Antiques As The New Retirement Portfolio

Antiqueswest had the distinct pleasure of meeting a fellow collector in the Phoenix, Arizona area recently who wished to speak with us about consigning his considerable collection of militaria.

A somewhat nondescript (but lovely) home in a Phoenix suburb was the scene. Upon entering, there wasn't anything older than about 15 years to be scene and I'll confess to misgivings. The (lovely) lady of the house offered food and drink but it was some time before the man of the house made an appearance, not saying much and looking me over.

It was not the first time this has happened so I let him look. Pretty soon things got down to business and he gestured for me to follow him. We took a few twists and turns and ended up in his War Room - the place in the house most men we know make their own, sometimes called "The Boys Club," or "No Girls Allowed."

For a collector, stepping into his world and seeing walls filled with artifacts and weaponry patiently collected over decades and lovingly cared for during all that time, the moment was a lot like peering directly into the man's soul.

"Well, this is it," he said simply. "My pension."

"Beautiful," I said, and meaning it.

After years of collecting Mr. X is finally prepared to sell, hoping for enough to "see us through retirement and on into old age."

Looking at his room and doing the mental math only one answer came to mind: "No problem there," I breathed.

It's not the first room we've entered like that, won't be the last, but in this age of dodgy economics, subterranean bank rates and negligible returns, more and more people are choosing to surround themselves with the things they love with a mind to selling off when the time is right.

"I am," Mr. X said. "Sitting on my pension. The only thing is I got to have it around me to enjoy all those years."

With antique guns and other choice militaria holding steadily at about 17 percent annual return and antique car sales reaping huge rewards for owners, it's easy to see why people are turning to investment-grade antiques to use as a hedge against inflation.

Tom Hartley, a UK dealer in exotic cars, says that the market is chilli-pepper hot. "In the last three days I've sold three Ferrari 458s at £50k over list, and the phone hasn't stopped ringing.

"These are new buyers with cash to spare, who know they can own a supercar for two or three years and make £200k profit tax-free.

"Leaving their money in the bank and getting one per cent interest is plain reckless."

When leaving money in the bank is referred to as "reckless" and folks are making money on collections they have amassed and kept in their homes or garages, you'll agree there's a sea change afoot in the way people are planning for their retirement day. We're seeing more evidence of this every day.

Antique Cars A Good Investment? Yep, If It's A Ferrari

"Cool As Steve McQueen" - His Bikes Sell For Big Bucks

What recession?

A sale of various old motorcycles - everything from a 1950 Vincent White Shadow to the crotch rockets actor Steve McQueen liked to tool around on - went under the hammer over the weekend in our famed Carmel Valley.

Next time you look at the old rusting, leaking hunk of iron you have left sitting in your garage since 1972 consider this - the sale brought in nearly a million in proceeds for those lucky enough to have owned some of the fastest metal around.

The Series C. White Shadow fell under the hammer at $111,150. And someone shelled out $166,000 for two of the perpetually cool actor's bikes as well as his driver's licenese. Hey, I got an old California license right here I'll sell ya...

A bidder paid $84,240 for McQueen's 1963 Triumph Bonneville "desert sled," a bike built by Bud Ekins, a motorcycle racer and friend of the actor best remembered for his iconic barbed wire jump in "The Great Escape."

Another Triumph, not for sale on Saturday, was gussied up to look like a World War II vintage motor and used in the chase and jump sequence... which Ekins made while McQueen did the closeup work.

Dumb and Dumber Destroy Fifteen Antique Vehicles

You hear about this from time to time, a couple of miscreants get together and pool what limited mental resources they have and set out to destroy something nice.

In Mountainboro, AL, two kids ages 11 and 13 admitted to setting a fire at a local storage facility that gutted fifteen antique cars and motorcycles.

The "children" told an investigator they smashed windows on all the vehicles and set one on fire. The flames gutted the building and the vehicles that included cars, a truck and a motorcycle.

Each boy was also charged with criminal mischief and burglary.

No motive was given, but criminal stupidity comes to mind. We harken back several years ago when a couple of real low-life graffiti scribblers jumped the fences of a storage yard in San Francisco and proceeded to deface some antique and historic railcars. Damage: $100,000. Penalty: Slap on the wrist.

These stories hurt in several ways, but mainly because we love these things and don't like to see them destroyed or damaged.