TS Allen

Hey folks,

I have been thinking about the economics of collecting a lot lately, so I thought I'd chip in my thoughts. Several months ago, I decided to sell off the majority of my collection within the next year, keeping all of my most prized items but eliminating all the pieces that did not fit with my current collecting tastes. There were several reasons for this. The clearest reason was that I will almost unquestionably earn higher long-term returns, and assume lower risk, by investing the money I make from the sale of that part of my collection along with the rest of my portfolio, rather than keeping the material in my collection, insuring it, and hoping its value increases. It was also a very good time for me to sell. I was living in the United Kingdom where the parts of my collection I was no longer interested in were more valuable, and found an excellent local dealer in London to handle the high-end items and an auction house to handle the rest. Finally, since I am a junior Army officer who was living in the UK in September, is currently on extended temporary duty in the US, and is moving to Asia in a few months, I decided that I was better off without an bulky personal goods shipment following me around.

It would be interesting to think through the ramifications of the decline of the "Baby Boomers" on the prices of WWII militaria. I think in the long run those prices will decline.

Best,

T.S.