A2 appraisal

[SusanD]

Hi, I am trying to find someone who can appraise an A2 jacket so we can insure it and loan it to the 390th Memorial Museum.  I live in the Tampa bay area in Florida.  Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Susan

[dmar836]

I'll bite,

Susan, Welcome. We might have spoken on the VLJ forum a few years back. There is a different forum heading for appraisals but generally collector sites and members seldom get involved in appraisals. That's a business in it's own right and very often people are simply inquiring to see what they can ask on eBay, etc. Some use such posts as yours to solicit offers (which I'm sure you have already experienced). This brings an unsavory type of opportunistic membership to an enthusiast group of any type so few of us want to "go there".

To your question, for insurance purposes, an independent appraisal service, rather than a collector sight, would be best. You could try calling a local dealer or museum or the 390th museum curator to see who they have used for such items. Your homeowners policy adjuster would be a good first call. Mine required a rider for each individual item.  

Current collector prices aren't the best indicator of insurance amount. Also, a dollar amount set based on family value and/or actual replacement cost( an impossible act for one of a kind historic/custom items) is completely objective, possibly even unreasonable to the point of an uninsurable number. You might have to take out a policy based on a certain replacement value you have set(within reason of course). Some might require one or multiple appraisals. I have antique vehicles insured based on a value I alone have set and adjust.

 

Best of luck,

Dave

[Costa]

that is a super fine A-2. seems to be in excellent shape. your dads???

[Kadet]

That is an excellent example of a painted  and patched A2. It appears to have its original zipper and knits and is in great condition...all a big plus.  A2 jackets like this are very "hot" right now, especially if they are named and researchable. The most desirable examples have fully painted backs like yours. I think a dealer would probably sell it for ~ $3000-3500 depending on the naming and what else might be with it. It is a very nice jacket.

[BILL THE PATCH]

I've heard horror stories about lending to museum's, be careful.

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[Allan H.]

Kadet gave you a great retail price. If I were insuring it, I would insure it for $5,000 USD.

 

My old neighbor, Bill Dinwiddie was a pilot with the Square J's out of Framlingham. His A-2 is at their museum as well.

 

Allan

[Bellumbill]

Bill -

 

I second that.

 

Best,

Bill K.

[Airborne-Hunter]

In order to insure an individual item like that your insurance company will likely require a written appraisal from a certified appraiser in your state. In my state, California, insurance companies often send appraisers out for classic cars. In this case, they might direct you to a specific business/individual. These people are generally generalists and may not know the true value of an item like this. Personally, I think $3-3500 might is light. I think the likely appraised value would be higher and the replacement value higher than that. I have seen many, many horror stories of families loaning stuff to museums. I know not of the museum you speak, but for flight jackets specifically, I can name at least three instances where the jackets were never returned. I would strongly recommend an insurance policy greater than $5000, likely $7500. I am not certified to appraise. It is better to have more insurance than less. This is my opinion and my opinion is my opinion alone. 

[dmar836]

No other clarification yet but this Perry appears to have had a Pecards treatment or two. May not have just come out of the foot locker let's just say. All may be innocent here but we had an increasing amount of such "inquiries" on VLJ when I was still there. They were one-shot hit and run questions. I'm aware of one that developed into a private sale(cringe) and of one other that I privately got involved with(consulting-wise) and while giving similar advice found about the "museum curator" trying to get a grouping from a family. The actual museum denied his involvement and eventually admitted they had problems with this guy in the past. Basically, he was attempting to build his collection pretending to represent a museum of which he was no part. Apparently, he even used some official paperwork or brochures or such. Needless to say, I heard he was quite upset with me when I set the owners up with the actual museum people. I was glad I did but will never get involved again. There are some people in this hobby that have many qualities. Sometimes honesty is an independent one.  

Not accusing the poster but it does remind me that the day will come when spamming enthusiast sites with pirated pics of harder to find objects will solicit such private deals. Once the payment is made, the Nigerian prince with the rare item is never heard from again.

Sorry to go off topic but this flashed off some of these memories.

Dave 

   

[JDK]

Just my humble opinion, but a original jacket with this kind of artwork would bring 4K all day on the open market and with some provenance and other items potentially more.

Also as mentioned, insure it for at least 5k if not more. Dave brings up some great points as well, have to be careful out there. Fraudulent deals/sellers are becoming more of a regularity.

 

JD

[BigDogMilitaria]

I would contact Jeff at Advance Guard Militaria , I believe he does professional appraisals . 

[Dave]

I agree with the above comments that you should probably check with whomever you have insurance for their requirements relating to appraisals. 

 

For those of us who have collections, there are specific companies that offer coverage for militaria without specific appraisals. The reason they are in business is because most insurance companies require professional appraisals, which require finding someone who is a certified appraiser for the item and then an official document that (from what I've seen in the past) will cost up to something in the realm of 5% of the appraised value. 

 

Unfortunately, I do not know of anyone who is a certified militaria appraiser. I would be quite interested to find out who is considered to be an insurance-company-accepted certified appraiser, who certified them, and their background in certified appraisals.  As Big Dog mentioned above, Jeff might be in that category - not sure of who else.  Would be interesting to know though...

[mohawkALSE]

This seems like a 1 and done post.  Get a value and run.

[sky eagle]

Get an appraisal on the A-2...Should bring a good price...Nice Jacket!

[usaf70]

I would stay away from an appraiser who charges a percentage of the appraised value as a higher

appraisal means more money to the appraiser.

Look for someone who charges a flat fee per item or per hour.

 

USAF70

 

 

[dmar836]

Guys, this appears to have been a low pass to get offers. No responses and I would be interested to look at this jacket a little closer.

Dave

[manayunkman]

They joined the forum in 2018 and make their first post 2 years later.

 

They haven’t checked in to the forum since the 2nd.

[Costa]

you mean a mole??

 

[phantomfixer]

What do you guys think of the jacket?  

I think the left sleeve has been replaced, the stitch count is wrong/odd on the collar..patch on the right shoulder is odd..maybe a post war reunion thing...and the painting/ from the pic is bad...a few more small oddities but she didn't ask for opinions on the jacket...

[dmar836]

Way more questions than answers for me.

Dave

[kammo-man]

It’s treated and lost it’s original look
Sad very sad
Not worth as much as an untouched one


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[Ronnie]

On 6/2/2020 at 8:55 AM, BILL THE PATCH said:

I've heard horror stories about lending to museum's, be careful.

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Agree with Bill. You loan it out and you may never see it again.

Ronnie

[doyler]

Im looking at this from another view...

 

USMF should not be an "appraisal" forum period. From reading this advice and opinions have been given and all are well done but no one here is a certified appraiser. The item isnt in hand to view. Seems there are plenty of places to seek professional appraisals which most large or well established auction house can do. Also anybody who can find USMF can go to ebay and look like every one else does to throw prices around. With Worth Point and other sites there are better places to have appraisals done. As stated it is more common than not that these posts turn into trolling for buyers. What happens if a deal is made and the item isnt even owned by a person who posted it..use a picture of the net.sell the item to a forum member and when it goes south then what ? Not a place here in my opinion to be a appraisal site

 

 

I was never a fan of the "whats it worth" topic here either as it basically was a platform or got "used" by those who didn't have enough posts (or were not of the required age) to sell so they would post the item there to solicit offers and side step the selling rule and required post rules. I can recall a USMC camo with 4th DIv tac mark that ended up being a auction ran by private message and the seller wasnt old enough here to sell at the time.

 

[dmar836]

All true! I’ve been vocal on this before and it happened even more on the VLJ forum.  But there are so many in the world now who call you a rule nazi if you don’t just, and I’ll quote one detractor, “... just give what they asked for!”

Dave 

[Blacksmith]

100% agree Doyler.  And consider the range of valuations in this thread, $3000 to $7500.  What is somebody to do with that, other than the typical - take the highest number.  

 

And these are based off of two pictures?  Nothing of the inside of the jacket, no stitching, no patch close-ups, knits only partially visible, etc?

 

I have asked this question in similar topics in the past, when folks start throwing around retail++ numbers like drunken sailors:  What would YOU actually pay, based on these photos?  Not fantasy price, but actually if you were to get your wallet out.

 

Now, some relief in this particular example, as the request was for insurance replacement value.  And if reality TV has taught us anything, you “shoot the moon” on those. 

 

Bottom line, no insurance company is likely to take an Internet forum printout, with a bunch of estimates from anonymous posters.

 

So kudos to those that recommended certified appraisers.