Imperial Collection

[gregM]

Wow !!!

I have only seen 1 real PLM in my life, and this gentleman
has a hand full of them.

This is one of the great collections

----I really need to get to town more often.

[JensF.]

*no comment*

[Blitz]

Prinz Wilhelms whole set.. Well, If i could get more excited, I'd prolly die at this very moment All those PLMs! Goddamn! There is a man I'd like to meet... Thanks for sharing these great pics, Gary and Erik!

Ps. Calm down, Jens! I bet you could put your head in a bucket of ice-water and still have smoke coming out of your ears

[JensF.]

Hah! I have the smoke without seeing so much PlMs! We have 39°C in Germany at the moment.

[Blitz]

Damn, we had that for a month untill this week, I can imagine what your going through

[mott5ranch]

I still haven't made contact yet, but I do remember one thing. This collection does have several buyers if the current owner should ever want to sell, which is not in the picture at this moment. The selling dealers (whom we all know of because of high end items and reputation) have a lifetime guarentee. They all (the selling dealers) keep in touch regularly to make sure the collection and all the numerous items are still in a happy home. From time to time things have come and gone, deals are made, no doubt, just like we do but on a much grander scale.

Again, this is so out of my league. The magnatude of these collections just blows my mind. We here on this forum are sincere minor league players for the most part, I just broke bread with some guys beyond the pros but, in the team owners circle if you follow my parallel here.

It was one great experience, especially for the kids who will one day say, "I saw this ......and that........and didn't really understand the rarity of it all."

I'll post some WWII high end items from another collection in the regular forum for these things. I hope everyone liked taking a peak. I was so nervous when I held the few things I did, especially when the lady of the house brought in beer, iced glasses, chips and dip for the kids, and soft drinks!


The orders of the day to the kids were, "Look but don't touch!"

[Blitz]

All too real, Gary. When you think you're somekind of collector, you always find someone who will make you face reality heh Well, anyways, i for one enjoyed that little peek to the big boys league

[Greg S]

I did examine a couple of the PLM's. I don't know what to look for as this is out of my league but I can tell you, the detail was amazing and I would prefer one of those to an RK. Those are just beautiful pieces!

[Tony & Kaiser]

Ironically, there is a lesson here for all of us, including Erik. There will always be older and more valuable collections out there. But collecting is supposed to be fun, not a competition. I cannot count the number of times I have been invited to see someone's collection and they state almost apologetically "well, it's not much in comparison to yours....". I have to remind them that I don't care about the quantity, I just enjoy seeing it. Even the smallest collection was put together with effort and should be admired for that dedication. And even the smallest collection has some "gems" that even the most advanced collector will enjoy seeing. Most of us worked hard for the money to buy these items, so each item should also be enjoyed for that reason. We earned it, so enjoy it! Tony http://www.kaisersbunker.com/

[JensF.]

I agree with you Tony!

[Greg S]

Seeing this collection was nothing but enjoyment and we didn't apolgize for the size of our collection. He enjoyed showing us his collection as much as we enjoy showing our collection. There are medals for every budget and who hasn't visited places that we knew we couldn't afford but loved to look at? I remember as a 16 year old visiting the Ferrari dealership in Houston, we couldn't afford one and the salesmen knew it but he let us look, touch, admire, ask questions and sit in anything we wanted.

There was nothing competitive about it. He deals in high end and high priced militaria as I deal in EKII's (nuff said). That night we were all just friends having a good time. We enjoyed the history behind the militaria, the beer and discussion of the hobby.

[Tony & Kaiser]

Seeing this collection was nothing but enjoyment and we didn't apolgize for the size of our collection. There was nothing competitive about it.

I was talking in generalizations and not about your visit in particular. Tony

[mott5ranch]

"Ironically, there is a lesson here for all of us, including Erik. There will always be older and more valuable collections out there. . "


Tony, You are correct. That lesson goes with jobs, homes, cars, ranches, and on and on. I'm trying to channel his (Erik's) competitive nature to sports, like soccer, swimming, target shooting, or arm wrestling. Hopefully he will find his collections as a source of enjoyment; something to look at and re-arrange when the weather forbids going outside.

One day he'll look back at the pictures and say, "Wow, I was there."


As far as trying to compete with this collection, it never entered my mind. I understand what Tony was refering to, we have all seen it, even here. But once Greg I drove into the neighborhood we knew we were going to see some unique, out of our range, items that belonged to a friend that invited us to come look and see and have a cold one.

It was a great weekend!

[Chris Liontas]

hear hear Tony!! Although it is really tough not to feel a little jealousy sometimes isnt it?