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Should I sell reproduction WWII paperwork?

Weston

A-List Customer
Messages
303
Hey all.

Before my shift into the ministry and the education there, I was a graphic designer. I've inherited a fairly massive amount of WWII era paperwork, from ID cards to ration books to all kinds of stuff. I see from some websites that people are selling repro paperwork at a decent price. Seeing as I'm in debt for two educations, should I do this? I don't need to examine the ethics of the thing, just whether or not this would have enough customers to be worthwhile. I also have a 50's era typewriter I could use to fill out parts of them too.

Is there a market for these things?
 

KilroyCD

One Too Many
Messages
1,966
Location
Lancaster County, PA
Yes, there is a market, but...

There is a definite market with reenactors for quality reproductions, but there is also a large amount of repro paperwork out there that is available for free. Or should I say the pdf files for reproducing them with one's computer are free.
So while I say there is a market, you would have to do your research and either find something that is not already out there, or produce a very high quality reproduction of the original.
ID cards may well be a good place to start, as many reenactors strive for that extra bit of authenticity (Your papers, please?). However, unless the ration books you have to use as patterns are unissed, I'd say pass on those. There are just way too many originals left, but the vast majority of them are missing many or most of the ration coupons. To have an unissued one to repro would be great, but the number of Homefront reenactors out there is not as large as the number of military reenactors. You would be appealing to a smaller audience.
By chance is any of the paperwork you have Civil Defense related? I ask that for two reasons. My living history "persona" is an Air Raid Warden, and I am a member of a living history group that specializes in Civilian Defense impressions. The other reason I ask is that Civil Defense is one area generally not covered by the other people offering repros, and one look on eBay shows it's a category that is increasing in collector popularity.
 

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