I have no idea where to even start with this.

This is part of an estate. The daughter told us that the dad was a huge auction junkie. He would bid by phone way before there was that thing called the net.

Anyways this is years worth of his buying sprees and I do mean this is a small portion of what we have to go through here. There are a lot of medals. The daughter says they are at least mostly foreign medals. There is what looks to be pieces (buttons) from very old US uniforms. Then there are random collector coins spread through out this mess. I have no idea how to even begin to sort these. Can we auction them? Is it ethical? Some of them were definitely acquired via auction because they are still in the lot bags with very old auction tags. Anyways, I once again turn to the great and powerful Oz to see what you might know. I know it is a lot of photos and some may not be the best but there are just so many of them. I just shot the first few that I pulled from a bag.

There also seems to be some pins maybe from the American Legion? Some of them are for sure but there is a bunch of different ones. Anyways really curios to see what you guys may know or have to say about these. I will put more photos in the second post below this.

 

And I just saw the reference site for medals in the sticky so now I am looking over there. See I read. LOL! I still want to know what you guys think. LOL!

 

It's sad that these were dumped on you without some proper documentation.

With such variations I can't see them going in a lot, except if you can weed out the higher value ones....

 

The man that owned them passed on. He was probably the only one that really knew what all was in here. Heck maybe he didn't even know. The daughter doesn't really know. She just knows that she doesn't want them. That is how a lot of things come to us and kind of the nature of the beast here to be honest. I don't have high expectations of many of these coins. Most of them are still in the case they came in and easy enough to identify but they are those collector coins that they sell late night TV. At least that is what they look like to me. Not exactly rare stuff.

 

Wow! That is an eclectic collection indeed.
Unfortunately I don't recognize any of them right off though the 1914 1918 has surely to do with WWI.
Most look Army and the upside down ostrich pin is interesting.
Much research is in order or just wing it at a special militaria auction since the family doesn't care.

 

So in your opinion is it ok to sell these?

 

I know it's sad the family isn't interested in keeping them but I see a lot of sad in estate dealings.

These deals aren't as bad as the ones were they are still alive and moving to assisted living. One lady I dealt with had the daughter from hell. She came in for the first time in a long time to just pilfer. She was extremely short with the mother when the mother was trying decide what she wanted to keep or had room for and what to send to auction or goodwill. I hated it cause her mom was so sweet and she would ask a question and the daughter would just cut her off and jump in as if she were a child. Mind you the mom was sharp as a whistle she just couldn't live alone anymore. I made a point to make it extra clear who I was talking to and to answer her questions. I felt so bad for her. Luckily she was moving to a place closer to her son and not the daughter. Her son was much better with her. I mean she was leaving the home she had lived in forever with her husband. It wasn't an easy move to watch. She seemed so wrecked by it and the whole ordeal broke my heart.

Especially as someone who would give anything to still have my mom with me. I was in my early 20's when I lost my mom and I would have never thought of talking to her that way. All I kept thinking was lady you are so freaking lucky to still have her in your life. Show an ounce of respect for goodness sake. The daughter was in her 50's.

I hate to say it but one thing I have learned in this business is people as a general rule are greedy. Meaning, the offspring awful to their parents. Not all but more than not.

Not going to lie I like liquidations and consignors more. B2B is less emotional for sure.

 

Hi,
I think it is US metals that are not allowed to be sold. Other countries I think are ok. I made a gorgeous necklace for a friend using purple hearts from the Army Navy surplus store. I think it was allowed since they were not awarded.
greg

 

I don't know what they all are for but I'm not seeing any they 'should' keep for sure such as a Purple Heart and I don't think there are any 'star' types.
I suggest you find someone with the interest or designate the most likely person on staff to begin to learn about such things.
I'm wondering if good clear photos of each could be used on Google Image or whatever it's called. I've never used it.

 

They are all legal to sell. The 'stolen valor act' just made it illegal to represent yourself as having earned something you bought. The Supreme Court tossed that law out anyway.

All were made in huge numbers and hung on to. Like collector plates or Hummels.

Offer in groups by country and/or era.

 

More on Defensive Sector Medal
https://www.bing.com/images/search?...&iss=VSI&selectedIndex=1&count=35&adlt=strict

 

Thanks so much everyone you got me pointed in the right direction. Looks like what I thought were coins are actually pewter commemorative medals and from what I can tell are basically worthless (Story of my life. LOL!) but it looks like some of these medals might have some decent value so I am going take the advice and lot them in groups.

The boxes of pins are going take a while to get through. It seems most of them are reproduction medals or something. Maybe some motorcycle club stuff they are kind of all over the place in regards to themes so it's hard to determine their exact purpose. Some look Masonic, some American Legion, some of it is Biker type stuff.

Not really sure about them but we will put them in grouped lots and hope for the best.

It's funny we have done pretty well on coins. We had some coins last month that went way higher than I would have ever expected. They really weren't that special like wheat penny and buffalo nickle kind of stuff. This one lot was mainly pennies and it ended up going for over $100. My biz partner's dad was at that auction. Apparently, he deals in coins. He said he couldn't believe how well we did on those lots. He sent us a bunch of his coins to sell. LOL!

So who know's maybe we will have the same kind of luck with these.

Anyways thanks again! BTW, the links in the sticky on this section have been extremely helpful as well.

Sorry I am not around much I am just covered up. I did hire some help but we also decided to start running weekly auctions beginning on the 14th so I may never get to rest again.