57er Collecting "Has it Peaked?"

[George L]

I think Jeff has made some great points, and others as well. I see this as a reflection of the general militaria hobby, and with a small pool of "57" guys, any that leave is a decent hit.

Personally, one of the challenges with staying focused on 57's...is the lack of manufacturers that the TR side had, which produced a ton of awards. An example is say you like IAB's, where do you go after you have an early one by S&L and a Deumer? On the TR side, there's collections just focused on collecting all the different makers of a badge, which can become a lifelong endeavor.

I don't get too fired about the badges anymore, but still love the early RK's, and highly decorated ribbon bars.

[Husaren14]

One damm hell of a interesting topic.
As a stupid college student barely paying tuition cost this is basically the current situation.

There are lot of young people interested history, among the smart college nerds or even so called swaggers and youtubers.
Just go to youtube and type 'WW2 meme' or something like 'WW2 in nutshell'
Young people loves it but why not collecting?

Sadly it's money, stuffs are getting old and expensive and 57er stuffs are likely an area goes along with TR collecting, and even if stuffs doesn't get more expensive however the young people's budgets are keep decreasing regards to college costs and low wage, no job etc..etc..social issue..president..so on..
What they can do is just browse, literally.

It's untouchable for newcomers, it's getting richs hobby and people already thinks it is richs hobby requires being richer than Donald Trump and no idea where the hell they should buy from.
And expanding repro market consumes people willing to buy something, those mass production repros bites the wallet away for nothing and since it is most easy to access repro .. you know the rest..(yeah even 1957 repros)

Here is some example from my experience, when my high school friends visited my house, of course they took a look of my collection and they thought I'm really rich even if I live in rented small house full of overly constructive liberal spider family, because it is just unbelievable to access such relics so I told them the price and they freaked out they never thought it would be cheaper than they thought but still expensive for their expenses.

Simply people are not brave enough to try start collecting and becoming poor over time, I think 1957 can be good start for this current generation.
But I'm damm proud that I managed to here as only 18 years old.

[Matthieu]

One damm hell of a interesting topic.
But I'm damm proud that I managed to here as only 18 years old.

Bless you - the majority of youngsters in my country can barely tell you when WWI or WWII happened.
They just take selfies and fool around when visiting a WWI/II cemetery, it pains my hart.

I stepped into the hobby out of pure interest in WWII, due to both school, friend and family interest.
And still now, at least 2-3 times a year, I take holidays which are WWI/II related.

Ever since I started working, it has indeed become easier to collect.
Indeed so, as student, it was not very easy to collect certain pieces.

Recently my interest has somewhat faded ( sadly ), but I still collect.
I roam the net, attend fairs where possible and buy / sell the odd piece.
Seeing I prefer collecting attributed groups, it digs a big hole in my wallet.

Still, we all started somewhere ... an EK2, and IAB or wound badge.
Seek and you shall find it .... hopefully good pieces for fair prices.

Come on guys ... keep it up ... collect, share and enjoy !!!!

Mathijs

[109]

I collect 57er and only just started. I am reading and researching. But I would say this section of the forum is far friendlier than the swaz sections. I like the prices of 57er, but am quite selective on what I buy.
Mac

Bless you - the majority of youngsters in my country can barely tell you when WWI or WWII happened.
They just take selfies and fool around when visiting a WWI/II cemetery, it pains my hart.

I stepped into the hobby out of pure interest in WWII, due to both school, friend and family interest.
And still now, at least 2-3 times a year, I take holidays which are WWI/II related.

Ever since I started working, it has indeed become easier to collect.
Indeed so, as student, it was not very easy to collect certain pieces.

Recently my interest has somewhat faded ( sadly ), but I still collect.
I roam the net, attend fairs where possible and buy / sell the odd piece.
Seeing I prefer collecting attributed groups, it digs a big hole in my wallet.

Still, we all started somewhere ... an EK2, and IAB or wound badge.
Seek and you shall find it .... hopefully good pieces for fair prices.

Come on guys ... keep it up ... collect, share and enjoy !!!!

Mathijs

[ccw]

I'm a "new" collector - at least of 57ers

I've been a militaria collector for decades and I only just started picking up 57er about a year ago and I love the stuff - and the very informative discussions and posts on this forum have really formed the basis of my interest (thanks everybody)

As usual for me, in part it's finding a whole new area which I knew nothing about and which I can research further. While affordability is also a factor (in comparison to the early imperial or Einigungskriege stuff I have collected in the past), the lack of really good fakes is also attractive (I still stay miles away from most TR stuff for that reason - one of my earliest collecting disappointments was figuring out, over time, that the majority of the pieces in my first TR collection were reproductions).

Plus, since I'm a relative "newbie", there are still lots of pieces I'd love to add to my collection (though my wife might have different thoughts on the matter ) - by the way, anyone have a "spare" '57 Seekampfabzeichen ?

[Brig]

Very interesting topic.

Those of you who know me know that 57ers are a srcondary hobby to me, and my penchant is minis. You also know that the past year has had me very busy with work, galavanting around the globe, and essentially out of the race temporarily

However, occassionally I run a search or two on ebay to see whats out there, and it seems not many exciting minis in recent months.

However, rest assured that I will be back in the game in a couple months, on the prowl for a piece or two to make up for my hiatus...hopefully some nice mini combos. I have a lot of catching up to do with old topics here

[Skyhawk]

Thanks to All for the additional comments to this thread!

I probably should change the title to "Has 57er Award Purchasing Peaked?". Based upon the comments in this thread, the amount of solid hinge block 57er items going unsold on WAF E-Stand, it might be more a change in purchasing pattern than lack of interest.

Rare awards will always sell quickly, however there is a definite slowdown in selling/purchasing of the more common awards, even in earlier forms.

Also...........

A BIG difference between casual interest, and committed purchasing!

Best,

Jeff

[Peter Wiking]

I still have a lot of 57 decorations of fine quality that I intend to sell but interest appears to be low. I see that a lot of guest is visiting our forum. Is it the same for Imperial and Third Reich?