? I think about tomorrow, NEVER about yesterday.
Posted By: Mark Carter Re: Exit Strategy? - 06/28/2012 03:35 AM
I have all my militaria in storage bins, all nice and folded,protected, etc. priced/ cataloged with descriptions,whole and retail worth. But when you die, IT DOES NOT MATTER TO YOU< because you are dead!! So WTF/ do'nt worry about anything.
Posted By: Dow Cross Re: Exit Strategy? - 06/28/2012 04:56 AM
I'm in my sixties too and I want to go out with my boots on and I hope that's how it happens. I have been dragging my youngest daughter to gun shows at a very early age. And she knows the value and history of things I have so all is not lost.
Posted By: patrice Re: Exit Strategy? - 06/28/2012 01:15 PM
I'm 51 years old and I've promissed my wife that I would sell all my junk the day I retire from active work.
wink
Posted By: PAULZAYA Re: Exit Strategy? - 06/28/2012 01:54 PM
i am 64. two daughters both married-no interest in the hobby. one day i will wake up and decide to sell it all. i am in it for the thrill of the hunt. when i was robbed they got $140,000 worth of daggers and pistols. cia paid me for my loss,i could have bought it all back but once you own the piece the thrill fades. i put the money in stock and the hunt continues. i do not miss the stuff i lost-i got paid. so i figure when i sell it, i really won't miss it. this hobby has been great for me. i will never stop hunting it out. enough rambling. paul
Posted By: Barry Brown Re: Exit Strategy? - 06/28/2012 04:03 PM
I started an exit plan in 1993. Twenty years on I find I am 73 years old, still obsessed with this hobby, and have completley lost the plot of my exit strategy. My small collection is fully inventoried, pictured, and cross/tag referenced so as to i/d the lower of cost or current estimated value of each piece. Beyond the inventory management chore I refuse to worry about an exit strategy - I have had two heart bypass operations since 1993, worry is not good for that, so I just enjoy the day.
Posted By: Denny Gaither Re: Exit Strategy? - 06/28/2012 04:12 PM
I too am 69, and like Pat promised my wife to start selling my collection off when I retired - 5 years ago. I take lots of pictures and record as much detail as possible for future reference. Then I take a load to the SoS each year. Probably about 50% is gone, but I keep sneaking stuff in the back door. I figure most of it will be gone by the time I croak, but some (really good) stuff will be left over.
I'm trying to be considerate of my wife, but she also understands how much fun I'm having...
Posted By: paulbear Re: Exit Strategy? - 06/28/2012 04:45 PM
I am simply turning everything over to my best friend who is a fellow collector, and his job is simply to clear the estate simple and no one can get into an argument on the family side who know nothing and care less
Posted By: Dave Re: Exit Strategy? - 06/28/2012 05:51 PM
Anybody giving their goodies to museums?
Posted By: Ed Martin Re: Exit Strategy? - 06/28/2012 08:48 PM
I'm 70 my sons have no interest and tell me sell it all and go on a life time vacation. I keep telling my gal I have to take photo's and sell stuff but ......
Posted By: Skynyrd Re: Exit Strategy? - 06/28/2012 09:05 PM
I'm in my mid 40's, but still think about the fate of my stuff if I suddenly bought the farm.
Would like to avoid having it sold garage sale style for nothing, but its a tough call. Old or not, any one of us can go at any time ,,, After a couple friends died and I starting thinking about mortality more, I started getting rid of things I thought that would embarrass my memory when people sorted through them.
I had a bunch of porno VHS tapes probably from the 80's that I haven't watched since then, yet I was hoarding them as if they were valuable and sentimental. Got rid of all of those, and a stack of old Hustler magazines. Cleaned up my hard drive of most potentially embarrassing/incriminating things, as people are bound to go through the computer as well.

TR stuff is a gray area, many people are repulsed by it, some indifferent, and some attracted to it. Wouldn't be any matter of shame to me, so I'm leaning towards just enjoying the collection while I am here, and let me heirs take care of the work of its future disposition.
Posted By: Denny Gaither Re: Exit Strategy? - 06/28/2012 09:18 PM
Originally Posted By: Dave Hohaus
Anybody giving their goodies to museums?


Gawd no!!
I'd rather have it in the hands of people who will care for and appreciate it.
Posted By: Dave Re: Exit Strategy? - 06/28/2012 11:50 PM
Good call, Denny!

If you read their "Terms and Conditions" if you donate something, You have no say after donation*

They can sell it, trade it, and are under no obligation to even show it. Given what we collect, it would never see the light IMO

Dave
Posted By: Dave Re: Exit Strategy? - 06/28/2012 11:52 PM
Also,

Is anybody trapped because they told the wife that those SS daggers only cost $80 each when you bought them laugh laugh ?

Said another way - Who actually told the wife what you really paid ?

Dave
Posted By: Grumpy Re: Exit Strategy? - 06/28/2012 11:57 PM
Dave, museums are notorious for taking donations and turning around and swapping them for something they would rather have. None of us knows when the horn will blow. Can't really count on having time to make arrangements for the collection. I will have to dispose of mine, or my heirs will. None have an interest in the stuff. Tough call to make. Maybe methodically selling off the goodies. Too bad the market is so bad now.
Posted By: sellick8302@rogers.com Re: Exit Strategy? - 06/29/2012 02:38 AM
I am 47 and sold all 3 years ago...collected since 17..have invested in Inuit art/sculpture that does not appear to be affected by economy..record setting auction prices continually..will only go up...no stigma like 3rd Reich...very few new collectors....too much negative political fallout associated with collecting the stuff....never a good investment when collecting field never accepted by "mainstream" collecting community...Collect because you like the stuff...and for no other reason...writing is on the wall gents....cheers, Ryan
Posted By: Landser Re: Exit Strategy? - 06/29/2012 07:37 AM
I have no desire to sell my collection & hope to enjoy it for many years to come. If needs must when I retire then I will try and sell off the odd bits. I have begun to catalogue every item with full description and retail value. My family can decide what to do with anything that is left over. My kid`s like the collection so maybe they will share it out. When I`m gone it wont matter.

Don`t worry about it.
Posted By: DAMAST Re: Exit Strategy? - 06/29/2012 02:36 PM
Soooo sounds like Chicken Little is alive and well (THE SKY IS FALLING) (THE SKY IS FALLING) laugh I to collect other items and have had some great buys (paintings, books etc...) I have always enjoyed my collecting and will always be involved in some way..Regards: James
Posted By: goldfasan Re: Exit Strategy? - 06/29/2012 04:45 PM
Will enjoy my collection until the end, have gathered the items with a true love of the hobby for over 40+ years.
Wife tells me that she will place my ashes in a urn and place it next to the hero size A.H. head in the "Bunker".
Posted By: DAMAST Re: Exit Strategy? - 07/01/2012 10:52 PM
I really like what Barry has said...
Posted By: cog-hammer Re: Exit Strategy? - 07/02/2012 06:38 AM
Im in process of selling everything. no plan just out.sold alot of guns last year. everything from tags to the beater hj. postal to the boker. throwin money at my Z and working on my choppers.
Its not about the the market or prices etc... i want out. things change.
Bret

Attached picture cylon4.jpg
Posted By: cog-hammer Re: Exit Strategy? - 07/02/2012 06:45 AM
James Brown shootin you a message also. I had not seen you for a time since I'm not on here much. Alcoso related. later Bret
Posted By: Paul Re: Exit Strategy? - 07/02/2012 11:41 AM
Does anyone have any idea as to the average age of the registered members of the site? Would be interesting to see an age profile???
Posted By: Larry C Re: Exit Strategy? - 07/02/2012 11:58 AM
Yea I told mine that story and what they are really worth! she was happy with that,, so now onward to more collecting grin
Posted By: Dave Re: Exit Strategy? - 07/02/2012 03:50 PM
Paul,

Age is a voluntary blank on the sign up page. No one fills it in that I have seen.

I would guess that our age cross-section is similar to what you see at shows, plus more younger/older people who can't get to shows.

Dave
Posted By: TKissinger Re: Exit Strategy? - 07/03/2012 04:12 AM
I first started collecting dress bayonets, then other things started coming home with me. In the last few years I have sold off some of the other things and keyed on my original goal Dress bayonets. I didn't find to many bayonets in 2009-2010 but with the economy tanking I have found several in the last year. Am I going to sell them all, no I'm taking them to the grave grin
Posted By: Erich Re: Exit Strategy? - 07/04/2012 12:30 AM
I have enjoyed this hobby since 1968 and I' m now 54 years old. I plan to keep enjoying it until the end and then I'm sure that my wife or kids will sell off my collection due to there being no interest on their part.
Posted By: fatguy Re: Exit Strategy? - 07/04/2012 04:00 AM
I'm 73............been at it for 20 years.....sold enough (thanks to many of youse guys & MAX) to move to South Carolina
(mit der kinder) and enjoy Southern hospitality....
Only a few pieces left...will go to my grand kinder when I enter Valhalla (all priced and listed...current prices).. Hope they can make some $$$$ when they grow....Pretty much a tire kicker now.....(love guns though) Still love & enjoy this hobby and GDC... wink.

Retired regards,
Posted By: Gefolgschaft Re: Exit Strategy? - 07/05/2012 02:30 AM
I'm not really old, not young either. All my stuff is organized on spread sheets with photos of all my items and what I paid for them. At least if I go someone will know what value I placed on the items, so if when they sell off they won't get taken. I understand that they will probably never get close to what I've put into the collection, but will at least have some idea of what retail prices were when I picked the items up. They can then decide what is an acceptable return for what I've spent. I'm no fool and have good insurance so they won't need to sell the collection at all if they don't want to.
Posted By: Ronald Weinand Re: Exit Strategy? - 07/05/2012 06:04 AM
I started collecting in grade school and am now 67. My first SA was $3.00 and bought Army Daggers in the early 1970s for $12.50 each, so I don't have a lot in my collection. What I bought over the years and kept, I financed with my motel buys and selling extras at the SOS, MAX and local gun shows. When I retired from Pharmacy and the wonderful State of Illinois at 57, Tom Johnson and I became partners in buying collections and from veterans and collectors and the hobby has paid for itself. My wife has been a great partner and knows the hobby as well as I do price-wise, so I am not worried about disposing of the collection. Several buyers are in line as most serious collectors know my collection well and are waiting. The German auction houses are also asking and have been to town and looked at the items and are on my wife's list of possibles. My wife and kids will do well when the time comes, as they don't have the interest. My son owns a music store and loves guitars, so he will buy some gold tops I am sure. It has been a great ride and the hobby has been very good to me. Those who say it isn't an investment just haven't been in it long enough. Its just like the stock market, the longer you are in the better it gets.
Posted By: bgrelics Re: Exit Strategy? - 07/06/2012 03:15 AM
I agree with Ron. This hobby has been great for me also. I have been doing hotel buys forever and Iam still doing them. If I subtract the stuff that I have bought and sold, I probably have nothing, no real money tied up into my collection. Iam 66 and I may test the water at the SOS and Max show as far as starting to sell off a few things. I will keep a decent collection, but will downsize.No one in my family cares about this stuff. I think the problem with collecting TR items is the stgima that goes along with it, when I tell people that i collect, I never use the word"nazi", it is always German, and I also collect some US items and have a few ******** swords.
So if you buy right it is a great investment. I know people who have collected for years and have never bought anything from a veteran, how boring is that. I admit I enjoy the hunt more then actually owning the item, anyone can buy from a dealer and pay the big bucks, but running an ad and seeing what comes thru the door can get you excited, but then again you can also fall flat on your face , if you do not buy enough to pay for the ads and hotels.
Thanks for listening to my babbling on.
Bob
Posted By: Jim W Re: Exit Strategy? - 07/07/2012 07:08 PM
About 6 years ago I had a sudden realization that I did not even have a list of the daggers in my collection and that I was not going to live forever. I then catalogued all 450 daggers, realized there was a madness in having that many daggers, and created my exit strategy. Over the past 5 years, I have sold off all my collection other than those pieces I most appreciate.
The pieces I have left will stay with us so we can admire and play with them, until we die. Both our daughters have the catalogue and the names of people I believe will give them an honest price. Like others here, I consider those items I have to have been paid for by the hobby. While there are still a few residual pieces for sale on worlddaggers site, I only sell on occasion now. A piece here and there. Although I certainly enjoy keeping up with the hobby. And, I certainly enjoy handling fine daggers. German or not.
Posted By: bgrelics Re: Exit Strategy? - 07/07/2012 09:07 PM
WOW, 450 daggers, quite a collection. Were they all German, or other countries??
Posted By: Jim W Re: Exit Strategy? - 07/08/2012 05:09 PM
Only about 50 were third Reich. About 50 other of the pieces were swords/bayonets/combat knives. Mainly I had almost every non German dagger I could identify. But, it was madness brought about by living in the former East Block after the fall of the wall and having nothing better to do than to buy daggers. No one in their right mind buys that many daggers as a collector.

It was totally unmanageable for a collector. Every time I opened a drawer I found a dagger I had forgot I had.

The best part was that most of the daggers went back to their original countries. I thought that was a fitting end.

Plus, I sold at the right time.
Posted By: Paul Re: Exit Strategy? - 07/08/2012 10:35 PM
So with all you guys getting out perhaps something decent will appear for us young guys to buy !!!!!LOL
Posted By: Pitbull63 Re: Exit Strategy? - 07/08/2012 11:27 PM
I read a lot of people on this thread saying they will leave it up to their spouses or children to disburse their collections because their family have no interest in it, and I too fall into the same boat. My two sons and daughter show an interest, but don't think they would ever collect. I've also read about the stigma wrapped around this dark period in our worlds history, how people look the other way when you tell them what you collect and why you find it interesting. I could only imagine how much this stuff would cost if everyone and their brother collected it. No stigma, no dark period in time, just really cool Nazi stuff everyone wants. I think everything would at least double, supply's would diminish and demand would be through the roof. The counterfeiters would have a field day. This of course is just my observation, but keep in mind, the larger the group of collectors, the less stuff there is, the more expensive it is, and easier to get rid of, the smaller the group of collectors, the more stuff there is, the less expensive it is, and tougher to get rid of. I'm glad things are the way they are, or I would have to start collection thimbles or something. grin

Rich
Posted By: Skynyrd Re: Exit Strategy? - 07/09/2012 08:37 AM
Originally Posted By: Pitbull63
I'm glad things are the way they are, or I would have to start collection thimbles or something. grin

Rich


Like this ??

Posted By: Pitbull63 Re: Exit Strategy? - 07/09/2012 01:36 PM
Doug,

Thank you,
You have made my day/week with this photo. I've been around antiques my whole life and have seen some Victorian thimbles in gold and silver worth hundreds, even thousands of dollars, but none of them compare to this one. Thou I'm not collecting thimbles at the present time, this would be an example I wouldn't mind having.

Very cool!!!

Rich
Posted By: dr73 Re: Exit Strategy? - 07/09/2012 01:36 PM
Originally Posted By: Paul
So with all you guys getting out perhaps something decent will appear for us young guys to buy !!!!!LOL


I guess I'm one of the young guys too. I can't wait to get the chance to buy some of those fine daggers that will be comming up for sale soon smile. Especially those slant gripped early heer daggers! I haven't found any good ones for quite some time grin

Danny
Posted By: Craig Gottlieb Re: Exit Strategy? - 07/20/2012 11:46 PM
You can always check my auction ... I've got over 30 daggers, all at VERY attractive prices. www.cgmauctions.com
Posted By: Joe S Re: Exit Strategy? - 07/21/2012 01:11 PM
In my opinion, whether you intend to keep your collection until the day you die or not, everyone should at least have the collection inventoried, all items identified, cataloged, photographed, etc, so that at such time as the collection has to be sold, you, your wife, children or whoever will have a chance of getting fair value for it. You might be in a pinch financially and not able to do all that at the last minute,(due to health or other reasons) so doing it ahead of time is very prudent. Just my 2 cents, fwiw. Joe S
Posted By: Luko Re: Exit Strategy? - 07/26/2012 10:36 PM
Very interesting reading. And i see i am the youngest one here. I am 28 years old. So hope, won't need ''exit strategy'' for a long time.


Best, Lukas.
Posted By: Bob Rodgers Re: Exit Strategy? - 11/20/2012 08:41 AM
I started selling off after my major health condition popped up. At one time, during the early days of GDC i had over 500 daggers and most of them were German. I started selling them off and converting my collection. Then the Arny / Luftwaffe crazy came and went by the side. I still have a about 100 daggers. Only about 25 will remain with me. Out of those, 11 are German Naval daggers, which are going to be the last thing i leave to my family.
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