Artifact Collection

Texas Johnny

Corporal
Joined
Jan 29, 2019
Location
Texas
I have been collecting ACW artifacts since I was a kid in Georgia and found my first minié ball at about age 8 or so. In my younger days, after moving to Texas, a friend of mine and I would head east at least twice a year, sometimes as far a Virginia, to metal detect for artifacts. Over the years I have traded for and purchased all types of artifacts. The last number of years I have been adding to my firearms collection and now have a fair number of war time firearms.

I am now in my 70s, fortunately right now in very good health, but I have begun to think about what to do with my collection when I am gone. My wife has put up with me and my collection, but she has no real interest in keeping the collection. I have started doing write-ups on the more valuable items in the collection. I also have an Excel file where I have everything catalogued with the item name, description, when I obtained it, how obtained (dug, purchased, or traded), etc. There are over 500 items in my Excel file, but it doesn’t count for instance each individual minié ball, I have probably a 1,000 plus minié balls.

I am very interested in what others are planning on doing as far as what will happen to their collection when they are gone. Would it be better to contact one of the auction houses and provide them with my collection inventory? I haven’t much experience with auctions, except for purchasing a few firearms. Any recommendations? I would appreciate your thoughts and input.
 
This is a good question. I'm sure there are many others here who are confronting the same issue. In our family, we have some artifacts, but the main problem is archival materials. Right now, my brother-in-law has almost all of it and has been very good at storing and keeping track of a lot of papers -- maybe about 30 or 40 storage boxes. However, all of us in this generation are around 70 and older, and there's nobody in the younger generations who has emerged as a good candidate for family archivist. Probably the best solution will be donating the materials to a university archive somewhere. I know that archives these days have limited space, but many of our papers relate to family members who were prominent enough so that some archive might care enough to accept the materials as a donation.

I have a thought about auctions, but I think I will send you a personal message about that.

ARB
 
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This is a good question. I'm sure there are many others here who are confronting the same issue. In our family, we have some artifacts, but the main problem is archival materials. Right now, my brother-in-law has almost all of it and has been very good at storing and keeping track of a lot of papers -- maybe about 30 or 40 storage boxes. However, all of us in this generation are around 70 and older, and there's nobody in the younger generations who has emerged as a good candidate for family archivist. Probably the best solution will be donating the materials to a university archive somewhere. I know that archives these days have limited space, but many of our papers relate to family members who were prominent enough so that some archive might care enough to accept the materials as a donation.

I have a though about auctions, but I think I will send you a personal message about that.

ARB
Thanks so much, I responded to your PM.
 
Send it all over to me :D Seriously there are collectors and dealers that LOVE to purchase entire collection, I just happen to be one of them.
Thanks ucvrelics, I guess I thought that not many dealers would want entire collections, mine is such a hodge podge of different items. I just added you to my list of people to contact, I will PM you in the near future, I have some questions for you. Thanks again!
 
I thought I would be able to sale my non-CW military collection and books to supplement my retirement. It seems a daunting task as it took me 20 years to collect it and some things are not selling for what I hoped it would be worth.
This week, I'm donating some of my books to libraries and to library re-sales as well as to young kids in my family to get them interested. I have been to a few military collector shows and sold some items. I have not purchased a booth but just walked around and drummed up business. One show, I sold $600 worth of items---after making a trip back to the house and a few trips to my car.

I still have some things I want to sale. You just don't find too many Americans who want to collect British regimental Cap Badges from WW2.
 
I have hundreds of books just on the Civil War. I have a few Civil War swords and bayonets as well as several framed prints . No one in the family is interested in these things. As the oldest sibling I am the keeper of several family bibles , graduation rings , letters , photos , High School yearbooks etc. , etc. that belonged to family members who have passed away . No one is interested in these things either and it comes to a point where I must decide what to do with an item like my mother's High School ring or my father's college ring .They are of no monetary value but meant a lot to them. I buy very few books anymore and I'm not really interested in any more artifacts . I guess this is all just part of growing older .
 
I have hundreds of books just on the Civil War. I have a few Civil War swords and bayonets as well as several framed prints . No one in the family is interested in these things. As the oldest sibling I am the keeper of several family bibles , graduation rings , letters , photos , High School yearbooks etc. , etc. that belonged to family members who have passed away . No one is interested in these things either and it comes to a point where I must decide what to do with an item like my mother's High School ring or my father's college ring .They are of no monetary value but meant a lot to them. I buy very few books anymore and I'm not really interested in any more artifacts . I guess this is all just part of growing older .
Kurt G, I am the same way, I have all my Mother and Father's things as none of my siblings wanted to keep them. I even have some of my grandparents things. I just can't seem to throw the items away, like you said no real monetary value, but lots of sentimental value. I guess it will all be tossed out when I am gone.
 
Kurt G, I am the same way, I have all my Mother and Father's things as none of my siblings wanted to keep them. I even have some of my grandparents things. I just can't seem to throw the items away, like you said no real monetary value, but lots of sentimental value. I guess it will all be tossed out when I am gone.
I have my grandfathers old salt shaker he used when he made popcorn . Worth about a dollar but priceless to me . Also have a few kitchen utensils and a rolling pin from my great grandmother . Once again , to me they are priceless.
 
Thanks ucvrelics, I guess I thought that not many dealers would want entire collections, mine is such a hodge podge of different items. I just added you to my list of people to contact, I will PM you in the near future, I have some questions for you. Thanks again!
Those are often the things that interest dealers most-variety
 
I have been collecting ACW artifacts since I was a kid in Georgia and found my first minié ball at about age 8 or so. In my younger days, after moving to Texas, a friend of mine and I would head east at least twice a year, sometimes as far a Virginia, to metal detect for artifacts. Over the years I have traded for and purchased all types of artifacts. The last number of years I have been adding to my firearms collection and now have a fair number of war time firearms.

I am now in my 70s, fortunately right now in very good health, but I have begun to think about what to do with my collection when I am gone. My wife has put up with me and my collection, but she has no real interest in keeping the collection. I have started doing write-ups on the more valuable items in the collection. I also have an Excel file where I have everything catalogued with the item name, description, when I obtained it, how obtained (dug, purchased, or traded), etc. There are over 500 items in my Excel file, but it doesn’t count for instance each individual minié ball, I have probably a 1,000 plus minié balls.

I am very interested in what others are planning on doing as far as what will happen to their collection when they are gone. Would it be better to contact one of the auction houses and provide them with my collection inventory? I haven’t much experience with auctions, except for purchasing a few firearms. Any recommendations? I would appreciate your thoughts and input.
Before I'm deceased, my hope is to organize and display my collection in the Genealogy Room of our local library. They have expressed interest in letting me do this. I will donate cases and put the artifacts on loan to them. In addition, I too have an inventoried list of all the artifacts, where and when they were found, and any relevant information about their history or use. I also include a photograph with each artifact. Because our archives and history department has too many relics, they aren't interested. But I will give them this list and photos of all my stuff. That way, it can be logged into their collection without needing a whole room full of stuff to curate and store. My kids and wife don't care for the relics, so this way I can preserve these artifacts and their history for people to view and maybe inspire others to appreciate this local history.
 
Kurt G, I am the same way, I have all my Mother and Father's things as none of my siblings wanted to keep them. I even have some of my grandparents things. I just can't seem to throw the items away, like you said no real monetary value, but lots of sentimental value. I guess it will all be tossed out when I am gone.
That's the funny thing about people like us that have an appreciation for artifacts and family history...we can't get rid of anything!
 
I have hundreds of books just on the Civil War. I have a few Civil War swords and bayonets as well as several framed prints . No one in the family is interested in these things. As the oldest sibling I am the keeper of several family bibles , graduation rings , letters , photos , High School yearbooks etc. , etc. that belonged to family members who have passed away . No one is interested in these things either and it comes to a point where I must decide what to do with an item like my mother's High School ring or my father's college ring .They are of no monetary value but meant a lot to them. I buy very few books anymore and I'm not really interested in any more artifacts . I guess this is all just part of growing older .
It seems to me that there just isn't the interest in the civil war among young people that there was back in the 70s, 80s, and 90s. This younger generation just wants to play on their phones.
 
Before I'm deceased, my hope is to organize and display my collection in the Genealogy Room of our local library. They have expressed interest in letting me do this. I will donate cases and put the artifacts on loan to them. In addition, I too have an inventoried list of all the artifacts, where and when they were found, and any relevant information about their history or use. I also include a photograph with each artifact. Because our archives and history department has too many relics, they aren't interested. But I will give them this list and photos of all my stuff. That way, it can be logged into their collection without needing a whole room full of stuff to curate and store. My kids and wife don't care for the relics, so this way I can preserve these artifacts and their history for people to view and maybe inspire others to appreciate this local history.
Good plan Tom!
 
... I am very interested in what others are planning on doing as far as what will happen to their collection when they are gone. Would it be better to contact one of the auction houses and provide them with my collection inventory? I haven’t much experience with auctions, except for purchasing a few firearms. Any recommendations? I would appreciate your thoughts and input.
You might like to take a look at this thread I made some time ago describing my experiences with Heritage Auctions in Dallas:

https://civilwartalk.com/threads/my-adventures-consigning-my-sword-collection.114828/
 
You guys are breaking my heart! I too am the "family historian" and have given much thought about where everything will go after I'm gone. I would like my genealogy stuff to be donated to our local archives. I am lucky that we have a wonderful Veterans Museum so my Civil War related books could be donated to their library. Of course that's if anyone in the family doesn't want it which is highly likely. I can't bear the thought! I guess you could always put in writing, such as a will. Family history as well as Civil War history is just too important to be lost.
 
You guys are breaking my heart! I too am the "family historian" and have given much thought about where everything will go after I'm gone. I would like my genealogy stuff to be donated to our local archives. I am lucky that we have a wonderful Veterans Museum so my Civil War related books could be donated to their library. Of course that's if anyone in the family doesn't want it which is highly likely. I can't bear the thought! I guess you could always put in writing, such as a will. Family history as well as Civil War history is just too important to be lost.
It's so important that our passion for history, and especially this time period in our nation's history, not get lost after we are gone. I've seen too many collections get lost or sold as novelties in garage sales.
 
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