We receive many calls regarding what to do with military items.  Our best advise is to document carefully any information that has been passed on both verbally and in writing.  If possible, keep in the family every item you find.  You may not have any interest in these items, however, someday down the road a niece, nephew, or grand child may find these great treasures.  Don't make a decision in haste.

Often, people believe that they will just donate everything to a good cause.  We are getting word from our non-profit contacts that not only are the military museums, but all museums are overwhelmed with too many donations.  Although they are always looking for the rare and unusual, their back rooms are full of common items that will never be displayed.  Not ever.   They will always accept items out of respect to the family and to the individual who served.  Also keep in mind,  museums are there to present and educate, not be a free appraiser.  Their time needs to be respected as well. So randomly donating is not always the best route.

Sadly, most do a little bit of research and just call a WE BUY MILITARY ITEMS person and trust they are honest.  Unfortunately, most of these people are on the hunt for rare items and are hoping to pay as little as possible.  The horror stories are endless.  The military experts on our team are veterans and the absolute best.  Their mission is make sure those people who served our country are honored.  If an item is worth something, it is our duty to make sure the family gets everything coming to them financially. 


The worst scenario is when we find out they discarded items they felt were trash or not associated with the military items.  Be sure to keep everything.  Papers, photos, every single little pin, crusty boots, clothes, even if in rough shape keep it all. Most of all, keep everything together, as it tells a story and makes the collection worth much more.  It is worth mentioning that literally hundreds of thousands of military items were made and distributed.  So it is the rare and obscure that is worth the most.  This is where you need an expert who is not trying to take advantage of you to carefully sort through everything.

We had a family meet with our military expert as they had a small collection to sell.   After looking it all over, he asked how much they wanted.  They replied they would not take less that $500 as that is what another military buyer offered.  The family was paid $5000!  As the items represented a very rare part of war history of which only a few existed.  Knowledge is power.


Buried in the bottom of an old cardboard box underneath all the other military items I found one old rusty boot spur and some other old worn leather straps. The family had no idea of value.  The old spur was from the Civil war and the old straps went to a Civil war sword.  They were authenticated and worth hundreds more than anyone would have imagined.  If they would have had matching spurs, they would have been really shocked at the value.  

Lastly, we go through everything for you.  Down to the smallest lapel pin.  Amongst a pile of everything and hundreds of other pins, a very small pin that had a military tank and a number on it was found.  After much research it represented a very obscure group that served in WWII.  The pin was marketed and sold to a collector across the nation for our client for $400.

From the Civil war to the 1960's Vietnam war we have private collectors paying much more than the BUYING WAR RELIC people.  The sky is the limit, with no budget limitations, your items may be worth a small fortune. The original person who served and used all these items, gave it their all for our country.  They deserve our very best.

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