Donating Your Grandma’s Pooh Bear Collection

It seems like the love of collecting may have become an activity of yesterday.  It used to be that you couldn’t walk into someone’s Hopedale house and not find Precious Moments, Snowglobes or a Winnie the Pooh collection.

Hopedale baby-boomers took seriously collecting stuff.  The trend today is to be a minimalist.

So when you’re ready to downsize or sadly when a collector relative dies where do you go with their Precious Moments, Paper Weights or Winnie the Pooh collectibles?

Selling Pooh Bear Items

You could try to sell the Winnie the Pooh Collection online.  Some of the hurdles you might face when selling online include: setting up a payment account, writing attractive listing descriptions, figuring out postage, packaging materials and weighing each item, answering question messages from potential buyers, dealing with returns on damaged items, etc. 

Also, figuring out pricing can be challenging.  Grandmother may have paid $70 for an item but the online going rate is only $2.79.  You need to ask yourself the question “is my time worth just a few dollars”?  Online selling can take a lot of time.

Donate Winnie the Pooh Items

You can give it to a place like a Hopedale Salvation Army.  They will take it.  However, some people struggle with the thought of their Great Aunt’s well cared-for items being separated and sold for .99 cents.  The plush could become a dog toy.

You could donate any plush to a Hopedale children’s place.  However, many places only want items that are new, in the original boxes and are 5 years old or newer.  Plus, your Mom really took care of the plush and displayed them.  Some people have a hard time with a plush collectible becoming a plush child toy. 

Donate Your Great Aunt’s Pooh Bear Items to the Guinness World Record Largest Pooh Collection & Make It Part of History

Many times I have been approached by family members and asked if they can donate and if I will take Pooh Bear Items. 

My answer is yes!  I am always honored and humbled to – in my words – “to take care of their collection”. 

If I am talking to the Hopedale  collector and owner I let them know which numbers their items will be in the Guinness World Record Largest Pooh Collection.  Their collection becomes part of history vs. being sold for a buck at a rummage sale.  I let them know I will showcase their donated collection along with mine.  I consider their items as THEIR collection in my database.

When someone donates Pooh Items I think it makes people feel better which I am happy for.  Letting go of “things” can be hard for a collector and owners and even sometimes for relatives.  As much as we don’t want to be labeled as “materialistic” – things we buy and collect can have sentimental attachments and it’s those feelings that we are attached to probably more than the items.  People remember where they were when they received an item, who they were with or even where in their life cycle they were.  They don’t want those memories to vanish with the collection.  You can put a price tag on a plush or poster but you can’t put a value on happiness.

By donating Pooh Bear Items to the Guinness World Record Pooh Collection the collection stays entact and the memories are still there too.  In fact, if the collector wants, they can even visit their items when traveling from Hopedale to WI. 

If you have a collection of Pooh Bear items to donate, feel free to reach out to me and we can coordinate adding your Grandma’s Winnie the Pooh Collectibles to history and the Winnie the Pooh Museum.

Deb Hoffmann - 414-708-0633

Deb@MostPooh.com