[Milsurplus] [ARC5] Boatanchor Ennui: Is He Wrong?

[Peter Gottlieb]

The world moves on.  Soon there will no longer be people alive who experienced 
first hand ARC-5 sets and the part they played in history.  It won't be long 
after that when there won't be any more hams still alive who tinkered with these 
kinds of sets growing up. The appeal is dissipating and will be limited to very 
few pieces at very few museums.  This won't happen in 5 years, but I can 
guarantee it will be the reality in 50.

As for the sterling, who uses it any more?  I, too, have an entire large set and 
it's beautiful, but go find any dealer who specializes in it and you will find 
literally TONS of it in their shops, stores and warehouses.  No matter how 
beautiful, unless particular pieces have specific historic value they are worth 
essentially the scrap value of the silver and that is all you can expect to get 
if you want to sell, and if you do sell, most likely that is what will happen to 
your items.  Fewer and fewer people using them, even fewer buying, so it does 
resemble the old boatanchor gear we have in that it is approaching, or has 
already reached, scrap value.

WWII and the radio gear were an essential part of history and brought us to 
where we are but the world is moving on.  By all means enjoy what's out there, 
collect if it makes you happy, even try the more outrageous projects, just don't 
collect expecting it's going to be worth anything to your family when you leave 
the planet.

Peter


On 7/23/2016 9:15 AM, gordon white wrote:
>
> All:
>
>
>     If you care about what you collect, figure out where it can go after you 
> can no longer care for it. There are museums for spark plugs, types of barbed 
> wire, etc. etc. (If no one care for something enough to preserve it long-time, 
> I suppose there is no hope, though 100 years from now someone will realize 
> what was missed)
>
>
>     I gave 12,468 blueprints of racing cars and engines, 1919-1976, to the 
> Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, MI. Best place I could find. I gave 4,000 + 
> pieces of Command set gear to the National Air & Space Museum, back in the 1980s.
>
>
>     Find some place that cares - maybe the Eight Air Force Museum in Savannah? 
> The Air Force Museum? Navy Museum in Pensacola? Aircraft museums, etc. etc.
>
>
>     My kids could hardly care less about what I collect, including a sterling 
> silver service for 12 that has been in the family since 1898. But I care. 
> Someone cares, somewhere.
>
>
>  - Gordon Eliot White
>