Collecting War Relics

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Collecting War Relics

If you count on how many war films have been made you can tell that war fascinates people. And where there is interest, there’s money to be made out of collecting.

You can focus on a specific war like the American Civil war or the two World Wars.

Collectors in this field tend to concentrate on narrow subject areas like military weapons or gas masks.

The first thing to do is to know your subject. Read all you can about history thoroughly.

War is mainly about weapons like shell cases, grenade shells- could be collected. But there is a civilian side to war.

Newspapers of the time are an excellent buy and will probably help with your research as well. You might want to collect letters written to or by soldiers, as well as postcards.

Don’t forget civilian ration books and identity cards, government pamphlets and war posters. War posters were popular especially during the first World War. Through posters the citizenry of the U.S. were reached unlike the second World War, media such as radio and television were predominantly used to recruit aspiring soldiers than mere posters.

The idea is to build up a balanced history of any war you are interested in and collect items base on your research.

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Collecting Beer and Wine Labels

Collecting Beer And Wine Labels

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Label collecting is as attractive as stamp collecting. The information provided by labels is an excellent way of recording certain aspects of commercial life in times gone by.

For wine labels, you could spend a considerable time collecting only ninety-odd chateau labels of the 1855 Bordeaux official classification. And even that would be difficult because some chateaux change their labels designs periodically.

Like for example, Chateau-Mouton-Rotchschild commissions a different label artist to design a new label every vintage year. But that would be a worthwhile investment.

Beer labels whether from the U.S.A. and Britain in particular command better prices. The first nationally popular beer in Britain was ‘porter’. This was a brew that was to gain even greater fame when developed into Guinness.

Then there’s the classic British brew called pale ale. There’s also light ale, oatmeal stout, strong ale, barley wine.

Collecting American beer labels is fascinating because of its diversity. The cosmopolitan nature of the country is a primary reason for a wide variety of beers produced.

Some American beers are no longer made in their country of origin. For instance, porter can no longer be found in Britain, but it still is brewed in the U.S.A. In fact, most American beers owe their origin to brews from abroad, apart from steam beer which is only the really original American beer.

In many ways, wine and beer labels are a superior form of stamp collecting.

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Collecting Vintage Acoustic Guitars

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At one time or another in our lives we fancy being a professional musician. We are proud to play riffs of Led Zeppelin’s Stairway To Heaven even if we can’t finish the whole song.

We love playing our guitars and for some reason we like to collect them as well.. Acoustic guitar collection is still in its early stage but it has been already been heralded as a work of fine art.

Guitars made before World War 2 are considered the most desirable and collectible and goes without saying, fetch in very high prices. Guitars made from various manufacturers such Martin, Gibson, Lyn and Healy and Larson Brothers are the most sought after.

Martin’s flat top steel string guitars are superb in craftsmanship and sound. The earliest models were made during 1840’s to 1920’s. But the most collectible are the 12 and 14 fret steel string models made from the middle of 1920’s to 1944. The playability, sound and workmanship are very excellent.

What is considered the golden era of the flat top Martin guitars are the larger size, 14 fret 000 and "D" sizes from the 1930’s. In fact, The Martin D-45 which was custom made for Gene Autry commands very stratospheric price.

The most desirable when it comes to Martin body size is the 000, OM and D sizes. If you have a Martin guitar check the serial number inside and just above it the style and body size number. Make sure the original parts are still intact and no modifications on the bridge, tuners and frets. These factors affect the value of the guitar.

When it comes to the brand Gibson, archtops are the most collectible. Well they invented the archtop guitar so why wouldn’t they lead the pack? The most desirable and collectible are the larger models made from the early 1930’s to 1959 namely The Lloyd Roar signed L-5’s, the pre war Super 400, Advanced L-5 archtops and the Cut away archtop models from the 1946 to 1959.

Unlike paintings, guitars are usable collections. You don’t have to be CEO of a Fortune 500 company to be able to start collecting vintage acoustic guitars. And while you’re at it, it doesn’t hurt if you could strum and hum puff the magic dragon….

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