Opinions on Militaria Dealers thread.

Thanks to a link to a series of threads that Hucks kindly posted-that has to do with many militaria dealers listed-most I have bought from and or at least heard about. I thought that since there have been many requests from people here in the past few months-that we can give our opinions on these dealers. Im not starting this thread to bash or praise any of the dealers who will be mentioned-merely as a "tool" to help those out who are not "in-the-know" and don't know who to buy from. I'll start the ball rolling with: The Collectors Guild.

I have known of and have visited their easy to navigate site for years. do know that they do their best to have quality items for sale. My only problem with their offerings is that I feel that most of the prices are somewhat to way too high. However, if money is not a concern to you--you will be safe in dealing with Whammond and his staff. I have never purchased anything from them and don't know if I ever will simply because there is simply just too much stuff available out there and im always finding pretty good deals on things elsewhere. I would add that I would like to eventually buy something from them, but if that ever happens? I do not know?

The Collector's Guild

 

Hello Carl,

I believe this to be a very good idea and a contributing thread.

I did a fast check on WWI stuff since I wouldn't know rats about WWII

My reaction to you Carl would be:

Can we start a WWI medall and Helmet business in the US as fast as possible?
Good God - the Medals are 3 times the price as in Germany, Helmets are about double.

I am awaiting your cheque - ahh... cash prefered though
Regards
Andy

 

Hi Andy, sure thing. All I need I to get my hands on the original machinery that made M-35s on which are still being used in Chile-to make EXACT and real-production of M-35s-of the favored style you guys used to produce and that all collectors love so well-that is--outside of Pichelhaubes :-D Seriously though, if we had that machinery-we'd make a bundle of $$$$$$ very quickly.

Ill continue the thread and post about one of my favorite dealers to buy from. They are the ones I got my Generalmajors shoulderboards from about a year ago ;-))

 

Here is one of my favorite dealers to buy from. I do so only on occasion because they sell out of most of their wares-almost instantly, and are as popular as Detlev Niemann is and has been for a decade now with the feeding frenzy of all of the collector 's out there. ;-))

Black Cross Military Collectibles, Militaria For Sale, German WWII, Reproduction Military collectibles, Military Antiques, Militaria Antiques

I have dealt with both Alden and Janet (mostly with Janet) Hamilton over the years and have bought many great items from over the years including that 7-place ribbonbar that as reearch had been done on it years ago by a knowledgable collector--tthis ribbonbar was proven to have been once the property of the Grand Duke of Mecklinburg/Schwerin: Franz-Friedrich von Grossherzog the IVth.

Janet is very knowledgable on the items they get and will take all the time necessary to help a customer out if she can. Now, some of their prices on some items can be a bit high-but most of the time not near as high as some favored German, British and other American dealers can be, and sometimes you can get great bargains too. I got my near mint unissued Gen.maj's boards for what I thought was actually a tad underpriced but greatful I didn't have to pay more for these.

Anyway, the last several great scores I got from them-speaking of just this year alone) was another Silver Infantry Assault Badge, another General Assault Badge, some collartabs, a pair of shoulderboards, an E/Front Medal and a beautiful example of a near to mint War Service Cross 2nd class. I also bought some WWII American stuff-which I also thought was nicely priced and great samples-but can't count them as mine because they reside in a site Moderators collection now ;-))

To finish on BCMC--yes they in the past have sold items that were repo but not aware of it. It happened to me with them but it took about 5 years after I bought the item, to find out it was not period produced even if everything on it used in its construction-was the real deal. I brought it to their attention--not intending on asking for an exchange-especially since it happened so long before-and I had given it to a friend for use on one of his Tunics. Anyway, Janet at the time did indeed offer me a refund or credit or whatever I wanted-and I declined the offer because the deal was done so long ago, but let her know I appreciated her offer. There are not many dealers out there who would have considered doing the same thing.

If I were to give a 1-10 rating with 10 being the best-BCMC would easily recieve a 10.

After this posting, I will do more than one review-just can't right now because im in the midst of planning for some time away from the computer.

Andy, especially for you I will have at least another appx 40 dealers listed here-including one to stay awar from as much as possible. I had forgotten about this guy until I saw his business listed and by someone else who got shafted by him.

This dealer was the first one I ever bought from and only bought from him twice and sending in total-maybe just over $110 or so. This dealer is: George Johns and his site I THINK still is: http://www.ww2f.com/militaria/www.georgejohnsmilitaria.com

 

The next Dealer I will yak about is a fellow with a great reputation, a great selection of items, and some of the best and most reasonable prices in the business.

Zis Dealer ist: Klaus Butschek-and he operates out of Bavaria. I have known of he and his business for awhile now but never bought from him yet. I have heard from others that he is great to deal with and I will be buying from him in the future-if I could quit spending all of my money before I get the chance to visit his shop ;-))

I don't know how long he has been online selling but, I first heard of him about 2 years ago and from a slip of mind-I never thought to tell anyone about him. Needless to say-he doesn't need the exposure but would appreciate it all the same.

He - being that I have never dealt with him before and he has all the benefit of the doubt-that waters untested-I trust what others say about him so much that I would give him a 10 out of 10 rating. Few dealers I learn about do I ever give 100% positive ratings to-especially when ive never purchased from him yet. However, that'sgoing to change and VERY soon.

His site is: Klaus Butschek - german militaria

A dealer i've bought from for years who I give a positive rating to and who I think tries to do his best to not sell fakes-even though a few on another forums-unfairly say so differently. This dealer I am talking about is Helmut Weitze-and I have dealt with he himself as wellas with Kay Bruggemann. Kay is VERY helpful and attentive to costomers concerns and wishes. I admit I had a minor snag on one purchase with them about 10 years ago-but everything came out perfectly in the end.

I've purchased some items that have provenance as to who their former owners were-from Weitze-and got great prices on those items because unknown to them, some of these items came from high-ranking and famous people. I did not do the research on these ittems myself-but a highly respected member of another wensite did the work on these items.

Anyway, by telling you that little story, I am merely trying to give you a hint or two-that you can find many such items as i have-on his site-that are historically and in value-worth much more than the item was listed at.

Weitzes address is: http://www.ww2f.com/militaria/www.weitze.com

PS, for Andy especially, both Klaus and Helmut have some nice Imperial items. If you get the chance-check out both sites.

While on the subject of Imperial Militaria. I might as well as mention the Gentleman who owns Der Rittmeister. This guy has a knowledge of Imperial German stuff that is rarely equalled and Andy might like to at least check his site out. I have bought from him for a relative short time only because my main focus has switched to WWII German instead of both Imperial and WWII.

For Andy's benefit-Der Rittmeister has some outstanding items always for sale on his site. I have chatted with the owner at length and he is a nice Gent who will make time out for people interested in his wares. He is also one who can become a source for 5th Unlan Stuff.

The website has explanations and research done on most or all of his items as best as possible. I think if you get a chance to visit there-you WILL be as impressed with his site as I have been for about 12 years now. I used t visit his site just to look at the stuff for sale-and also that when you visit-you learn some great facts too.

I admit his prices can be a bit high on things but-I have found great bargains there as well. Another thing about he and his stuff, is that he too is a rare dealer that one can really trust. In all the transactions I have had ffrom him-never not once did I ever have anykind of problem what-so-ever. He's definately a 10 out of 10. The website addy is: www.derrittmeister.com

 

Many thanks for this thread, like we have talked about before I do plan to eventually get into collecting militaria and this is a terrific service for really opening a lot of doors for many people to do the same.

 

Hi FG, quite welcome and glad to oblige. I will be posting more of these on Saturday morning and then ill be gone a few days and will continue with these probably Wednesday of this coming week.

Heh heh, IM going to get Andy/K/ into collecting WWII stuff - even if it causes him great stomach pains, nightmares and or lack of sleep. :lol: :lol: :lol:

 

Hello Carl,

that is some great information which you are posting here.

Militaria sellers such as Butschek, or der Rittmeister have a good reputation in regards to selling originals. However once they stae english text and offer in US$ they are already out of question to me and other more known collectors.

It is known in Germany that almost 80% of the military collectibles offered have been purchased via e-bay from non collecting individuals. Believe me Carl, reputed collectors in Germany, Austria and England are not giving away their collectables - one of the last big collections to have entered the German market was the "Oppold" collection in 1980 IIRC and the Thurn und Taxis in 1996.

A Tip from my side, if you kindly allow me:

No matter what the seller tells you in regards to the items history - bullsh.. or no bullsh..., once he can't name you the previous collectors name, or you are not able to get into contact with the previous owner, the offered item is an e-bay item or a lucky shot from some last will inheritor. In the case of the last - it again is can be almost outruled that the displayed item is of "high rank" or prestige since then the inheritors family background would know reputable collectors and the chance of these items appearing at one of these Military sellers is about nill.

One German military house who (in most cases) grabs items from previous collections is www.hermann-historica.de in Munich. Therfore he can be judged as not being a cheap bargain - but it ensures the credibillity of his items - and for some items he also can't bring up the name of the previous collector

The second security is the fact that Herman historica is only selling his items via auctions - there is no way of obtaining goods from him in a shop - exeption being items that were not sold due to oversized price anticipations of the previous owner, these items are usually nothing special or of high quality and are mostly bought through middle man - and sooner or later these items show up in many of those military collector shops with all kind of "interesting" stories added to them.

Good example of an original collection:

Hermann Historica - Internationales Auktionshaus für Antiken, Alte Waffen, Orden und Ehrenzeichen, Historische Sammlungsstücke

Click on 56 Auktion on the left vertical bar
Then click Onlinekataloge under 56 Auktion
click on the purple cataloge
click onto Bayern position 638
click onto position 643 = Wilhelm Ritter von Reitzenstein (1880 - 1941)


Regards
Kruska

 

Hi Andy, thanks for all of this and fully agree. I know too many dealers who invent stories to go along with their items. One such dealer is jamie cross. This scoundrel did this on those two Bavarian Medal Bars that I traded to a friend in order to get my Imperial EKII award doc, and both EKII and EKI from that same gent-who was an NCO in the 3rd Marine Inf Rgmt. Anyway, those two medal bars made their way from my friend to jamie cross-who had an Radio-Operator/Air Gunners Badge that he was trading for.

Well, by chance I happened to visit cross's site to look at somehting I heard he wa sellinf-which I THINK was an1870 EKII, and i just wanted to look at it-to compare with the one I have. Well, before I started to search for the 1870--I saw several pictures of both of my ex-medal bars-both had lengthy stories added to them which were completely false in every thing said with the exception of him saying that they were Bavarian medal bars.

This creep even went as far to say that both medal bars belonged to an Officer-whish was pure BS-as these would have only been worn by someone below the rank of Unteroffizier. It's possible that the 4-place medal bar had be worn by a Feldwebel-but certainly no even Junior Lieutenant-would have had either of those medal bars.

I don't recall what high prices they were being offered for but, I sent jc an email telling him that he was full of BS on those two medal bars. Needless to say-I didn't get a reply-and most likely that was because I told him that I was the owner of these before my friend made that swap with him and I told full details about the transaction that too pace and also told him what was traded for and at what price? If I ever make it top one of those huge militaria shows in England-i'd love to expose this liar in public.

Thanks for the link about Hermann Historica-I used to visit their site only to guffaw at the high starting prices. I never bought from them or from Kube either. I think HH and Manions are partners in crime. Manions is another auction house but based here in the USA-and is yet another whose prices are out-rageously high.

Several years ago, when I was in San Antonio to attend a Militaria show-I found an Antique store somewhere in teh downtown area-that had a Prussian Enlistemans Pichelhaube for sale. This item was ugly to say the least. It was then prced at $650.00 but many things were wrong with it. Not only was it in terrible shape-but the leather was extremely cracked and looked like a shattered glass window. It was missing the Brass that goes arounf the edges, also missing part of the spike arrangement-had no liner left, and worst of all--the leather had cracked and shrunk so much that it looked like someone attempted to take a too small of a piece of leather to cover too large of an area. Also, the helmet was squashed badly on both sides and also missing the Prussian Kocarde.

The only part of that helmet that looked fairly decent-was the Prussian Eagle-even though part of one of its legs was broken off and missing. Whomever were the ones who had this helmet in their possession-never took care of it.

 

Gents, I joined this Forum to get information. Recently have taken on the job of selling off an elderly friends items which include WWII Items. Mostly pins badges etc. but also knives. Gerry was in a unit tasked with disarming and guarding prison camp guards. He ended up bringing back a lot of German stuff. How does one go about selling these items? Any help would be appreciated. BTW Gerry is in an expensive facility and on his last legs. His wife could use the money but she would also consider a museum. Thanks in advance!!

 

Auction is always a good option. The problem with selling them to dealers is that a dealer will always look to the potential profit margin first so will only offer a low(ish) amount to buy them from you.
Another option is to join one of the dedicated militaria forums and have a look through the posts to get a feel for the value of what you have and then sell them yourself on that forum's E-Stand thus eliminating any auction house commission or low offers from dealers.

 

If you could give us a list of what you have to sell, I'm sure we could help out. Like hucks said, selling to a dealer is not the best way to go - they aim to buy anything for a very low price to sell it off with a large profit. The best way is to sell to collectors, and this way both parties will get a good deal!

 

Also, if you can give a list of items as well as pictures of them-good clear close-up pics as best as possible-and some of us here can spread the word to collector friends and depending on what you have to offer and what kinds of prices your interested in getting? some of us here can possibly help you find buyers for your stuff-those also who will not try to jif you down on prices. I also know a few dealers who might make higher offers for things depending on their needs -and higher than you would get if you just go to the average "Joe-the-Dealer" to sell these items. I might be interested in something you have for sale? but can't offer anything if I don't know what you have and if I can't see what the items look like.

Best regards-C.

 

Thanks everyone. I'll try to figure out how to add pictures.

 

These are pictures of a small amount of his items.

 

I can't help but feel we are hijacking Carl's dealers thread! Could a moderator move the posts so far about tfer13's items and start a new thread? (I don't know if that's possible).

 

Thanks guys and ill see if I can get Skipper, or Kai or Erich to move a few posts when possible? ;-))

Pic 1, the two eagle cap badges are for a Ver=terans Organization. Those go from about $25-to-$35 each. I used to have one but gave it away many years ago.
The Black Flag pin-is a Pioneer flag pin. i forget what these are called exactly but these can easily sell for over $20. The three stickpins I THINK are all Bund and vet org pins. These can easily go fot $20 or so each. The button-like pin? I have no clue but probably about $5-$10 bucks I can't tell what it really is from the pic. The other badge-like pin is a Tinney-or Day badge. These used to only fetch about $1-$5 each and now some of them easily go for near $100-however, I have no clue on what yours could go for but a safe bet-about $10-$15. The Hitler Youth knife here in the States at about $300. The silver Infantry Assault Badge-it depends on the maker, condition and how much finish is left on it. Im possibly interested in the Silver IAB if its for sale? Im no dealer and strictly a collector-so I pay collector prices and not dealer prices-which for the seller-is much better because most dealers will talk you down as low as they can by saying crap like-I get these all the time and really don't need another one-or, I have trouble selling them (which is pure BS) and stories like that. Same goes for the other items.

Pic 2) Various vets org, RAD, and Hitler Youth patches. The blue armband is DAF? Anyway, instead of listing these as seperate items, I would figure that total-those can go for appx: $150-none of those items are rare either-same as in pic 1 and pic 3.

Pic 3) I can't tell if thats a small HJ flag or armband? If a flag-possibly in its condition about $100-is armband and if not halved? $60-$75 buck.

Anyway, if interested in selling that Silver Infantry Assault Badge-im interested in it-but would like to see more close-up detailed pics of both front and back. The detail on the Eagle looks good to me but I want to be sure. Does this IAB have a makers-marking on the backside anywhere? Some common makers to look out for are F.O - for Friedrich Orth of Vienna, F.L.L for Friedrich Linden of Ludenschied, "A" for Assmann. JFS for Josef Felix und Sohn, R.K-for Rudolf Karnath, B.H.Meyer, C.E.Juncker and dozens of other makers.

Let me know on your decision concerning that Silver IAB? and let me know if you can post pics of both sides and of the details.

Best regards-C.

 

Ill try to post a few more Militaria dealers sites this evening. Ive been gone a few days and are trying to catch up here. If I can post more today those will be in this posting and then more tomorrow sometime. Im doing at least 5o dealers so this is going to take me quite awhile to do.

I couldn't even get back on the internet last night to post about the following dealer:

His site is www.german-historica.de and I forgot to write down his name. Anyway, he has a very nice selection of things for sale. However-as I have never bought from him-I can't say how good his services are but apparently he has a nice reputation. I did like the prices he had on some items like Imperial EKs, Frozen Meat Medals and low-end stuff like that. The only issue I have are the outrageous prices on his Infantry Assault Badges, and medals and awards of that calibre. those were at least 60% over-priced. I can easily find mint or near mint IABs here in the States and in Canada-from between $85 to about $115.00 - and the maker is not in the equasion for price-shifting.

Anyway, would I buy from the guy? yes I would but only if I see a good deal on something. The FMM and WMC w/Swords 2nds and such were priced at about the average going price no matter where you look.

 

I agree with Will382. Though related my issues are not the same. I apologize for "hijacking" the thread. If they can be deleted or moved I'm all for it.

I'll get requested pics up once I know where to post.

 

No apologies needed. You can post them here or just start a new thread also here in the Militaria section and if it's just pics of the IAB--title it something like: Silver Infantry Assault Badge photos-or something similar.

Anyway, please do so at your convience. If we make a deal on this badge? I have funds available. Just don't wait too long because im always looking for stuff to buy but am limited on how much I have to spend per month on Mil as im only working part time ;-))

I might have a cash deal going on on a badge I want to sell to a guy looking for that same badge. This could bring me another $350-$400 in available funds I can use elsewhere ;-))