Classic Great War items for sale....

[mark holden]

Not WW1 items. I am like a squirrel storing nuts for an Ice Age!

I see the christmas tin & flash is now £300, it's getting interesting.

Has anyone sold a tunic / jacket or any other item's they regret, mine was parting company with a Notts and Derby SD tunic to the 2nd / 5th complete with the green triangle flash.

[Vimyridge]

A question to the members here...

Have any of you ever passed on an item because you thought

it was overpriced, only to regret it years later when you saw

how much that particular item now commands in price?

This is a classic scenario. On the reverse side I have a collector friend who sold his

Nazi collection years ago and made a killing on the profit..he paid off his house.

he often says "If I had only held onto to it and sold it now" but it's all relative to the economy at at the time.

It's also a question of how much money the collector makes in salary.

A collector who is a VP of a successful corporate company will not

think much about dropping 2200 British pounds on a Gor' Blimey.

I am not rich, but I think carefully when my collector friends offer me rare items.

Example: I am in the process of acquiring from a friend, a rare uniform grouping that I will never likely see again.

The asking price is 20% more than what it's worth in my opinion but I have decided to invest anyhow

My concern is what I call the "death of a collection", when the prices go so high that only the extremely wealthy can collect them.

Look at Napoleonic uniforms..who can afford these high end items today. Only the rich and powerful.

Anyhow that's my two cents.

Roger

[tocemma]

Has anyone sold a tunic / jacket or any other item's they regret.

Quite a few!

One in particular, I have bought and sold twice! 11th Battalion SWB Officers jacket, 7th of July 1916, KIA in Mametz Wood, real front line job with a single blue triangle on one sleeve, a 38th Welsh Division scheme pre-dating the Dragon div patch. God knows why I have sold it twice. Pretty irretrievable this time too.

Tocemma

[Staffsyeoman]

Have any of you ever passed on an item because you thought

it was overpriced, only to regret it years later when you saw

how much that particular item now commands in price?

See my earlier post about the one of six Khedive's Sudan 1910 medals to my father's regiment. Unique to the rank too.

Secondly; 1939-45 Star and War Medal 1939-45 in box of issue, but no slips inside. Yet a funny price for not unusual (I avoided 'rare') medals. I passed on them. He was one of the poor devils murdered by the SS in a barn at Wormhout, 28 May 1940. They would have gone straight to the regimental museum, but to have hold of them would have been emotional as part of the extended regimental family.

[wainfleet]

Quite a few!

One in particular, I have bought and sold twice! 11th Battalion SWB Officers jacket, 7th of July 1916, KIA in Mametz Wood, real front line job with a single blue triangle on one sleeve, a 38th Welsh Division scheme pre-dating the Dragon div patch. God knows why I have sold it twice. Pretty irretrievable this time too.

Tocemma

Yes, I wish I still had that one too. There were many other things which it would be nice still to own, but onwards and upwards! Well onwards anyway.

In the 80s I used to get asked such things as "You've been really lucky to put that lot together, haven't you! Where did you get this? Where can I get one?". My reply was invariably: "Lucky? My dear fellow, I've had to work beastly hard at it, but don't you worry about that, because here's a list of all those contacts I've painstakingly built up. Go on, get in there and help yourself!". I may not have used those exact words, but I'm sure I said something along those lines.

[Deerhunter]

One massive regret, which will make you cringe.

When I was 16 (1984), I went on an exchange to the German town of Tuebingen, near Stuttgart. While browsing in an antique shop I found a virtually mint, 1916-dated Feldbluse. It had probably been worn for a matter of months at most. It cost me the DM equivalent of £25. I sold it in 1987 for £90. Suffice it to say I really, really wish I'd hung onto that.

[Krithia]

One in particular, I have bought and sold twice! 11th Battalion SWB Officers jacket, 7th of July 1916, KIA in Mametz Wood, real front line job with a single blue triangle on one sleeve, a 38th Welsh Division scheme pre-dating the Dragon div patch. God knows why I have sold it twice. Pretty irretrievable this time too.

Tocemma

Yes, I wish I still had that one too. There were many other things which it would be nice still to own, but onwards and upwards! Well onwards anyway.

Wainfleet and Tocemma,

Yes, I wish I still had it as well !

[Vimyridge]

Well I'll take a page from all your books and learn from your experiences.

I have been collecting CEF uniforms for only 11 years but have been more than lucky

to have acquired over 24 Great war tunics in that short time.

I have not sold much, but when I do..it's only to raise money to upgrade

or get a nice item.

[dutchbarge]

Has anyone sold a tunic / jacket or any other item's they regret

A live Lewis gun (yes, we can still legally own live MGs in the US)...............sold it in a moment of madness. Now a dewat or non-gun (if you can even find one for sale) will go for 5-6 times what I sold it for (another live on will cost about 30 times as much). Not that the guns are all that scarce..................it is the gov't's rules restricting ownership of them that has pushed up the prices.

Cheers, Bill

[wainfleet]

It’s been said here that the right items of Great War militaria are a good investment. I agree, but with some qualification. The growing interest in genealogy means more people are becoming interested in the War, and some are going on to become collectors. The GWF has played its part by making quality information available and stimulating interest in all aspects. So demand is not likely to diminish. Even when caches of original kit turn up, as still happens now and then, they only distort the market for a year or two before being swallowed up. Prices may seem high now but it’s my belief that they probably have a bit further to go yet. People will pay what they can afford for a personal, physical connection to this part of our history.

There is however a huge amount of junk masquerading as gold, and it is extremely hard for beginners to tell it apart. And when interest rates finally rise a lot of spare cash will vanish, leaving run-of-the-mill items to stick, and only rarities or particularly fine examples to sell, at the high prices people have come to ask. So it is only a good investment if you know what you are doing. The only way to learn this is by experience, which is usually painful. Some bad buys are inevitable, and even those of us who paid those particular tuition fees long ago still make the occasional duff purchase. Nor is investing in this field going to transform anyone’s life unless they are able to buy and put away large quantities of high-end items, ie either you get extremely lucky or someone sells you a collection. These things tend to happen to dealers rather than collectors, and even they are finding it a lot harder to acquire stock.

My philosophy is buy for yourself, and if you do that properly you will come out of it ok. If you see something good that you particularly want, can afford and are unlikely to see again, buy it. If you like something which is priced reasonably, buy it. Personally I will also buy anything I see that is significantly underpriced, in any field. The profit I make from it, now or later, will help fund other acquisitions. But as Taff said, in the end it’s not actually a financial asset unless you are prepared to sell!

[Joe Sweeney]

I kind of follow WF philosophy.

I don't buy for value--If I can afford, I buy if I don't think i have a reasonable chance of acquiring a prticular article.

I have bought way over market price and well below. What was way over Market Price twenty years ago looks pretty cheap now.

Looked at the linked site in first post every looks nice except the action cover--Date added, but the cover could still be WWI.

As far as parting with things and regretting yes---SBRs, pre 1914 left pouch--Great coats etc.

My real regret is how many things have not done soo good in my care----Just arrived home after 5 weeks away and noticed a P14 entrenching cover dangling from the P14 set--ahhhh one of the leather tabs gave wayAhhh

Joe Sweeney

[Vimyridge]

Just to clarify, I do not buy to invest..I buy what I like at the price I can afford.

When I am asked to pay over $2000 then I think of it as an investment...or as least that's what I tell the wife..

[wainfleet]

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/RARE-First-World-War...=item1e5b80a16b

£210 for a last pattern denim type soft cap with KRRC badge and pair of ID discs.

Plenty of time to go to.

TT

Half an hour left and this tatty example of a not particularly rare type of cap is up to £270. "Madness" seems to be the only adequate word. What on Earth is going on???

[wainfleet]

Made £322. (Shakes head slowly...)

[john gregory]

The christmas tin + flash went for £340, shakes head even more slowly

[Krithia]

Wow. something I have noticed are prices at Fairs for militaria and medals are fairly standard, but auctions, internet or otherwise tend to send prices rocketing through the roof. Too many people are stuck at home using auctions as their only source for material, and that worldwide audience, using a weaker sterling, is sending prices sky high!

[Krithia]

The christmas tin + flash went for £340, shakes head even more slowly

Reminds me of the words said at the end of the Bridge Over The River Kwai ... "Madness! ... Madness!".

Roll-on 2014-2018 !

[tocemma]

PS

I have a photo of an 'MG' badge being worn on the right ie 'wrong' cuff, which I believe I have posted on the forum in the past. I will dig it out.

Herewith,

MG qualification badge on the 'wrong' cuff. Mind you he might have them on both sleeves, that's not unknown either...

Tocemma

[john gregory]

Herewith,

MG qualification badge on the 'wrong' cuff. Mind you he might have them on both sleeves, that's not unknown either...

Tocemma

Photo's certainly show odd things up, I have a photo of a Notts and Derby chap with his overseas chevron upside down. JG

[tocemma]

John,

Could you post it? I'd be intersted to see it. I've seen one other photo that showed them attached the wrong way up.

Tocemma

[john gregory]

Here it is Paul,

[tocemma]

Thanks John,

Nice clear pic too. I've seen one somewhere and trying to remember where.

Regards

Tocemma

[Digital-Audiophile]

I collect RFC and have found it hard in the past little while to find anything of decent quality at a fair price. I don't mind paying the money for something that I would really like but when I see tattered/faded/mothed maternity tunics going for $4K+ I shake my head.

Prices get bid up on so much ebay that it is just not right. An example, I purchased a nice cabinet photo of an RFC man and his family for ~$25 a decent price IMO.. about a month later the same seller "found" another cabinet photo of the same man by himself, I asked if he would sell to me direct but he would not (fair enough, although I despise when groups get split) and I went to bidding on the photo, well in the end I stopped bidding and the picture went for ~$90.. just too much in my mind for a photo.

[trenchtrotter]

Slightly off topic as its medals...£250 paid for a 14/15 trio to a non casualty Warks soldier. Someone wanted them badly. Hope it was family. That is a price for a casualty!

TT

[john gregory]

Tim, medals are now going for crazy money, just finished on ebay, Notts and Derby pair kia 1.7.16 £520,,,, N/Derby Victory kia £57.01,,,, N/Derby Victory WOUNDED 1.7.16 £88.00. It seems that a wounded on the 1.7.16 is worth more than a casualty.

£250.00 for a trio, madness.

Just an example of different prices

I paid £100 for a pair to Wilferd Hunt, 5th N/Derby kia Ramicourt 1918, but I have his photo and all his details.

Also £125 for a trio to Alfred Campion 5th Battn Notts/Derby, gassed at Loos, discharged 20.7.16, and I thought I had paid far to much for both. Now both seem like bargains.