Keep it, sell it, or lend it to a museum?

[gsdx]

Antiques Roadshow comes to your area and you decide to take Grandpa's wartime medal to it for appraisal. You found the medal and photos and letters and validation and such in Grandpa's safety deposit box after he died and decide to see what it's worth.

You learn that your grandfather was instrumental in turning the tide of the war from defeat to victory and the medal is historically significant and exciting. It's also worth a whole lot of money.

What would you do with it? Sell it? Keep it? Or lend it to a museum?

 

[cbtfan]

Sell it to a museum.

 

[Pushover]

Tough choice. I'd be torn between keeping it because it's practically a family heirloom and giving it to a museum because it's important to history. Since I'd be more interested in the history and sharing it, I'd probably end up sending it a museum...for a price, of course.

 

[gsdx]

You can lend it to the museum and still maintain ownership of it, which is the option I gave.

 

[cbtfan]

You can lend it to the museum and still maintain ownership of it, which is the option I gave.

Opps sorry gsdx, then I would lend it to a museum. I certainly wouldn't sell it to a stranger.

 

[gsdx]

Opps sorry gsdx, then I would lend it to a museum. I certainly wouldn't sell it to a stranger.

That's what I figured you meant. I wasn't clear enough in my options. I think I would lend it to a museum as well. I couldn't imagine selling it.

 

[just_mills]

Lend it to the Museum of course !

 

[Silvernitrate]

I don't think I would be able to put any kind of price on anything of my grandpas that was that valuable! I would keep it, but it would be interesting to lend it to a museum for some time, so everyone could see his achievements!

 

[KennyD]

Personally; I'd get it fixed up in a nice frame and display it in the main room of the house .
However; IF I decided that I did not want it around; I'd SELL it to the museum or wherever ... I'd NEVER "Loan" to a museum again.
I "Loaned" some antique coins to a museum many years ago and when I was moving from the area, went to pick them up . I was told that they had "NO IDEA" where they were ..Sorry"

 

[sabot3ur]

if it was my nice grandfather (pop pop,) I'd keep it.

but if it was the other one's, I'd sell that shit in a hot minute!

 

[rareboy]

I guess you have to ask yourself what will happen to it after you're dead versus when you are alive.

You could take a pic and put it on a webpage on-line with the story of what your grandfather did...because, you see, it is his achievement and the recognition of the achievement that is important, not the medal itself.

You are only holding the medal because you know it is the validation of the achievement; something you can pull out and show friends and family or just sit and look at yourself.
By lending it to a museum, you obviously still think you should own something that wasn't ever really yours to begin with. Again, the medals without the actual stories are essentially valueless and if the museum just puts it in a case; it is nothing more or less than an abstract bit of ribbon and metal, usually with ordinary artistic merit.

If you keep the medal, you'd better pass the tale and the object down to the person in your family you can trust most to be the conservator of this talisman. Too often, this is the kind of stuff that turns up in the bottom of a drawer and some person with no connection to the grandfather and his heroics just doesn't care.

In this case, if you had sold the story and the medal to a collector and conservator, there is far more chance of it continuing to be appreciated and potentially ending up in a museum anyway. You can always sell it and then donate the money to some veterans' cause.

Frankly, I don't think there is any right or wrong answer.

 

[star-warrior]

Lending it to a museum seems the best option. That way, you can also share the knowledge about why your ancestor has been a lynchpin in such and such an event in history. Not only do you maintain ownership, you can also be proud of his achievements and may also impress upon the younger generation about the exploits of their relative.

 

[USEDCAR]

Sell it

It would be like a family member giving me there house i would sell it

 

[pacz]

I would lend it it to a museum so others can see it. Plus it would be exciting to see my name under the plaque that says, "On loan by ...."

 

[FREDDIE187]

Sell it to a museum and use the money to make a better future for his grand and great grand children.