THE JAG FILE

GOOD COLLECTING ECONOMY?

During the past few months, popular media outlets reported that the “economy is good.” After years of disheartening economic measures, recent news of stabilized interest rates, increases in housing startups, and jobs numbers growing, a lot of people are breathing easier these days. But, as far as you and I are concerned, how does this translate to the world of historic military memorabilia?

THE STATE OF THE HOBBY

Back in 2008-2009, I was writing catalog descriptions for a prominent militaria dealer. While we heard reports of a falling market, we were seeing record sales of military relics. With each news report of an impending “great recession,” we would joke with each other, “What recession?”

At the time, we didn’t realize that there was a lag in impacting the military relic and historic military vehicle (HMV) markets. The great recession didn’t hit our world until several years