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Men in white coats.
You would have to be completely and utterly barking mad. -
Why is that? Guaranteed you'd have to be a millionaire, but mad? ... hardly.Originally posted by behblc
Consider Victoria Crosses going for close to 6 figures ... same thing ... just how much money and how badly do you want one. If I had money (to burn) I would make it part of my collection. But I don't so that is that
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And this is an unissued one... Just imagine what would be the price of such a piece awarded to a famous Soviet WW2 general or Marshal...
Ch.Comment
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At that price I'll buy a house, not a useless little piece of metal !!!
I feel guilty as hell when I burn 200$ on a piece, I just can't imagine paying such price for a medal.Comment
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That's the difference between us and them Manu. They burn $100 bills for heat in their homes.Originally posted by Manu DaltonAt that price I'll buy a house, not a useless little piece of metal !!!
I feel guilty as hell when I burn 200$ on a piece, I just can't imagine paying such price for a medal.Comment
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not for my collection, some how it just lacks the 'style' of TR high level pieces for me!!Comment
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I hate to burst anyone's bubble, but these have come down in price. Not long ago, they were bringing about $15K more than what he's asking.
Also, these are technically a "bad" investment... When I was living in Russia in 1996, I was offered one for $50K... Going from $50K to $84K in 10 years is pretty crappy, really, compared to other Soviet awards.
DaveComment
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Colleagues,
We just can't look at Suvorov 1st class as at common award.
The rarity is big factor here, plus most of these are in museums and will rarely become available to collectors.
As for the price - think hom much would be the price for higher ranking Iron Cross (with swords, oaks, diamonds, etc).
I am sure there will be a buyer...
WilliamComment
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This is also one of the nice reasons to collect uniforms... I have all the uniforms to a THREE-TIME Suvorov 1st recipient (1 of 18). His group of awards is out on the market at an asking price (last I heard, which was about a year and a half ago) of around $425,000.
You can spend nearly half a million on his medals, or, you can buy his uniforms for just over .5% of what the awards would run you!
DaveComment
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Dave, with all respect, I just don't understand it.. You, guys, spend so much time in this hobby, have so much interest in it, prefer to spend your money on this staff instead of enjoying life while you can, and while can appreciate it.. Looks like you really enjoying it... But at the same time, you all bring it to the money in the end, investment. That is something beyond me. To me, it looks like you sell yourself, your life, time, efforts, interests, all for some "INVESTMENT", which you may never need.Originally posted by NavyFCO
You deal, collect things - Awards that had no equivalent to monetary value for their original owners/receptionists. Isn't bad example
Is there anything in your life that you wouldn't sell?
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Admittedly, I am fairly mercenary when it comes to militaria. I buy, I sell, and hopefully I make some money in the transaction (perhaps that would be better termed as "capitalistic" rather than "mercenary")Originally posted by bnz. 42Dave, with all respect, I just don't understand it.. You, guys, spend so much time in this hobby, have so much interest in it, prefer to spend your money on this staff instead of enjoying life while you can, and while can appreciate it.. Looks like you really enjoying it... But at the same time, you all bring it to the money in the end, investment. That is something beyond me. To me, it looks like you sell yourself, your life, time, efforts, interests, all for some "INVESTMENT", which you may never need.
You deal, collect things - Awards that had no equivalent to monetary value for their original owners/receptionists. Isn't bad example Is there anything in your life that you wouldn't sell?
But, for me, I love the history behind these pieces and I am often the one that will spend the money to research these awards before I sell them - often losing money on the research in order to really bring out the history of the individuals who bravely earned these awards.
Now, after the research is done though, for 90% of the groups and awards that come through me, I sell them. Hopefully I make some money in the process. What does that money go towards? It goes to buying the next awards and next groups which are then researched... My collection started 20 years ago with a single uniform. Since then, I have probably owned well in excess of 2000 uniforms from all nations, probably 200-300 Soviet award groups, totalling something in excess of 600-700 medals and orders (conservatively, and not counting "jubilee" or "anniversary" medals.) Most of those I have researched and then passed on to other collectors. Sometimes I have lost money (ironically the most money I have ever lost were on groups with orders of Suvorov and Kutuzov... which later went up 5-10 times in value!)
The other side of me selling these awards is that I get to own more than I normally would. If I kept everything I ever bought, I may still own about 20-30 groups total... but instead I've had a chance to have hundreds through my hands, conducting research on nearly all of them and for quite a number, preventing them from being broken up by unscrupulous buyers who would have had the group not been publicised and fully researched. (Even at that, some have been split, much to my sincere dissapointment...)
Not all of that money that I have earned off the awards has been turned back into my collection - a lot of it has gone to pay for "quality of life" things for my family... new cars, appliances, etc... Lots of nice things that I probably wouldn't have been able to afford on my basic income that have.
Additionally, I do have my own "private" collection of things I buy and don't sell.... Soviet posthumous awards, WW2 awards to Allied forces and the like... Despite them being low in number, they'll most likely be in my collection until my heirs sell them off!
Anyway, I don't consider myself to be completely "stuck" on the investment of an award, but it is nice to make money off awards in order to buy more and use the money for other things that can improve the life of my family, while at the same time bringing the awards "to life" in honoring their recipients. I don't think that's honestly too much to ask...
DaveComment
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There are different approaches to collecting...
I've been collecting for 8 yrs and have quite nice collection. I still have vast majority of medals / groups that I bought.
I probably sold about 10 items, the rest is still with me.
So, it's not always about investing, although I love good deals
WilliamComment
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I agree with both gentleman above.
I had a different approach for collecting.
I'm one of those people that will spend the money if I have it. So instead of investing/speculating on the stock market I decided to try coins and then medals to save my money.
I'm happy to report that my investment payed off and I'm able to give a sizeable downpayment on my first home, buy all new appliances, A/C and HVAC.
I would never be able to save my money and this hobby kept me spending more than I'd like but in the end it all payed off!
Actually, I only sold off the parts of my collection that I didn't care that much about. Sure I had $30,000 worth of high orders but I really love the basic medals that I have kept.
Rusty.Comment
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