It's still out there!!

[Rich G]

What an amazing find!

Some just have good luck... I used to work near a local auctioneers, the type that would do house clearances, etc. I think I went there every Wednesday lunch time (their auction day) for about 3 years and the most I saw was a beat-up 1914 EKII.

Rich

[Douglas 5]

WOW !
What luck !!
As mentioned hard to find much up here in West Canada , a few WB , KVK ,West Wall , Annex medals , tinnies , the odd repaired WW1 EK2 for 200 to 300 .- and lots of fakes from beginners that got taken .on Ebay ..and then flogged for pennies .
Douglas

[Douglas 5]

Just to add ;
Denis N in post 12 refers to the 'book' , which is ?
What is known about these 3 dots in the top left corner as appears in Dave's post 4 ??? Are these the 3 dots ?
Douglas

[Robert P.]

I'm sorry you feel that way, Steve. The e-stand is where I make most of my buys because of the prices being what they are. And, I personally try and keep my prices fair to others.

Robert

[Anthony Evans]

That is one of those rare finds all of us dream about. Too bad it's in the same category as winning the lottery. For every one of those deals, there are tens of thousands of the deals us collectors have to see everyday. You know the ones I'm talking about, the what are they thinking, you have to be kidding, what's it coming to deals that are pretty much common place now. I mean even the Estand, which was supposed to be a place for fair deals is now gone to the dogs. Has anyone seen what most people are asking for an EK1 there now. It's' a joke! Most of the decent deals I get now are from people I know on the side, not the Estand, or heaven forbid dealers. There was the odd dealer I used to buy from here or there, but even they have gotten too crazy lately. I hardly bother with the Estand now because the items are overpriced. The days of being in the right place at the right time to grab that sweet deal are over. Most will know what I'm talking about. You could troll the Estand and bag some good stuff for a good price. Now I check in, see the latest overpriced items and move on. It's too bad you can't find a nice deal like the one shown here. Even the local shops you go to seem to think they have something special when all they have is a KVK2. What happened! Even oil hasn't gone up this much this quickly. It's really taking the fun out of it. A good portion of the estand is just what amounts to dealers selling without the overhead. Many of them don't actually contribute to any threads. I didn't mind this when they were offering the best prices that you could find, but now they are no better than the dealers. What's the point?

I agree about estand aspect. Since my time collecting I have came across alot of collectors who had thier run and have moved onto other areas of collecting or other hobbies who usually sell parts of thier collection for what they got it for. For example few years back I picked up a cased light weight zimmerman DKIS for 2700 granted its not stone mint condition, but still was in very fair condition. I know with the prices rising up on alot of items and the fakes getting better it is turning alot of probably great potential collectors away from this hobby. I dont know how much hell I am going to catch for this statement but I am honestly glad for ebay and other online auction sites. You have a better chance of getting a authentic piece and at a resonable price then some dealers who will swear up and down thier piece is real. But I must say this is a great story that this thread was started by. I tip my hat. I really hope your friend cherishs the piece no more then a kvk 2nd class.

[rkdek]

Douglas,

The book would be the RK book Dietrich Maerz published in November of last year.

The 3 dots are not exactly in the spot you marked but very close. Have a look just above the left frame ribs of the upper arm.

[rkdek]

What is known about these 3 dots?

The answer is left to the appreciation of each collector but it is speculated that the 3 dots are possibly post May 1945.

[Robert P.]

I've never waged a war or had a dispute over any issue on the WAF before, but I will now. I still argue that the e-stand is a great place to find good deals. Granted, not all are willing to offer what you consider 'fair pricing' all the time, but look at the European prices lately and reconsider what you're saying here.

Robert

[Anthony Evans]

I've never waged a war or had a dispute over any issue on the WAF before, but I will now. I still argue that the e-stand is a great place to find good deals. Granted, not all are willing to offer what you consider 'fair pricing' all the time, but look at the European prices lately and reconsider what you're saying here.

Robert

By no means am i trying to wage war, and you are correct about the euro prices vs the us dollar/ prices. Maybe they are feeling the crunch of gasoline also? It seems though that this hobby is slowly starting to increase in price all together. There are some collectors who sale to thier own kind for a decent price and you can find alot of them on estand and the other websites that contribute to the research ww2 items. Right now I am being offered a substanial mark up on a piece I bought, and I honestly would rather help find one online for the guy or local shop what ever have you. So he can have it in his collection and I dont have to feel like a putz for saleing it way over price, while maintaining my own. Going back to the piece. Not sure about the 3 dots

[Robert P.]

By no means am i trying to wage war, and you are correct about the euro prices vs the us dollar/ prices. Maybe they are feeling the crunch of gasoline also? It seems though that this hobby is slowly starting to increase in price all together. There are some collectors who sale to thier own kind for a decent price and you can find alot of them on estand and the other websites that contribute to the research ww2 items. Right now I am being offered a substanial mark up on a piece I bought, and I honestly would rather help find one online for the guy or local shop what ever have you. So he can have it in his collection and I dont have to feel like a putz for saleing it way over price, while maintaining my own. Going back to the piece. Not sure about the 3 dots

Thanks Tony,

And, I'm not into waging wars either with anyone. It's just that I've had the good fortune of finding fair-priced collectibles on the e-stand, and am merely standing up for it because I'd hate to lose it. Remember two weeks ago when the forum was shut down for the weekend. Imagine if it never came back up again. We'd be at a loss, a big loss. I, for one, am extremely thankful for this forum and it's e-stand. I just purchased a nice Juncker Heersflak with the early maker mark last week for $225.00! Granted, the catch was missing, but what a bargain! And, I bought a cased Zimmermann in wonderful condition for $3,000.00. A mint one, cased, for $3,700.00. You just don't find those prices anywhere else.

Robert

[Darrell]

Douglas, Denis is correct. The flaws are circled in the picture below:

[Steve Campbell]

Robert, I'm not singleing everyone out on the estand, but can you honestly say that you haven't seen some crazy asking prices for EKs, just to mention one item on there lately. Also, you have a great collection and contribute much to this forum, but I think it is safe to say you have more descretionary income to spend on this hobby tahn most. For those who aren't in such a fortuitous position, and I count myself in neither the lower or upper end of such a spectrum, these prices are driving them away. they have to be.

[Robert P.]

Robert, I'm not singleing everyone out on the estand, but can you honestly say that you haven't seen some crazy asking prices for EKs, just to mention one item on there lately. Also, you have a great collection and contribute much to this forum, but I think it is safe to say you have more descretionary income to spend on this hobby tahn most. For those who aren't in such a fortuitous position, and I count myself in neither the lower or upper end of such a spectrum, these prices are driving them away. they have to be.

Steve,

With all respect, your imaginary image of me is wrong. I too, like most here, sacrifice in order to buy. I say goodbye to many pieces I would love to have because of the lack of funding (I presently have pieces on layaway plans here and there because of this). With that said, yes, I can honestly say that the e-stand is one of the best places I have found to purchase collectibles. True, with the general higher costs of collectibles online, we can expect to see the e-stand prices climb as well. Let me draw a scenario to illustrate...John pays 395 EURO for a very nice marked Schwerin Destroyer badge. Two months down the road he decides to sell the badge in order to upgrade to a mint piece. He posts it on the e-stand for what he paid for it minus the initial shipping cost. We call his price 'crazy'. Can you blame him for wanting to recover his investment? Another scenario...Jim has the same badge he bought ten years ago for 175 EURO. He puts it on the e-stand for 200 EURO. What a bargain, we say. John's the crook, and Jim's the hero. In fact Jim could have done some research, and asked the 395 EURO for his too, but he wanted to pass along the savings to someone else, for the good guy that he is. What I'm saying is, we don't know each and every scenario. One thing for certain, the online dealers are raising everyone's pricing. Honestly, if you shop around all day online for a particular badge, and finally find it pop up on the e-stand for 10% less, where will you buy? We can take off in any direction on this subject. New collectors coming into the hobby make collectibles like marked EK's harder to find, right? Sure. So, now we have a dealer's market. The stock is low for harder-to-find crosses, so the prices rise. I think this is the case in every field of TR collecting. The stocks are dwindling, and the dealers are feeling the squeeze, and this is reflected by the prices climbing. We see this. To me, it's basic economics. Pretty soon, collectors will be (and already are in a greater part) networking among one another for what they want, bypassing the online sites altogether. BTW, do you have any 'L/16' EKII's, any extras?

Robert

[vonStubben]

Here's a Juncker Lazy 2 that I purchased at my local monthly Antique show for $50.00 nine years ago. I later sold it to one of our members in Sweden before the prices skyrocketed.

I also found a K&Q on a 2nd class ribbon that had button holes sewn at both ends in a large manila envelope stuffed with early qualification patches, collar tabs, shoulder boards, and breast eagles that my neighbors brother brought home from the war. Total cost for everything was $150.00. Talk about being thrilled when I dumped everything onto my kitchen table and the last thing to fall out on top of the entire haul was an original K&Q KC! Unfortunately I can't find the hard photo I have of it at the moment so that I can show it now.

Chuck

[Steinar]

thats not bad
and a very affordable price

hope you find that pic...