Bulldog Memorabilia- What to do? What to do?

[Chicago1]

As you might know, it appears that I will be moving from my bungalow in Keilor East to a retirement village in Melton at the end of the month and am now preparing to downsize radically.

I have a huge box of Bulldog memorabilia that I have collected for over 40 years that I can not take with me. I need advice as to what to do with the stuff. There are things from the 70s, 80s and 90s ranging from old Footy Records to pins to stickers to footy cards to a couple of footy jumpers to a lot of tchotchkes. There are far too many things to list individually at this time. I have no idea as to the value of anything.

I found an unopened Sony Walkman that I had in a box that a friend sold on Facebook Marketplace for me last week since I do not have a Facebook account. I was almost going to give it away but instead made $100 which will go towards moving expenses which I hope selling some of my Bulldogs stuff might help with as well.

Any ideas would be gratefully appreciated.

 

[The Buck]

As you might know, it appears that I will be moving from my bungalow in Keilor East to a retirement village in Melton at the end of the month and am now preparing to downsize radically.

I have a huge box of Bulldog memorabilia that I have collected for over 40 years that I can not take with me. I need advice as to what to do with the stuff. There are things from the 70s, 80s and 90s ranging from old Footy Records to pins to stickers to footy cards to a couple of footy jumpers to a lot of tchotchkes. There are far too many things to list individually at this time. I have no idea as to the value of anything.

I found an unopened Sony Walkman that I had in a box that a friend sold on Facebook Marketplace for me last week since I do not have a Facebook account. I was almost going to give it away but instead made $100 which will go towards moving expenses which I hope selling some of my Bulldogs stuff might help with as well.

Any ideas would be gratefully appreciated.

I think the selling on Facebook Marketplace is a good idea Chicago. A mate of mine sells stacks of stuff on that site and you would be surprised how much he makes. I don't know if you are registered with Ebay but I have seen quite a bit of Bulldog's memorabilia there over the years.

Have you contacted the club and asked them if they would be interested in some of the items? By the sound of it some of your stuff could end up in the club Museum.

If I were you, I'd put together your most cherished items in a bag and store it in a cupboard or wardrobe in your new digs.

Please don't throw anything away, as I'm sure there are plenty of people on this board who would be interested in giving your collection new homes.

 

[footscray1973]

If the footy cards are Scanlens and mid 70s or earlier, they might be worth selling in small lots, but anything later you're probably best bundling it up and selling in one or several large lots, as the 1977-ish to late 80s are not worth the effort relative to potential return. Even then they need to be in really good condition. Same with records, unless they're mid70s or earlier, with the exception of choice finals editions, hard to realise anything significant.

Might be worth using eBay as a price guide, even if you don't sell anything on there, but just be wary of sellers describing tattered/worn/torn/creased items as "rare" or "valuable". I'm a collector (of older cards), not a valuer or trader, so would be loathe to give you a bum steer on actual price ranges, but as a very general guide, you can pick up cards in good condition for roughly these prices (Scanlens, later Select ones are a dime a dozen except for some limited editions with genuine signatures):
1970 set: $20-25 (prices per individual card)
1972: $15-20
1973: $10-15
1974-76: $7-10
1977 onwards: I wouldn't pay over $5-6 each generally

Caveat: some cards carry a premium for certain players, e.g. 1973 Leigh Matthews (mistakenly labelled his 'rookie' card, a term not really used by Aus collectors) can go for $30-50, but many unscrupulous sellers advertise it for up to and over $200, which is just a rip-off. Matthews, Kevin Bartlett, Peter Mckenna and similar seem to have that premium - cards are no rarer, just artificial markups by a-holes trying to inflate prices for their own profit.

The Buck - does FB Marketplace allow for auction sales? (I've never used it). If so, Chicago1 , maybe try and bundle similar items up, and using eBay as a guide, set a minimum starting price you'd be comfortable with.

Just a note on any other items you might have: membership tickets are gaining in collectability, as are club annual reports, so anything 1970s and into early 1980s might be worth listing individually, or in smaller lots, but I don't collect them as I already have my own, so not sure what price ranges they're going for currently.

Sorry, hope that hasn't confused you. Unfortunately I'm no longer metro, so can't help you out directly, I know @jboyar who used to post on here was a big collector. Not sure if he's still around.

Is anyone else on here metro who could give Chicago a hand directly?

 

[Chicago1]

If the footy cards are Scanlens and mid 70s or earlier, they might be worth selling in small lots, but anything later you're probably best bundling it up and selling in one or several large lots, as the 1977-ish to late 80s are not worth the effort relative to potential return. Even then they need to be in really good condition. Same with records, unless they're mid70s or earlier, with the exception of choice finals editions, hard to realise anything significant.

Might be worth using eBay as a price guide, even if you don't sell anything on there, but just be wary of sellers describing tattered/worn/torn/creased items as "rare" or "valuable". I'm a collector (of older cards), not a valuer or trader, so would be loathe to give you a bum steer on actual price ranges, but as a very general guide, you can pick up cards in good condition for roughly these prices (Scanlens, later Select ones are a dime a dozen except for some limited editions with genuine signatures):
1970 set: $20-25 (prices per individual card)
1972: $15-20
1973: $10-15
1974-76: $7-10
1977 onwards: I wouldn't pay over $5-6 each generally

Caveat: some cards carry a premium for certain players, e.g. 1973 Leigh Matthews (mistakenly labelled his 'rookie' card, a term not really used by Aus collectors) can go for $30-50, but many unscrupulous sellers advertise it for up to and over $200, which is just a rip-off. Matthews, Kevin Bartlett, Peter Mckenna and similar seem to have that premium - cards are no rarer, just artificial markups by a-holes trying to inflate prices for their own profit.

The Buck - does FB Marketplace allow for auction sales? (I've never used it). If so, Chicago1 , maybe try and bundle similar items up, and using eBay as a guide, set a minimum starting price you'd be comfortable with.

Just a note on any other items you might have: membership tickets are gaining in collectability, as are club annual reports, so anything 1970s and into early 1980s might be worth listing individually, or in smaller lots, but I don't collect them as I already have my own, so not sure what price ranges they're going for currently.

Sorry, hope that hasn't confused you. Unfortunately I'm no longer metro, so can't help you out directly, I know @jboyar who used to post on here was a big collector. Not sure if he's still around.

Is anyone else on here metro who could give Chicago a hand directly?

Thanks for that. I'll have to look through my stuff and possibly sell it in bundles. I might even have more stuff in other boxes. I do know that I have Chicago Bulls stuff from the 90s too. I found my Bulldog membership tickets from the 70s and 80s. I also have some annual reports that I was just going to throw out. I even found the numbered certificate that I received from the club for contributing to the '89 Fightback. I have it in a frame.

What a day! Going through all of my Bulldogs stuff and then checking my thousand or so pics I took especially at school and school camps in the 90s got to me a bit. I'm throwing away most of my photos. I did find a pic of me in 1971 in Wisconsin. I was 19 and had no idea that I'd be here fifty years later.

 

[footscray1973]

Thanks for that. I'll have to look through my stuff and possibly sell it in bundles. I might even have more stuff in other boxes. I do know that I have Chicago Bulls stuff from the 90s too. I found my Bulldog membership tickets from the 70s and 80s. I also have some annual reports that I was just going to throw out. I even found the numbered certificate that I received from the club for contributing to the '89 Fightback. I have it in a frame.

What a day! Going through all of my Bulldogs stuff and then checking my thousand or so pics I took especially at school and school camps in the 90s got to me a bit. I'm throwing away most of my photos. I did find a pic of me in 1971 in Wisconsin. I was 19 and had no idea that I'd be here fifty years later.

I know it's just adding to your workload, but would your old schools be interested in the photos? Many schools these days have (semi-)dedicated archivists or part-time historians. (Sorry I can't remember, do some of your old schools no longer exist?)

 

[NBates]

Hi Chicago,

Such a shame you have to get rid of your photos, but I will probably find myself in the same position one day.

You might have to go through the collection and pick out any photos that show architecture or landscape of specific places in previous decades.

Had a quick Google & didn't find much, but you could see if any of the following would accept some of your collection:

State Library of Victoria: If you would like to offer collection material to the Library, please complete our online form (you'll need to select open link).

National Library of Australia: Donate pictures - manuscripts

General info: Apart from Libraries, there are many other collecting institutions you may like to consider, such as university archives, performing arts collections, corporate or church archives and museums.
Historical societies worldwide often accept photos, especially if you can provide information about how they came to you. It can be a point of pride for small towns across the U.S., Europe and elsewhere to see how far and wide their native sons and daughters have traveled over the course of generations.

Anyway, you can only ask these orgs. They might be able to suggest other places to ask. Wherever you were in USA might have a library or historical org that might be interested too.

As for the 'Doggies gear, if you don't want to sell people on here might want to grab, but I'd also ask the Club (as someone suggested) as they are meant to have some sort of museum collection and there are other facebook groups specific to Western Bulldogs.

Hope this helps.

 

[The Buck]

@The Buck - does FB Marketplace allow for auction sales? (I've never used it). If so, @Chicago1 , maybe try and bundle similar items up, and using eBay as a guide, set a minimum starting price you'd be comfortable with.

Not sure about auction sales on FB footscray 1973, but I'm sure a bit of Googling would provide some clues.

 

[Timewillcome]

I would list on Facebook (there is a Bulldogs buy and Sell site, jumpers go well on here) and also Gumtree. Ebay is a bit too much trouble to list and can be costly for fees. Easier for people to see pics and instant message on facebook / gumtree. You could maybe advertise a garage sale on a day where people can show up and view the whole collection.

Be prepared to negotiate and bulk sell lots of items so you dont get people just skim the cream and leave you with the rest which is then harder to sell.

Research the stuff you think will be valuable to get an idea so you dont get fleeced. General idea of prices will be the best thing to do prior to trying to sell.

Advertise stuff thats rare but hard to value as best offer, then you can set a date for sale and take offers over that time.

Scanning photos might be a good way to keep the memories and reducing the size needed to store it all.

 

[Chicago1]

Looks like I'm going to take my Bulldogs stuff with me and then look over it more carefully and decide what to do with it.

Just looked up online and my pension has been approved! I was on the phone with a wonderful Centrelink agent for over an hour yesterday who spoke to two people in Claims to see if it could be put on rush since I need it to be approved for my rental retirement village unit in Melton. She was absolutely fantastic.

Now to continue going through more boxes and then getting things packed up for my move

 

[The Buck]

Looks like I'm going to take my Bulldogs stuff with me and then look over it more carefully and decide what to do with it.

Just looked up online and my pension has been approved! I was on the phone with a wonderful Centrelink agent for over an hour yesterday who spoke to two people in Claims to see if it could be put on rush since I need it to be approved for my rental retirement village unit in Melton. She was absolutely fantastic.

Now to continue going through more boxes and then getting things packed up for my move

Slow and steady wins the race mate.

 

[Chicago1]

I went through another couple of boxes today and found more Bulldogs stuff. I did find the envelope that contains most of my membership cards from the 70s/80s. I also found more footy records including my 2016 Grand Final Footy Record unopened in its plastic covering. I also discovered a few Weg GF posters that I had purchased after the match.

I do have some Chicago Cubs shirts, baseball caps, some of which have never been worn, others in good condition that I want to get rid of. I'm not sure but I think I still have more Cubs stuff to find.

I even found my very first Commonwealth Bank Book from Aug 27 1975 with the grand total of AU$481 that I came to Australia with. I actually don't have much more than that now.

 

[The Buck]

I went through another couple of boxes today and found more Bulldogs stuff. I did find the envelope that contains most of my membership cards from the 70s/80s. I also found more footy records including my 2016 Grand Final Footy Record unopened in its plastic covering. I also discovered a few Weg GF posters that I had purchased after the match.

I do have some Chicago Cubs shirts, baseball caps, some of which have never been worn, others in good condition that I want to get rid of. I'm not sure but I think I still have more Cubs stuff to find.

I even found my very first Commonwealth Bank Book from Aug 27 1975 with the grand total of AU$481 that I came to Australia with. I actually don't have much more than that now.

Chicago 1 you are sitting on a little gold mine! Very glad you decided not to get rid of your items because now, you can, at your leisure, sort through and sell your stuff and get, I would imagine, quite a nice wedge out of it.

 

[dogwatch]

I went through another couple of boxes today and found more Bulldogs stuff. I did find the envelope that contains most of my membership cards from the 70s/80s. I also found more footy records including my 2016 Grand Final Footy Record unopened in its plastic covering. I also discovered a few Weg GF posters that I had purchased after the match.

I do have some Chicago Cubs shirts, baseball caps, some of which have never been worn, others in good condition that I want to get rid of. I'm not sure but I think I still have more Cubs stuff to find.

I even found my very first Commonwealth Bank Book from Aug 27 1975 with the grand total of AU$481 that I came to Australia with. I actually don't have much more than that now.

Value of $481 from 1975 to 2021

$481 in 1975 is equivalent in purchasing power to about $3,544.37 today, an increase of $3,063.37 over 46 years. The dollar had an average inflation rate of 4.44% per year between 1975 and today, producing a cumulative price increase of 636.88%.

$481 in 1975 → 2024 | Australia Inflation Calculator

This inflation calculator uses the official Australian consumer price index. An inflation rate of 4.45% per year means $481 in 1975 is worth $4,067.46 in 2024.

www.in2013dollars.com

Nice little earner. But it would still have been better plonking it all on the Dogs to win the flag at 66-1 after Rd 23 in 2016.

 

[Chicago1]

Value of $481 from 1975 to 2021

$481 in 1975 is equivalent in purchasing power to about $3,544.37 today, an increase of $3,063.37 over 46 years. The dollar had an average inflation rate of 4.44% per year between 1975 and today, producing a cumulative price increase of 636.88%.

$481 in 1975 → 2024 | Australia Inflation Calculator

This inflation calculator uses the official Australian consumer price index. An inflation rate of 4.45% per year means $481 in 1975 is worth $4,067.46 in 2024.

www.in2013dollars.com

Nice little earner. But it would still have been better plonking it all on the Dogs to win the flag at 66-1 after Rd 23 in 2016.

I believe that I made about $7000 my first year teaching. My rent for my one bedroom flat in Maribyrnong was $27 a week. I found the receipt from Waltons for my three piece living room set which cost $139. I was rich enough to go to Fiji for ten days for my summer holiday. I had it made, baby! I wonder what happened?

 

[The Buck]

I believe that I made about $7000 my first year teaching. My rent for my one bedroom flat in Maribyrnong was $27 a week. I found the receipt from Waltons for my three piece living room set which cost $139. I was rich enough to go to Fiji for ten days for my summer holiday. I had it made, baby! I wonder what happened?

 

[Chicago1]

Found a bunch of Chicago Bulls stuff from the 90s including caps, shirts(some new) Gameday programs and trading cards mostly of Michael Jordan. I'm going to keep the stuff and look through it more thoroughly after I move. I even have a Spalding basketball signed by my Year 8 class in 1992 which they gave me for my 40th birthday. It is fully inflated after 29 years! How could I throw that away?

 

[dogwatch]

This is titillating. It's like an archaeological dig that we are all able to participate in vicariously.

I look forward to the daily reports of what you'll unearth next.

 

[Chicago1]

More Bulls and other sports stuff including a bunch of MJ and Bulls cards, a myriad of pins and stickers and even the free metal key chain the Bulls were giving away at my very first Bulls game vs the Celtics on Dec 22 1984. That was the only game my dad ever went to. My ticket cost $5.

I thought I had found something special but not really - the program from the Centenary Test in 1977 and a postage stamp pack of the series.

I did find articles from the H/S about Jarrod Molloy and Jimmy Plunkett, former students of mine. I went to the footy with Jarrod at Princes Park - Footscray vs Fitzroy in 1993 and one year later he played his first AFL match for Fitzroy at the same ground and I was there to see it. It was Tim Watson's 300th game. Jimmy didn't live far from me and came over to my place to take care of my cat when I was on school camp or something. I was at Princes Park for Jimmy's first game for us- one of my proudest moments as a Bulldogs member. I last saw him during one of my Melbourne visits at Parade College where he was working at the time. Nicest kid ever and from a great family!

Bob Murphy: Where are they now (Jim Plunkett)

Bob Murphy caught up with Jim Plunkett ahead of our Sunday clash with Carlton.

www.westernbulldogs.com.au

 

[Chicago1]

Today I found the ultimate - A bottle of Footscray Centenary Vintage Port - 1983 - that I had saved to celebrate our next Premiership. I had it all wrapped up in a box containing my Cubs stuff with my Cubs jacket as a cushion.

Would it be still drinkable? I wonder if the club would like it.

 

[Jeff 1975]

Today I found the ultimate - A bottle of Footscray Centenary Vintage Port - 1983 - that I had saved to celebrate our next Premiership. I had it all wrapped up in a box containing my Cubs stuff with my Cubs jacket as a cushion.

Would it be still drinkable? I wonder if the club would like it.

Welcome to 'Thoroughbred Country'

I'm guessing your bottle looks like this
Haven't opened mine yet




If I should be so bold to ask a question, Teacher, American, early 70s
Where you part of the recruitment drive for Teachers from the US to Aus in the early 70s?

I was at STS in the early 70s and we had one
A PE Teacher
He had a little trouble with the Aussie lingo, otherwise a great bloke

Good luck with the move

 

[Chicago1]

Welcome to 'Thoroughbred Country'

I'm guessing your bottle looks like this
Haven't opened mine yet

View attachment 1287803 View attachment 1287804


If I should be so bold to ask a question, Teacher, American, early 70s
Where you part of the recruitment drive for Teachers from the US to Aus in the early 70s?

I was at STS in the early 70s and we had one
A PE Teacher
He had a little trouble with the Aussie lingo, otherwise a great bloke

Good luck with the move

That's the bottle, except that the label has become unglued.

And yes I am one of the recruited American teachers - Class of Aug 1975. We had seven at our school at one time in 1976(Avondale High School) We were a staff voting block! I found my acceptance letter this week.