Bill Shea's WWII Memorabilia Blog RSS

MAX 33 is now in the books! Hard to believe this show has been going on for 33 years. That’s right, and I have made every one. It all started back in St. Louis, then Baltimore which was cool. Since then, we’ve trucked to Monroeville, Charlotte, Indianapolis and now for the 9th year in a row, we are back in Monroeville, PA, which is about 20 miles from Pittsburgh. Before I forget to tell you the 2018 MAX show will definitely be in Monroeville once again. It will be held earlier next year from Thursday September 20th until Saturday September...

LOST FILM - Honolulu August 1945 You might have seen this before but it is worth seeing again especially since the  72nd anniversary is approaching. My thanks go out to Rich Newman et al for reminding me of this great long lost video from August of 1945. This is a great video of a Spontaneous Victory Parade in Honolulu in 1945. Take a look at this video-absolutely fabulous! Notice the cars, jeeps, and youth.  The guys in khaki or gray shirts and black ties are Navy officers or chiefs. The rest are Army or Marine. How young they all were to...

INTRODUCING: Jay Talking, on WBZ 1030 News Radio.   He has a very large listening audience with a late night Podcast.  Bradley Jay sits down with our one and only:  **Bill Shea**  ...collector, dealer, historian, educator.....we could go on and on.....Bradley and Bill talk about history, share some stories, and really get into the guts of Bill's first book. Listen to the broadcast HERE!!  Enjoy!

THE RUPTURED DUCK PHILOSOPHY ON BUYING ITEMS OUTRIGHT/VERSUS CONSIGNMENTS   I do receive numerous requests to take items on consignment.   I turn down 99% of these for the following listed reasons:   1) Consignments come with a number of responsibilities. I prefer owning the items I sell and therefore assume full responsibility for them.   2) Consignments require a separate bookkeeping system and this can become very protracted and drawn out.   3) Consignments make the owner wait for payment, not only after the item is sold but, in many cases, so I’ve been told, months after the item...

The Ruptured Duck Reminisces ***************************************************************************People ask me all the time about how and when my business started and why I have chosen to do this both part and full time for the past 55 years. So, I thought I would share some thoughts with you regarding my background.     When I was a young adolescent, I was always thinking of ways to make money and also feed my multiple habits of collecting coins, baseball cards, comic books, marbles and, of course, militaria. I was always wheeling and dealing with neighborhood kids which made my parents shake their heads and wonder...