How safe is it to show your collection nowadays ?

[schirmmutze]

Hello dear fellow collectors,

After some *ssholes broke in to my friends' militaria store,here in Holland,I'm afraid of showing my collection to the world.

I had a webblog which showed my collection of Luftwaffe headgear,but I removed it from the World Wide Web....

I also brought my collection to another place...

Why? first of all,I sometimes get some nasty emails from people who called me a Nazi,because collecting these things

second,after I launched my webblog,I received strange emails and phonecalls from "collectors" who want to buy my collection,nothing wrong with that,but when I say : "No,I'm sorry sir,not for sale" and that same person is sending me an email everyday with the same question,and getting more and more aggresive,then it's not funny anymore.

I think that showing your collection to the world is just like a showroom for the criminals,when your showroom is full of nice,expensive things,they will come and get it.

Ánd yes I know,when you have a nice collection,you want to show it to your fellow collectors,you're proud of it,offcourse you are !

But please,becarefull my friends,the bad guys are also waching this forum !!!

Let me know your thoughts about this.

[the.warlord1944]

That`s the reason i don`t post pictures on the forum.
I know it is al lot more boring without pictures....but in Holland it is safer...same as in Germany were they shot someone last year and stole his entire collection.

[Daniele C]

That about the german guy they think it was the Russian mafia...

[Jos L C]

Well Theo,

You can see it 2 different ways..

1 : You can live in fear, hide your collection and talk to nobody.., only to friends ( who will tell others )..

2 : You can collect the normal way, share your stuff and enjoy the whole business..

My choice is 2 and I don't care people to save all my pics etc on their computer, the more ,the better ..
The more people know my stuff, the more chance to get it back IF stolen..

Concerning Willem's stuff, yes, it's terrible, but in our world you only need to locate 1 items to follow the trail..., stealing militaria isn't the wisest decision..

Jos.

[schirmmutze]

Yes Jos, think you're right...

But when Willem called me to tell me the bad news about his stolen stuff from his shop,I got scared....it happens so nearby....

And yes,I want to enjoy collecting but the thing I'm strugling with is who's the good guy and who's the bad guy in our world of collecting militaria.

Yes,I can hear you think: " You can't tell for sure,you never know" that's also true Jos.

Oh well,at least let's hope that the members on this forum are the good guys.

Enjoy your Sunday evening Jos.

[Chad1]

fear of theft

If you post a random helmet here or there, who's going to come after that? One helmet, or one dagger ain't worth jail time.

But, if you had a big collection, I probably wouldn't broadcast it or show it all in detail. Likewise, keeping your address would be a good idea, especially with all the crooks prowling the net.

I don't mind showing good friends, but they have no idea what the stuff is worth and even if I told them not to say anything, I wouldn't be surprised if they did. People won't take your stuff seriously because it's not their stuff.

[schirmmutze]

Oh yes,posting pictures of a single visorcap or helmet to show or ask for opinions is no problem.

But I think it may get a problem when you show large collections with lots of helmets and visors.

The criminals will offcourse go for the jackpot,and not 1 or 2 helmets or visors.

I talked to a fellow collector last Friday and he's giving cards with his address to everybody he talks to,I told him not to do

[Jonathan M]

Well Theo,

You can see it 2 different ways..

1 : You can live in fear, hide your collection and talk to nobody.., only to friends ( who will tell others )..

2 : You can collect the normal way, share your stuff and enjoy the whole business..

My choice is 2 and I don't care people to save all my pics etc on their computer, the more ,the better ..
The more people know my stuff, the more chance to get it back IF stolen..

Concerning Willem's stuff, yes, it's terrible, but in our world you only need to locate 1 items to follow the trail..., stealing militaria isn't the wisest decision..

Jos.

and i like Jos chose number 2. if anyone doesnt like it they can foff and do one

jonathan

[Ostfries]

‘I’d rather die like a man then live like a coward’

Well Theo,

You can see it 2 different ways..

1 : You can live in fear, hide your collection and talk to nobody.., only to friends ( who will tell others )..

2 : You can collect the normal way, share your stuff and enjoy the whole business..

My choice is 2 and I don't care people to save all my pics etc on their computer, the more ,the better ..
The more people know my stuff, the more chance to get it back IF stolen..

Concerning Willem's stuff, yes, it's terrible, but in our world you only need to locate 1 items to follow the trail..., stealing militaria isn't the wisest decision..

Jos.

Indeed Jos, ‘I’d rather die like a man then live like a coward’.

[Glenn Barbaritz]

totally agree with number 2. when you say the name "Willem", do you mean fellow member Tarnmilitaria? not that I wish that on anyone more than another I just know Willem is a very nice Guy and has always been open with His examples. I dont know what the story is or how much valuable stuff was taken. I, like all of you hope "Willem" gets it all back and the guilty get F!*ked over big time. Glenn

[Adrian Stevenson]

Hi Glenn, please see this thread for the sad story:

http://dev.wehrmacht-awards.com/foru...d.php?t=240681

Cheers, Ade.

[besslein]

Hi Glenn, please see this thread for the sad story:

http://dev.wehrmacht-awards.com/foru...d.php?t=240681

Cheers, Ade.

yes that story is realy bad,but its strange that no one have post any photos from stolen item

[Jos L C]

yes that story is realy bad,but its strange that no one have post any photos from stolen item

http://www.tarnmilitaria.nl/

Jos.

[Glenn Barbaritz]

unbelievable... but unfortunately its not. nothing surprises me anymore but I was a little "wow'd" that the SOBs used chainsaws. it was a very thought out BALLZY plan. not a master mind plan but of course with the right amount of guts was easy to pull off. they pretty much just blitzkrieg'd the store. as stated most of this stuff will never surface. oh, they will get busted down the road doing something else illegal. you can only chance fate so many times but the chances of this one going sour is probably minimul. I hope His personal collection was not touched. I think thats in another area. He has one of the best overall collections Ive ever seen. (in pics of course) good luck Willem. my thoughts are with you. Glenn

thanks for the link Ade. I never saw that one.

[Andy Harris]

Since my collection includes a lot of firearms (>35), I am very selective about who I tell. When I was in college, some punk broke into my apartment and stole my luger and 1911-A1. Luckily, he was caught right away.