How much it would cost to replace your little lead warriors? A post on one of the 6mm wargaming forums on Facebook got me to wondering. A lady had come into possession of a wargames collection which had belong to a family member who had died. She was asking for help in identifying what she had, and advice on disposing of the collection. There seemed to be a lot of old school stuff including Heroics & Ros micro armour, unbuilt 1/72nd scale plastic kits from the 1980s and 90's and some figures that could have been Hinchcliffe although I couldn't be sure. There was a lot of stuff there, some painted and some unpainted and it got me thinking. What will happen to my collection once I have gone, will Mrs E be in the same boat as that poor lady, not knowing what the stuff is or whether it has any value.
That brought me around to wondering what if it was lost or stolen or God forbid melted in a fire!!! How would I go about convincing an insurance assessor of the replacement value of my collection? I messaged Daniel Hodgson of Reveille painting service for an estimate of the cost of painting and basing 6mm figures and set to work with the old spreadsheeting software. The result for just my Ancients and Dark Ages to replace like with like is over £2,000. Significant enough to need a separate entry on our house insurance. Mrs E didn't seem surprised, maybe I'm not as good at smuggling packages into the house as I thought!
I haven't started on the 6mm buildings and scenics or the ECW figures or the WW1 aircraft or the WW2 tanks and infantry and............it certainly mounts up quickly doesn't it! I don't think I have a lot of figures compared to most gamers of my age so what would it cost to replace your toys?
Ah now you’ve got me thinking. Gut reaction is not much in my case but when I start thinking about it it might nudge the named item threshold on insurance.
ReplyDeleteWell I guess there's the physical value of each item purchased, plus the associated costs of painting basing etc - set against what it's worth to anyone else. In my case I've already written off the cost (it's something I spent money on and enjoysed myself fiddling around with) but there's no one else I know who'd place any real value on any of it. They can stick 'em all in the same box as me when I've snuffed it! That'll confuse some future time team when they dig me up!
ReplyDeleteThe main cost was that of painting and basing the figures rather than that of buying the materials. Although I probably have around £80 or £90 in paints and another £20 or £30 in brushes and modelling materials.
ReplyDeleteDaniel thought I should be estimating 60p per foot figure and £1.20 per cavalry figure for painting and basing.
There appears to be some truth in the old joke about "I hope my wife doesn't sell my collection for what I told her it cost". It seems most of us undervalue our time and ability with a paint brush.