Need some opin ions here from Mil and non-militaria collectors.

As the prices for even mundane militaria is sky-rocketing through the roof-and as I don't have enough funds to spare to collect everything, lately I have been thinking of down-sizing my collecting interests to only German Army stuff. So this means that I am thinking of getting rid of all of my Luftwaffe, Kriegsmarine and Waffen SS stuff.

Some items that if I decide to sell/trade off-are:

A mint pair of SS Obersturmbannfuhrer Panzer Shoulderboards.
A mint pair of SS Sturmbannfuhrer Feldgendarmerie Boards.
A mint pait of SS Untersturmfuhrer Panzer Boards.
A mint Dachau made SS Nordland Collartab.
A mint SS Sturmbrigade Langemarck collartab (also made at Dachau)
A what-used to be mint SS Signalers Sleeve Diamond-no thanks to some frigging bug that got to it.Luckily the damage was not great and doesn't detract the diamond..

Two pair of Luftwaffe Hauptmanns collartabs for Flak Arty and Signals. I already got rid of all my Luft boards about a year ago.
Also if I sell my Luft, I will also sell the following badges:
Luft Ground Assault badge-maker-marked.
Luft Flak Arty badge-also maker-marked.
Early War Luft Pilots Badge-made by Assmann-is in mint/n/m condition and made of nickel-silver.

Kriegsmarine items will be:
Destroyer War Badge made by Friedrich Orth-is an early war badge and is in n/m condition still retaining all of the wreaths golden paint.
Uboat War Badge-made I think by L/57??? which is in mint condition minus its "frost".
The two minty sets of Boards I have left are already promised to a gent from N/Z-if he still wants them?These are NCOs boards w/ metal insignia and buttons-and a minty pair of Korvetten Kapitan boards. Oh and I forgot, w/ these willl also go my EK1 which is marked either L/19 or L/21-I forget which? This is one of those EK 1s with the Brass Cores-and some people say these allegedly were made w/ brass so they could be awarded only to KM personel-instead of the regular Iron center.

My question to any who wishes to volunteer advice is-should I keep all this stuff anyway? or should I get rid of it?

Thanks in advance for any replies--Best regards--Me.

 

Hi Carl, if you are anything like me you collect things over the years(for me it's books) and every now and again you have a clearout and get rid of that something that was not quite as intresting as you first thought, and you eventually reach a point in time where you buy less but you buy carefully, you may spend a bit more on that one item but you may have been after that one item for some 5-10 years so you know you have waited and the price is right.So the question is do you want to sell, do the items fall into the areas I have mentioned and once you decide the answer you can be happy with your lot or clear the decks somewhat and concentrate on the one subject.Hope this helps

 

Hi Jason, your advice certainly helps. I've thought about much of what you said-especially the part of where I would like to see my go? Most of my things are Army related and I figure I should just stick with that. Same goes for books-only ground action is for me for now-especially anything dealing with the War on the Eastern Front-and specifically-about Stalingrad, Kursk, the initial drive towards Moscow, the Dnieper battles, Kharkov and finally anything to do with the Crimea and Army Group Center.

Your right though-I might just hold on to all the other things though no plans anytime in the near future of me obtaining more for those branches of service-but i'l still look for photos of significance.

Take care MAte--C.

 

Keep your stuff, you have a nice collection of items there! I wouldn't mind having your items in my collection! I'd just stick to German Militaria and try not get into any other country too much. It's good to have "sub collections" if you know what I mean. You could always focus mainly on the army and keep the other 3 as smaller collections.

But for now, keep it! And I agree, sell it only if you lose your interest.

 

Carl,

Just a suggestion: you might contact the D-Day Museum in New Orleans (I believe they are now the National WWII Museum) to see if they might be interested in accepting your "surplus" items? (And there might be a tax break as well this way)

Best regards,
- JR

 

I would keep them until the interest of those items bore you. I have the same problem. I have stuff from across the board in the German realm, Yet as wtid45 said "you eventually reach a point in time where you buy less but you buy carefully".

 

Don't sell your Lw Items Carl, I'd gladly make an arrangmement with you to get those shoulder tabs and badges.

 

Indeed, you´d be sorry later on if you got rid of those. But in case you decide to get rid of them I might be interested in some items.But if you ask me, I say keep ´em!!

 

Maybe ask yourself do you really need the moneis that badly ? specializing is the way to go as there is so much out there, the museum can grow like leaps and bounds with no end in sight, maybe this is what you and the forum members want but not sure. speaking of one whose interest is really in just 2 German related fields I would say stick with your Army interests via militaria-medals, books, photos ...........

hey you in the corner put that rock down !

 

I'd say keep, keep, keep. It'll only be worth more, perhaps consider trading them when you do come across something you really want but can't truly afford.

 

Your choice Carl, make sure it is the right one.
Am willing to get the Navy items of you, but you need to be sure.

Downsize is good idea, like I did, got rid of most non related navy items and just stick with that. Indeed prices are insane.

Someone needs some good thinking time

Herr

 

Thanks Deng,and for the nice compliments ;-)) I think I kinda already unofficially moved to only Army items. The exception will be photographs and helmets. If I do get rid of those other items--i'll make sure you and Herr know-at least for the KM stuff.

I might have sound someone I can trade my SS stuff for-who has an apple-green double decal M-35 SS helmet. My insignia is worth more than his pot-but i'd gladly trade even-steven for the lid.

 

Hi JR,i've gone that route before too-with the CCMuseum of Science and History-as well as the Lexington Museum-of all things ;-)) I retty much doubt i'll donate any of this stuff to either museum because most things never see the light of day.

Ive never dealt with the D-Day Museum and probably never will because I was told by the HC curator "Don" that he had seen them sell things not theirs that the CC Museum now has sitting in one of the storage cabinets in the HC collections warehouse including a lot of donated items--including items that a now in the history collections at the CC museum. Reason I know about this is because I was the person responsible for cataloging and logging in all the info-plus anything else I could tellabout the items.

 

Thank you both Jag/Skipper.

Skipper,if I do get rid ofmy LW badges-you and E have first dibs. I already got rid of all m y Luft boads in a trade/sell about a year ago. The Luftschutz helm is yours and I might let go of the Hptms tabs sets.

Kai, most certainly i'll holda few things for you as well. As a matter of fact, I have a few signed LW RKT pics left including Erich Hartmann, Martin Drewes, Victor Vitali (FchJgr) Karl-Bohm Tettlebach-signed card which came w/ pic of him and Adolf Galland in it smoking a cigar-and also has Tettlebachs youngerBrother in it. I also have either one or two Galland signed pics.

Thanks E, I could just keep them but,im not really too keen on the items and not really needingmoney-though more would help '-)) Since Army is where my interest lays--that's the main direction for me. I haven't addednew LW badges to the collection for about 2-1/2 years-nothing to the KM collection in for about 7 years, and nothing new to the W-SS collection in over 10 years. This of course is with the exception of photos I have picked up here and there. Im also now back into collecting photos and have six more on the way-and some probables.

Hi Wot/Herr.

Wot--I would but for me the stuff is taking up toomuch space-space needed for Army items ;-)) Im just getting a bit tired of sifting through alot of stuff that barely holds any interest for me. I still like the items but??? if you knw what I mean? Kind of like gooing through all of your books and getting rid of some you rarely even notice anymore. The hardest part for me will be getting rid of the badges.

Hi Herr,you got dibs on some of the KM stuff if it goes - nothings going anywhere soon. The last significant itemI got rid of went in a trade very recently. I got rid of that Luftwafe Officers Car Pennant I had that I got from Frank. I only bought from him mainly to have something I could use for tradng purposes. Imgetting an East Front Sergeants badges and docs for it. ;-))

Anyway,I will not need to advertise anything if or when I decide to sell-i'll ask you guys first.

One thing I might do soon is to get rid of some LW pics I have and no longe r want.