Audie Murphy plane crash??

Redhand · 08-23-2010, 10:51 PM

This is going to be a little morbid but I was asked to appraise some antiques today. In the collection I discovered some remanents of molten metal and a section of an airplane body that was reportly recovered from the plane crash site where Audie Murphy's death occurred. This is in a collection of stuff of a reputable man. I felt like I had stepped back in history looking at it. I felt emotional looking at it and felt as if I was looking at a part of the final minutes of a real Hero. Anyway the woman for whom I was appraising it for wanted to know if I knew what it might be worth. I'm at a loss to give her any kind of response. I know it's somewhat morbid but after all antiques for the most part are dead peoples stuff but would anyone want to venture a quesstimate or even postulate if there would be an interest in it? Thanks, Sorry there was nothing else there in terms of militaria.

RJay · 08-23-2010, 11:05 PM

Not unless there was some solid proof that it was indeed from that particular aircraft. Other wise, I'm sorry to say, it is just a story.

Redhand · 08-23-2010, 11:20 PM

I believe that this could in fact be documented. The location of this area where these artfacts are is only about 3 miles from the actual site.

muddober · 08-24-2010, 08:01 AM

Redhand, please let me start off by stating I am constantly amazed at what people will collect. Taking nothing away from Audie Murphy or you, to me it would just be so much scrap. But as you stated you were obviously moved by being in the presents of these items, meaning they meant something to you. The first question now is how much would you or someone else be willing to pay to own (to be moved) what you perceive to be a part of something, history, whatever. The second question is how much is someone willing to accept to no longer be in the possession of these things. It is somewhat like the stock market, you have one guy selling because he thinks the stock is going down in value and you have another guy buying it because he thinks it going up in value, all meaning really nothing to its real value if even anything.

This is probably more than you want to know but back in 2000 there was a company that went public called Commerce One (CMRC), that had less than 100 employees, it owned no real estate, it had no machinery and even its computers were just leased. It had no real revenues but rather just projected revenues and on a given day as I recall it had a market cap of 37 billion dollars. On that same day General Motors had a market cap of 34 billion dollars. To those who do not know what market cap means; market cap is the amount of money that people have paid to purchase and own the stock in a particular company instead of holding their cash. That fever, fervor, emotional movement, greed, flash in the pan or what ever you want to call it, to me could only be best described by the word insanity. The company went broke and that 37 billion dollars was lost by various individuals, retirement and mutual funds all over the world but not before lining the pockets of some of its originators like Merrill Lynch who brought the company public and pimped its stock.

I guess the bottom line to all of this if you can get someone to market this scrap someone will buy it. And I just had nothing better to do than to write this at 4:am after being awoken by a dam coyote who got the neighbors cat from my front porch at about 3:am.

Ron

Redhand · 08-24-2010, 12:32 PM

Thanks fella's for the insight. I'm just doing this for a friend, I don't stand to receive any material gain from it. I do know that after attending many auction's and seeing people pay enormous sums for what I would consider junk, nothing surprizes me. This material is probably documented in photo's of the actually crash and to me that maybe of some value to a person who collects that type of artifact.

08-23-2010, 10:51 PM	#1
Redhand Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2009 Posts: 605	Audie Murphy plane crash?? This is going to be a little morbid but I was asked to appraise some antiques today. In the collection I discovered some remanents of molten metal and a section of an airplane body that was reportly recovered from the plane crash site where Audie Murphy's death occurred. This is in a collection of stuff of a reputable man. I felt like I had stepped back in history looking at it. I felt emotional looking at it and felt as if I was looking at a part of the final minutes of a real Hero. Anyway the woman for whom I was appraising it for wanted to know if I knew what it might be worth. I'm at a loss to give her any kind of response. I know it's somewhat morbid but after all antiques for the most part are dead peoples stuff but would anyone want to venture a quesstimate or even postulate if there would be an interest in it? Thanks, Sorry there was nothing else there in terms of militaria. -->

08-23-2010, 11:05 PM	#2
RJay Advanced Senior Member Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Arizona Posts: 3,485	Re: Audie Murphy plane crash?? Not unless there was some solid proof that it was indeed from that particular aircraft. Other wise, I'm sorry to say, it is just a story. __________________ RonJames

08-23-2010, 11:20 PM	#3
Redhand Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2009 Posts: 605	Re: Audie Murphy plane crash?? I believe that this could in fact be documented. The location of this area where these artfacts are is only about 3 miles from the actual site.

08-24-2010, 08:01 AM	#4
muddober Advanced Senior Member Join Date: Sep 2008 Posts: 1,436	Re: Audie Murphy plane crash?? Redhand, please let me start off by stating I am constantly amazed at what people will collect. Taking nothing away from Audie Murphy or you, to me it would just be so much scrap. But as you stated you were obviously moved by being in the presents of these items, meaning they meant something to you. The first question now is how much would you or someone else be willing to pay to own (to be moved) what you perceive to be a part of something, history, whatever. The second question is how much is someone willing to accept to no longer be in the possession of these things. It is somewhat like the stock market, you have one guy selling because he thinks the stock is going down in value and you have another guy buying it because he thinks it going up in value, all meaning really nothing to its real value if even anything. This is probably more than you want to know but back in 2000 there was a company that went public called Commerce One (CMRC), that had less than 100 employees, it owned no real estate, it had no machinery and even its computers were just leased. It had no real revenues but rather just projected revenues and on a given day as I recall it had a market cap of 37 billion dollars. On that same day General Motors had a market cap of 34 billion dollars. To those who do not know what market cap means; market cap is the amount of money that people have paid to purchase and own the stock in a particular company instead of holding their cash. That fever, fervor, emotional movement, greed, flash in the pan or what ever you want to call it, to me could only be best described by the word insanity. The company went broke and that 37 billion dollars was lost by various individuals, retirement and mutual funds all over the world but not before lining the pockets of some of its originators like Merrill Lynch who brought the company public and pimped its stock. I guess the bottom line to all of this if you can get someone to market this scrap someone will buy it. And I just had nothing better to do than to write this at 4:am after being awoken by a dam coyote who got the neighbors cat from my front porch at about 3:am. Ron Last edited by muddober; 08-24-2010 at 08:04 AM..

08-24-2010, 12:32 PM	#5
Redhand Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2009 Posts: 605	Re: Audie Murphy plane crash?? Thanks fella's for the insight. I'm just doing this for a friend, I don't stand to receive any material gain from it. I do know that after attending many auction's and seeing people pay enormous sums for what I would consider junk, nothing surprizes me. This material is probably documented in photo's of the actually crash and to me that maybe of some value to a person who collects that type of artifact.