Fair price for a large WW2 commando lot

[Seigfried]

Hi,

The lot comprises:

Mk 1 Denison Smock
BD with ribbons and dagger badge
ID tags
FS Dagger
Toggle rope
Green berets x 2
Medals x 5
Various maps all with tactical pencil markings
Photos of soldier wearing BD
Small amount of jerry badges etc

It is ALL original and named to one man. My eyes nearly popped out when the owner emptied the kit bag (also stencilled with name & no).

[48RMC]

Seems very interesting i'm curious to see some pics from these items

[Seigfried]

Seems very interesting i'm curious to see some pics from these items

No pics I'm afraid - but it is the real deal and I'm not sure what to offer...

[Bond]

A couple of grand at least, maybe more depending on the condition of the items and the dates of the berets, also which pattern FS knive, who he was and which unit he served with, what medals he had and for what, which German badges are included, what the photos show etc....

Too many variables to give an accurate appraisal of fair value without seeing the items IMHO.

Jerry

[Tom M]

Depending on whether the bloke knows how much it's worth, careful you don't offer too much and spook him! Get a price off him, never offer big bucks straight off the bat.

[peter monahan]

"Depending on whether the bloke knows how much it's worth, careful you don't offer too much and spook him! Get a price off him, never offer big bucks straight off the bat."

Yes, you could try to get it for peanuts or , as you mentioned a fair price, tell him what it might be worth - 'a couple of grand' - and offer to take a reasonable commission/markup for selling it, as if you buy it you'll face the risk that it won't sell or that parts of the group don't look 'right to the pros'.

Leaving out the whole question of a just price, grabbing lots from clueless non-collectors - and I'm not suggesting you're considering this, John, gives the hobby a bad name and backfires on future buyers!

Good luck with the buy!
Peter

[Tom M]

"Depending on whether the bloke knows how much it's worth, careful you don't offer too much and spook him! Get a price off him, never offer big bucks straight off the bat."

Yes, you could try to get it for peanuts or , as you mentioned a fair price, tell him what it might be worth - 'a couple of grand' - and offer to take a reasonable commission/markup for selling it, as if you buy it you'll face the risk that it won't sell or that parts of the group don't look 'right to the pros'.

Leaving out the whole question of a just price, grabbing lots from clueless non-collectors - and I'm not suggesting you're considering this, John, gives the hobby a bad name and backfires on future buyers!

Good luck with the buy!
Peter

Peter,

Do what you want. I personally hate the whole "make me an offer" tripe that seems to popular with people nowadays. In my book, if you're selling it, you have a price. I'm talking from experience where I had a VERY nice british medal set in my hands and a ditzy woman gave the whole "make me an offer" gabble. I gave a very fair offer (in the thousands) and she turned round to say "Ooh, didn't realize it was worth that much, I'll keep them!". That happened a couple of times before. Have that happen to you, and your view will change.

Best option John "How much would you be happy with?".

[ROBB]

Offer £500 as you just love the dagger , if he hums and hahs say what we're you thinking and if he says £3000 say oh that's a shame and start crying and don't leave his house till he drops to £ 500 . When he sells to you for £. 500 stop crying and as you leave the house tell him you can easily ge £5000 for the lot . Rob

[peter monahan]

Tom

I understand what you're saying . I'm not keen on the 'make me an offer' thing either, but it sounded to me from the context that the owner probably didn't know what he had and the potential buyer pretty clearly did. And "careful you don't offer too much and spook him" got on my wick. I've seen nice folk taken for a ride by collectors/dealers who seem to feel that having knowledge the seller doesn't entitles them to offer ****e prices for really good stuff! And yes, I have had the experience of losing a nice piece when the seller found out it was a rarity. And, yes, it hurt. OTOH, nobody will ever be able to say 'That b**tard Peter robbed me!" I can live with that.

Yes, in the best of all possible worlds the seller 'should know'. And I'm not remotely suggesting John was thinking of ripping anyone off. His question suggests the reverse. If I offer a kid a shiny coin for his dirty paper money, most people would call me a thief. I just don't see how offering some clueless descendant of a vet L50 or L100 for something that is probably worth hundreds or thousands is all that different. Not telling you or John what to do, just saying doing "what you want" wouldn't include that for me.

Respectfully,
Peter

[Wood]

Been there , done that. Always a fine line.
Would you think twice if it was a dealer though?
Pete

[Tom M]

I think we are on the same lines, sort of

I didn't take well to your "get it for peanuts" line, insinuating I'd 'rob' a veteran. It's a hard line to balance. To the owner he probably believes it's a bag of old army kit, whereas we all know it's close to £5k worth of military collectables, maybe more. Find something worthless to you in your house, then imagine someone coming in and offering £5k for it. You would have a million questions running round your head. That's what I mean by spooking!

Find a price that you're both happy with. He has to have an idea what is acceptable. If you feel it's too low, like you would be 'robbing' him, put the stuff in your car first at the first agreed price, then go back and give him a bit more, never the other way round.

All the best,
Tom

Tom

I understand what you're saying . I'm not keen on the 'make me an offer' thing either, but it sounded to me from the context that the owner probably didn't know what he had and the potential buyer pretty clearly did. And "careful you don't offer too much and spook him" got on my wick. I've seen nice folk taken for a ride by collectors/dealers who seem to feel that having knowledge the seller doesn't entitles them to offer ****e prices for really good stuff! And yes, I have had the experience of losing a nice piece when the seller found out it was a rarity. And, yes, it hurt. OTOH, nobody will ever be able to say 'That b**tard Peter robbed me!" I can live with that.

Yes, in the best of all possible worlds the seller 'should know'. And I'm not remotely suggesting John was thinking of ripping anyone off. His question suggests the reverse. If I offer a kid a shiny coin for his dirty paper money, most people would call me a thief. I just don't see how offering some clueless descendant of a vet L50 or L100 for something that is probably worth hundreds or thousands is all that different. Not telling you or John what to do, just saying doing "what you want" wouldn't include that for me.

Respectfully,
Peter

[peter monahan]

Fair does, Tom. My apologies for the implied insult. My comments were of a more general Nature - does 'philosophical' sound too pompous? - not a dig at you or John. To be honest, i hadn't even seen that the 'spook' comment was yours; I just thought you were reacting to my post as part of a general discussion too.

Anyway, yes, it sounds like we're not too far apart on this one! Cheers!
Peter

[yellow]

There are two options open to you.

If you believe the value is 5 thousand then offer 2.5. This is a perfectly acceptable profit margin for dealers and is not ripping anyone off. If its good enough for TV celeb antique dealers, then its good enough for you.

The second option is to offer to take the items away and sell them on behalf of the veteran, taking a 20 percent cut of whatever you make.

BUT before you do any of this, I would advise you buy a ten pound mobile phone with a camera installed. It's next to impossible to value anything with out good visual inspection of the condition of those items you have listed.

Examples.....

What type of FS knife is it?
How are the berets dated?
How is the BD badged?
What units did the recipient service in? If its army commando lot......then some collectors will pay more for a well documented commando unit or a rare one.
The medals could be anything.......

Even if I was the worlds leading expert I wouldn't like to say what the value is because I do not have enough information in this post.

[peter monahan]

Well said, Yellow!