After failing to attract enough visitors to keep it afloat, the Normandy Tank Museum has decided to sell of its entire collection of tanks, military vehicles, trucks, aircraft, and motorcycles in an auction next month.
There will be more than 40 tanks for sale, some of which have been restored to working order, and some that were used on D-Day during World War II, Bloomberg reports.
The auction on Sept. 18 will be run by a Paris-based luxury auction house, only a few miles from the beach where Allied forces landed on D-Day, before going on to liberate northwestern Europe from the Germans. Also for sale will be other vehicles, as well as dozens of mannequins decked out in battle dress.
The museum opened in 2013, supplied largely by the private collection of the founder’s father, who started collecting WWII armored vehicles in the 1980s.
“We thought the museum would attract more people,” the museum’s co-founder Stephane Nerrant told Bloomberg. “The terrorist attacks had a considerable impact on visitor attendance,” he said, without providing specific numbers.
So how much will a wartime tank set you back? The estimated price for a 1944 M4 Sherman tank — the most produced American tank during WWII — is about €250,000 to €400,000, or around $280,000 to $450,000.
This French Museum Can Sell You a Genuine D-Day Tank [Bloomberg]
by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist
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