WW1 austrian collecting

[mwelsh]

Hello everyone. I'm just starting to collect ww1 austrian and it seems that information and militaria in general is quite hard to find.

I have an m95 with bayonet and a shovel carrier.

I was wondering if anyone knows any good places to start picking up the rest of the kit.

Ammo pouches seem to be really difficult to find real austrian ones and not post war Bulgaria.

Thanks for any tips or input you guys may have

[Robert Shoaf]

Hello everyone. I'm just starting to collect ww1 austrian and it seems that information and militaria in general is quite hard to find.

I have an m95 with bayonet and a shovel carrier.

I was wondering if anyone knows any good places to start picking up the rest of the kit.

Ammo pouches seem to be really difficult to find real austrian ones and not post war Bulgaria.

Thanks for any tips or input you guys may have

Try Ebay Deutschland, although you are correct in that Austro-Hungarian militaria is not easy to find, at least compared to Imperial German.
There is also a decent selection in U.S. Ebay.

Bob Shoaf

[Brian Calkins]

I agree with Bob. You will find the most material on US and German ebays. Be especially careful though with cloth uniform and equipment items. There are plenty of fakes out there, some being made from old material.

Avoid Italian eBay. There is good stuff to be found, but you must wade through tons of terrible fakes to find it.

There are plenty of honest European dealers who offer good items and there are also several large auction houses (Hermann Historica, San Giorgio Atse, Von Morenberg Aste, Dorotheum) that have AH items. Unfortunately the auction prices tent to be high, but you have to pay a high value added tax fee (VAT).

On any big ticket items, be sure to consult some collectors experienced in this field.

Good luck and welcome to Austro-Hungarian collecting!

[Chip M]

Having collected WWI Austrian items for decades, I can tell you that the equipment items are the most accessible. Field caps, trench helmets and uniforms are very expensive. There are still major items that I have not found, like the large backpack, period boots, trousers, etc. I'm not suggesting that you don't try, but as Brian indicates, there are big European collectors that tend to force prices up and scoop up the good items that do appear.

Chip

[mwelsh]

Thanks for all the tips. I really appreciate it. I an in need of a bayonet from for an austrian m95 bayonet.

I see a bunch on ebay however they are from Bulgaria which leads me to believe it is probably a post war Bulgaria frog along with most of the ammo pouches on ebay.

Does anybody have any comparisons or tips on how to tell the difference ?

[Chip M]

I only have a couple of Austrian bayonets, so I'm not one to give advice. The bayonets are fairly easy to find. There are several small differences. The "NCO" bayonet has a loop for the cloth knot. There is a special version with a site built into the barrel ring. I might suggest that you go to Gunboards.com and take a look at John Sheehan's WWI forum, where you can see his extensive collection of Austrian rifles and bayonets.

Chip