FAQ

Q: How many auction events will there be?

A: This will be a multiyear process, and there may be as many as four or five auction events. All live selling events will take place in Elizabethtown at the Schmidt Museum. To be sensitive to others who sell collectibles, we don’t want to put too many items on the market at the same time.

Q: Where will the proceeds from the auction go?

A: The Schmidt family is setting up a foundation. The vast majority of the funds from sales will be used for benevolent purposes.

Q: What charities will be helped by the foundation?

A: Once the foundation is established and a board appointed, guidelines will be created for how funds will be distributed. It is likely the foundation will benefit both local and national charities.

Q: How many pieces are in the collection, and what is it worth?

A: The Schmidt Museum houses the largest privately owned collection of Coca-Cola memorabilia. There are some 80,000 pieces valued at approximately $10 million.

Q: What are the most-sought-after pieces?

A: The museum is filled with original work, and much of it is extremely rare. The most sought after will depend on each collector’s personal passion, whether it’s trays, bottles, vending machines, posters, calendars, clocks, etc.

Q: Why have you closed the museum?

A: The museum has accomplished all that it intended. To keep the memorabilia alive, it’s time to allow others the opportunity to collect it. Bill Schmidt was the driving force behind the collection, and, with his passing in 2007, the legacy he created can now be better utilized by establishing a foundation that will dispense funds from the collection for philanthropic purposes.

Q: What will you do with the building?

A: Short term the building will continue to house items from the collection as they are photographed, cataloged and priced for sale. Long term the building will be leased once the sale of all 80,000 items is complete.

Q: How many visitors have been to the museum?

A: Over the years, the museum has been a great success, attracting more than one million visitors ranging from avid collectors to people simply curious to see all the Coca-Cola items produced during more than a century.