WW2 Economy Plastic Cap Badge Collection Dilemma !

[oc14]

Several weeks ago, I ws fortunate enough to buy a large collection of badges from a gentleman who had decided to leave the hobby. One part of the collection was an impressive selection of WW2 economy plastic cap badges (including all those illustrated in K & K less the Army Educational Corps and Royla Irish Fusiliers) and several which are not in K & K (RAF ORs, Officers 2 part, WLA Timber Corps, WLA Proficiency, RWAFF Home Guard Auxiliairies etc). Several forum members saw these in the flesh at Bedford. All are 100% genuine, none (as far as I can see) have suffered any damage or been repaired. A few are slightly warped (as is common with this type of badge). Several forum members have PM'd me with specific wants, some of my fellow dealers (yes I am a full time dealer myself) have made offers for certain badges from the collection. Here is the dilemma, should I split the collection up and sell it piecemeal (and potentially make more money in the process) or sell it as a collection (it took the original owner quite some time to assemble thecollection).
Taking into consideration current dealers and auction prices, I estimate that this collection would sell for between £4000 and £5000 if broken up and sold individually. If anyone is genuinely interested in the collection as it is, I would be prepared to sell for £3000 (or very near offer), alternatively I would be prepared to exchange (or part exchange) for medals.
What does the forum think ? Am I being too sentimental in business ? Should I just say to hell with it, split them up and take the money and run ?

Interested to hear views for and against, and yes I know it is lovely to hve such a dilemma !

Here is the collection for all to see !

Paul L

[Bren39]

Hi Paul,

Nice collection.
As a dealer myself it would seem silly to sell the collection as a whole if you can make £1000 - £2000 more by splitting it up. Of course it always easier to sell 1 item than a hundred items so it all depends on the amount of work you are prepared to do ( or pay for ).

If you can afford to lose this kind of money or money is not your main goal with this collection then of course it would be nice for all badges to go to one collector but there is always the risk whoever buys the collection will split it up anyway.

I can understand your dilema though. I sometimes have similar ones with regards to books that I sell - some people will take books apart and sell prints seperately as you can make more money this way. Me personally I just couldn't destroy a book for extra profit but could easily split up a collection of badges for profit.

If I had £3000 I would offer it to you for the collection if I knew I could make £1-2000 back.

Ben

[jim a]

While it would be nice to keep the collection to acknowledge the effort of the original owner I can't help thinking of the collector who has also spent alot of time and effort amassing a significant collection and only needs 3-4-5 badges to finish up. He would probably appreciate the chance to aquire them by having the set broken up. On the other side I have been fortunate to acquire a persons collection at very reasonable prices and have significantly advanced my collection that way. I guess it just depends on how much work you want to do as the seller... Jim

[John Mulcahy]

Do as your heart guides you. An advantage of splitting it up not often mentioned is that the effort put into the collection by one individual may bring interest, motivation and happiness to many when broken up and sold.

[LONGSHANKS]

Hi Paul, although not a collector of plastic I agree with the sentiment that breaking it up would be the way to go.

I look at breaking up collections, is like a tree. It grow's over the years, and one day it dies, fall's down and eventually ends up promoting the growth of other tree's in the forest. A fanciful way of looking at it, but as you and the team would agree; we would all be in trouble if collections stayed together.

Simon.

[Tanker Mike]

Is the para badge maker marked, if you do sell the collection by piece are you giving the forum members first dibs?

Mike

Paul,

For me (and this is just my opinion of course) splitting up collections of military items falls into different categories.

There are those types of collections, such as you have here, that have been gathered together from different sources, possibly some from broken collections themselves, and apart from all being 'plastic' badges, their connection to each other is nothing more than that, and as such are only valuable as a group for that reason.

If, for example, this happened to be a group of items such as named medals, death plaque, WO telegram, and other related documents etc., all to one person, then splitting it up would be awful, and not something I would condone. This for me, would be an instance where the reasons for keeping a collection together would outweight the opportunity of increasing your financial gain as a dealer. Again, just my opinion.

The badges you have here are only together becasue their previous owner went to the trouble of collecting them. They are not irreplaceable nor are they unique, either individually, or as a group.

It is my view that to split them up would not necessarily be exacting any kind of harm or disservice upon the badge collecting community or upon the previous owner.

As a collector, I think that keeping these badges together would be a wonderful thing to be able to do. We all know and appreciate how much time and effort (not to mention expense) goes in to putting collections together; one reason why seeing them in your opening post is so pleasureable to someone like me.

On the other hand, nice collection though it is, the world is not going to stop turning if you decide to sell them separately, either. There are collections, and there are collections, if you see what I mean.

Thanks for posting them for us all to see, by the way.

Regards,

Peter.

[badger123]

Having seen this collection at close hand and knowing a bit about where it came from (and the paperwork that came with it), I can see your dilemma about whether to sell it as a collection or sell it off bit by bit.

Either way, you will make your money as a dealer but knowing you as I do, I know your dilemma is driven by a passion for the hobby rather than a desire to make loads of money.

Having followed Fatherofthree’s thread about the Edwardian badge collection and his desire to keep that particular collection together, it was noticeable how many forum members commended him (quite rightly) for buying it with the intention of keeping it as a complete collection.

Someone may well buy this collection with a similar intention (assuming they have the finances) and that would be fantastic but on the other hand, someone may buy it with the intention of selling it on badge by badge and make quite a bit of money out of it. So if that’s a possibility, I say why not make that money yourself? After all, I’m sure you will plough it back into buying more stock anyway.

Alternatively, you could let me have the whole collection for a knockdown price, I must have some good blackmail material on you somewhere!!!!!!!!!!!

Ivan

[CftD]

Paul - Since when did business accumen and sentimentality go hand in hand ? If you are a businessman (albeit a dealer in militaria) then business ethics must prevail. What you paid for the collection is no-one's business but yours but I presume that offering it entire at £3000 or near offer shows you a profit on the deal. I know your dilema - the rarer items will sell quickly and the more common ones will sit in your cases ad infinitum ! In those common items will be your profit and it will be a long time coming. Of course you must break up the collection OR sell it as a job lot. Please PM me. Regards. David

[NEMO]

HI Paul , good evening ,

stick the lot under the bed an forget about it ,

Add any badges you dont have as n` when they turn up and you have the spare cash .

How many other collections are good as this one out there ? ?

A nice lot to play with when you retire , regards ,Michael.

[Neil M.ex14/20H.MAN A.C.F]

Hi Paul
A very nice collection, being just a collector for my own pleasure and not a dealer if i could afford it i would give you a good few grand for the lot and leave them as they are,with the exception of maybe removing the buttons.

[mtrpltpara]

Hello, presumably there is more to the collection than the plastic badges, as you describe them as part of the collection, so do you intend to split up the others and sell seperately, or keep them together?, not sure why you have the problem with the plastic badges?
Bill.

[Peter Brydon]

I think that part of the enjoyment of collecting is to build up a collection over a period of time and to search for illusive items to fill gaps.I dont think you get the same satisfaction if you acquire a complete collection in one go.

If important collections like those of Hugh King,Arthur Strutt,Grace Gibson,Len Whittaker and Walter Lambert cnnot be kept together then what chance is there for lesser collections.It has also been pointed out on the Forum before that is often only when established collections are broken up and come onto the market that collectors are able to acquire genuine examples of rare badges missing from their collections.

I have in the past sold fairly good collections to the South Lancashire Regiment and to the Duke of Lancasters Own Yeomanry. In each case I thought I was selling to fellow collectors and the collections were priced accordingly. In each case within 6 weeks of the sale the collections had been split up and the badges were being sold individually.

The difficulty is that whenever you sell anything, a collection or a single item, you dont know if the puchaser will keep it for years or sell it next week if offered the right price.

P.B.

[ray smith]

Hi Paul
To me as a collector it is cut & dry either you are a Dealer in the badge game for money or you are a Collector in it for the pleasure that badge collecting gives.
Personally i am a Collector who is at the stage of collecting variants in plastic badges.
If you decide to sell would you let me know the makers of the following,
The Cambridgeshire Regiment, The Buckinghamshire Battalion, The Kings Own Royal Regiment, Lancashire Fusiliers, South Lancashire Regiment and Reconnaissance Corps.
If what you have is what i am looking for it will complete the the collection as in the KK reference book.
I won,t hold my breath as i have been looking for these badges for 25+years
Enjoying the fun and excitement of looking.
Kindest Regards
Ray Smith