Anyone care to give a SOS report ?

[SMP]

Well I am sure you must be home by now. So how was the SOS for FJ items ?

Steve

[John Hodgin]

Cheers Steve,

For Larry F., the little Maus, and Willi, it was very, very good. But I'll not steal their thunder.
Regards,
John

[John Hodgin]

Though not strictly Fj, I did find this eagle while at the show.

[SMP]

Though not strictly Fj, I did find this eagle while at the show.

That's a BIG bit of cloth the eagle is sewn to, John !
How about showing the rest ?

[John Hodgin]

Here you go Steve.

[JohnC]

Good Show

Like JohnH mentioned, Maus, Willi and several others had an excellent show(great to finally meet you John). I hope they post their items, I'm sure everyone will enjoy. I think Willi took photos of most of the good smocks and helmets.

There was also somewhat of a reawakening of nice FJ cufftitles at the show, with a fairly large group going up for sale and several singles here and there. One long time collector said it was the most good cuffs he has seen at the SOS. Willi, Raoul and I were able to pick-up some nice, rare cuffs.

Lots of fake stuff around, as usual, but I did see some nice metal and cloth FJ badges and a few document groupings. Also looked at several pairs of green knee pads, some FJ gloves and a few other smaller items.

I think a lot of attendees left early because of a winter storm that was bearing down on Louisville.

John

[William J]

My Take

While I'm not an FJ collector, I did pause at a table to admire a truly beautiful double decal luft, great paint across shell and spanner bolts, great liner and straps. I liked it also because it appeared that a nearly spent bit of shrapnel or a bullet had struck the front of the helmet with enough force to peel back a bit of paint and give its wearer a thunderous headache perhaps without further damage. It was a true one-looker as far as I was concerned, even from my limited experience. (Now watch one of the experts tell us that it wasn't! ) Anyway, it was there for the taking....but at $12,500, I decided not to sell off my truck so I could get it!!

Enjoyed the show immensely.

William

[SMP]

Here you go Steve.

Even if that was the only thing you picked-up, I would say YOU had a great SOS John . Is it too much to hope that the shoulder boards were on it when you bought it ?

Thanks for the reports guys, keep them coming. Any nice helmets or smocks at the show ?

Regards,
Steve

[John Hodgin]

Is it too much to hope that the shoulder boards were on it when you bought it ?
Any nice helmets or smocks at the show ?
Regards,
Steve

Not too much to hope Steve! The straps are original to the jacket, it was brought home just as pictured by the US veteran! This is good because I had sold my only matching HBT pair to Willi and had no others any longer

It's also good to have the jacket! I had also sold both my splinter jackets and the tan water example in the 1990s in order to afford a very rare smock.

There were a few killer smocks at the show, all priced accordingly. And some very fine jump helmets as well.

John C., it was great to meet you too! Congratulations on a ultra rare cuff title! Almost impossible to find unless from an old collection as this one. Hope to see you soon and have some quality discussions.

Regards,
John

[SMP]

Not too much to hope Steve! The straps are original to the jacket, it was brought home just as pictured by the US

[Daniele Tirelli]

A beauty, John!

[Jos L C]

Fabulous jacket,uncle John... !

Jos.

[Willi Z.]

That is the nicest and earliest HBT Luft gorund division jacket I have seen!

I just got back a few hours ago. I made in out of Louisville and back home in between storm fronts. I think the "little Maus" got stuck in the US. JohnH, you missed some action yesterday!

• A guy walked in wearing a splinter smock. I was the first to approach the guy, but it was not for me. I later saw a someone from France buy it.
• There were 9 original FJ cufftitles at the show!!!! 5 were sold. 2 were way overpriced and didn't sell and the other 2 are on hold, but the deal hasn't been concluded. I saw around 5 fake FJ cufftitles.
• At least 7 camo FJ helmets sold at the show. I think 2 went to a dealer in Holland. Only a couple did not sell. There were several fake camos on original FJ helmets. Several single decal helmets sold as well.
• A few bandoleers were present.
• 2 pairs of wartime knee pads, neither sold. An early pair did sell.
• A number of smocks, but most were overpriced. Some came out yesterday and I gathered some information on them. A few unique features. A couple were not for sale though.
• Only a couple of original cloth FJ badges. Many, many fake FJ badges. There must have been 20 fake Heer FJ badges.
• No boots or gas mask bags.
• Lots of fake Luft trop items but some origiunal caps, tunis and trousers as well.

To me though, the socializing, networking and sharing of information is what makes shows like the SOS superb. I do not think there is any other show that draws as much talent, and I learn more in those 4 days than 6 months on the forum, etc. It was nice to spend some quality time with JohnH, JohnC, DavidB, Raoul, Chris, JohnB, Perry....on and on.
More later.....

[Glenn McInnes]

Super smock John,Congrats.






Glenn

[Ardennes]

The show seemed to offer quite a bit of items to enjoy. I was shocked at the amount of fakes being offered including helmets, badges, belts and knee pads - I don't know why it upset me as much as it did, but I just expected better from the collective dealers.

That being said, and to echo some posts above, there were some beautiful items! There were several sumpfmuster smocks from the PoRiver depot available in incredible condition. There were some very nice helmets and some very nice Fallschirm cuff titles. I believe I saw only one Kreta title that looked right - and several that screamed suspicious...numerous fake jump badges. Uniform wise it was a little thin, although there were some nice HBT green and blue Luft uniforms present and a absolutely beautiful blue tropical webbing equipment display.

IMO, the prices on the helmets seemed to echo current market pricing? the smocks seemed to be priced high, and from what I could tell, most appeared to be returning home with the sellers.

I do believe one cannot study originals and the words of wisdom posted here enough prior to going to such a show. Also, I recommend anyone seriously considering a major purchase to spend some time with reenactors and note the current offerings there and to listen to any input they can provide. For example, I saw several repro helmets sporting Eric Grigsby's paint skills - and I'm afraid I couldn't stop one sale.

It was a great show and I enjoyed my time in Louisville, even after it was extended by the airlines. I'll try to post a few pics later.

Mike