Quote Originally Posted by 30Three View Post
For some of us; collecting can be a bit like chasing the horizon! The things that you really would love to own one day are always just out of reach.
The "Money" factor is important; as a lot of people today only ever think of money above all else. I have a perfect example of this last year.
This actaully start's about 4 years ago; I was told of a WW2 willy's Jeep that was part of a collection; the owner had died and the son who inherited it was going bankrupt. the guy who told me about it was helping with the estate sale.
He also did work for my boss occasionally; which is how I knew him. So every time I saw him I'd ask when the auction for the estate was going to be on.
Then covid turns up and I don't see him for 6 months; when I ask about the Jeep, he looks rather embarrased and say's it's sold! I ask why he didn't tell me about the auction; replies it didn't go to auction, it was sold privately.
He then admitted that it was my Boss who bought it. I was a bit ****ed off to be honest. So I go and see my boss and ask if he'll sell it to me; explaing that I'd been chasing it for 2 years. No he didn't want to sell it. Stuck it in a lock up and it stayed there not turning a wheel until now.
My boss died of Covid in May 2021. So in summer I spoke to his wife and said asked if I could buy it. She has inherited a large collection of Aston Martin's worth probably over 5 million Euro's plus the business, so she's not short of a penny.
I offered what was a couple of thousand more than what my boss paid, which is what I could afford. Initially she agreed, saying it would have to wait because the inhertance was being sorted. No problem, I asked her to let me know when, as I could wait no problem.
So last October she starts selling some of the Aston's; so I go and ask if I can now buy the Jeep. The reply "No it's worth far more than we bought it for so I can't let it go at that price. It's worth double and I need the cash flow!" "It's going to Auction with some of the Astons".
I've worked my gut's out for over 16 years for these people! I was hoping to have the opportunity to enjoy driving the Jeep with my daughter. but now it'll end up in some rich guy's collection gathering dust.
She's also selling the company; which I'm hoping will be a good thing; because I'm done.
The other side of it is I personally have been burned by doing someone a favour just for them to take advantage of it. I remember selling one rifle to this one guy who was very interested in it. He didn't have much for funds but it was the same time of rifle his family used back in WWI and was very interested in the history of it so I sold it for what I had in it (even though the price had gone up significantly). Not even two weeks later he had it up for sale for twice what I sold it to him for. Leaves a bitter taste in your mouth afterwards.