seen on ebay

[PhilB]

dcw,

If your not sure about this item, then you should see the plaques that have been turned into clocks!

Each to their own, as they say.

Roxy

Quite right, Roxy! I find something nice and homely about a family looking up at a clock made from a loved one`s plaque and thinking of them many times a day. I`ve told my children (only half in jest) that they can make eggtimers out of my ashes and I`ll be pleased to be remembered particularly as soldiers will be involved on completion of the egg boil!

I wondered about the "medals glorifying war". At first glance, they might do, but, on consideration, mine have the opposite effect. How can I look at a trio to a man who died a premature and often painful death in a war in which he was just a pawn, and think better of war? Phil B

[chaz]

Interesting subject..

my two penneth, I dont smoke, maybe 1 beer a week, ride motorcycles and WORK. others around me have expensive holidays, change car every year. When I was at school, early-mid 1970's I so dearly wanted to get onto the war in History.. I think around 1066 was as close as we got.

Now my two sons have had the opportunity to see their great grandfathers brothers graves in France with the school which is more than I have done yet.

Part of their interest comes from my small medal collection. bought as cheap as possible. I can not afford mega money to indulge myself, but I do appreciate the soldiers/sailors/airmen/women etc who laid their lives down in order that I can live in a free (??) country.

I have also learnt in the time between that a lot of families threw away their medals as they didnt want to be reminded of their losses, also some sold on the silver ones when the price of silver was high.

Its a personal choice to collect, its personal choice to deny, in the end these brave people gave us the power of free speach, so that you and I can argue in public.

As with all good things the only person seeking to make a profit out of this world is the business man, whether he be the seller or the dealer buying and selling at a profit.

Would that stop anyone buying a classic car or bike. What is sacrelige (sp) is when you strip history away from something.

example, many years ago (6-10) I attended a motorcycle auction, a 1930's BSA owned by a pair of sisters and raced by one on the Isle of Man came up for auction reached £3500 full of history and documents.

1 year later it reappeared same auction and sold for £1800, why??

a dealer /buyer bought it , took the number plate off for his own use or profit and basically discarded the bike.

[Guest Hill 60]

Getting Death Plaques, Medals etc, from e-bay or at boot fairs and not known dealers, I would surgest is somewhat "iffy" and in bad taste, bearing in mind that the complete collection of WW1 & WW2 medal were stolen from the Queens Royal Surrey Regimental Museum not so very long ago and as far as I'am aware none have been recovered yet.

So, can you explain why it is 'iffy' and in bad taste? What is the difference between a 'dealer' and someone on e-bay, at a car boot or on a market?

Also, what has buying medals from the places mentioned got to do with the theft from the QRS museum? Are you saying that stolen items are only sold on e-bay/car boots etc? Maybe you meant that if a dealer had them then he'd know they were stolen because of the reports that dealers can get hold of?

As for my collecting habits, be it medals from a dealer/e-bay etc, swords from an armourer or a Memorial Plaque made into a clock, I have found the "couldn't give a toss what anyone else thinks" attitude has served me well. I collect what I want, as long as it is legal, and that suits me. As some has already said, 'each to their own'.

[Tom Tulloch-Marshall]

Ohhhh. My troll sensor is beeping.....

I think I might already know the answer to this, but please bear with me.

I know what troll means as in "to troll" something, and I know what it means in Scandinavian mythology, but .... what is it intended to mean in the context of this thread ?

Like I said - I "think" I might know, but I'd hate to have misunderstood.

(Yes, there is a point to the question )

regards - Tom

[Soren]

starting a topic which is heated and watching the infighting........ fortunately this never happens on the GWF!

[Moonraker]

You cannot legislate for people to be proud of their heritage,some are,some would never be regardless of what education might be foisted upon them.

Some people would not dream of selling heirlooms,& that is to be commended;but what you or I might never do cannot be reflected throughout the populus.

It matters not where such things are sold,but rather where they end up.

Two years ago I helped clear out the home of a friend's aunt and am currently clearing out my parents'. On such occasions harsh decisions have to be made about prized possessions because of limited space in one's own home and because of limited time. My parents would have been dismayed at what has to happen to some of their belongings. But they wouldn't have been bothered about the album of photos that I took when our house in Devon was being built in the 1960s; it might - or might not - interest the present owners, but the name of the house has changed and I'm unlikely to be down that way for a long time; so it's being chucked out. In the case of the aunt's home I put aside some minor collectables, but these disappeared into a bin bag before I had decided whether it really was worth the trouble of finding new owners for them.

There must be countless examples of worthwhile items,not only medals, being thrown out after a relative dies.

Moonraker

[Rodge Dowson]

Much better than seeing them skipped or in the re-cycling metal box at the council depot.........It prolongs there life and thus keeps the reason for there existance as a Memorial for us to contemplate.

Rodge

[Rodge Dowson]

I help run a museum and sometimes we can save such items and othertimes we hear " Oh I didn't think you would be intersted in that stuff, we took it to the skip, we have a medal left though but the photos and papers we burnt as they were personal" - We get this once a month on average, so much better to keep it in the public domain if through sale or donation.

Rodge

[HarryBettsMCDCM]

So, can you explain why it is 'iffy' and in bad taste? What is the difference between a 'dealer' and someone on e-bay, at a car boot or on a market?

Also, what has buying medals from the places mentioned got to do with the theft from the QRS museum? Are you saying that stolen items are only sold on e-bay/car boots etc? Maybe you meant that if a dealer had them then he'd know they were stolen because of the reports that dealers can get hold of?

As someone who suffered the theft of a large chunk of my Collection of 6th Northamptonshire Regt Medals{20 Groups including 6 MMs & an MM & Bar Group},whilst they were being displayed @ Peterborough Museum in the 1990s,I can state {in my case @ least};there is no relation betwixt Car Boots/Flea Markets & Medal Thefts from Museums,they were stolen by a "Reputable Dealer" from Bedford; who had been touring local & Military Museums & stealing Military items from Napoleonic to WW2.He was traced when after two years he decided that the heat was off & no one would remember these Groups~He had reckoned without my earlier flooding of the Medal worlds Media & Collectors Societies Members with details ~ & Elephantine recall of @ least one of those whom I had approached two years earlier,who recognised one of my Medals when it appeared on a list.Enquiries revealed that it had been bought from a Dealer @ the Gloucester Militaria Fair & the rest had been on Offer & had been purchased en bloc by a Collector/Part time Dealer who had offered them in entirity to another Collector beknown to me who then passed on the details.

After a debacle of around another month,The Medals were returned home to me,fortunately none the worse for wear & had not suffered from their two year sojourn.

The perp was traced back to the Vendor @ Gloucester & rightly banged up for this & other Museum Thefts

I would suggest the Queen's RWS Medals will start to surface in a year or so,when they consider the heat is off.you never know the same gang may be back in business

[Guest Hill 60]

I can state {in my case @ least};there is no relation betwixt Car Boots/Flea Markets & Medal Thefts from Museums,they were stolen by a "Reputable Dealer" from Bedford

Which goes to show what I was pointing out, that just because its at a car boot/on e-bay doesn't mean its stolen. I suppose the person making the assumption that if it doesn't come from a reputable dealer then its iffy is making sweeping, unfounded statements.

I suppose that if buying from a dealer then you have a chance, albeit at times a slim chance, of getting your money back if your purchase turns out to be hot property.

[HarryBettsMCDCM]

Fazakeley!!!

I totally agree,Car Boots get a bad press!

HB