which hall? Fame or Shame

[philip turland]

where should this one be placed?????

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.d...MakeTrack=true

[SMP]

Shame

[Chris]

Dogshi t.

[Willi Z.]

A guy from the US posting a helmet on ebay in the UK. Interesting....

A it is anyhow.

[philip turland]

A guy from the US posting a helmet on ebay in the UK. Interesting....

A it is anyhow.

thanks guys.....could never have afforded it and i believed it was bad....

but what about this one

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.d...e=STRK:MEWA:IT

i know it is one of our european friends but is it worth a punt

philip

[Chris]

That helmet is like my original lance from the Battle of Hastings. It's completely original, except that somewhere along the line, the head was lost and was replaced, and then a few years back the shaft rotted away and was also replaced. To me, military artifacts are like antique furniture: condition and originality (in the sense of no replaced parts and no refinishing) are the heart and soul of the issue. A Chippendale chair that has four replaced legs and has been completely refinished is really not worth anything, even though some of the molecules are original. The same is true of that helmet. It's a ground dug shell. It's back is blown out. It's been repainted. It has no original hardware. OK, so some of the molecules are original, but who gives a shi t? It has no value.

[philip turland]

thanks chris, i do take on board all of your points, however this might be a way to be able to own and preserve something which is partially original....

It still might be out of my price reach at the end of the auction but i feel this would be more original and a worthwhile investment than a gmax or A.N. Other repro which has never been there.....

regards

philip

[Chris]

Philip,

Everyone in our hobby has a budget. Well, almost everyone. The question is whether a collector pisses away their limited budget 100 Pounds here and 100 Pounds there on rusty bits of junk and moth-eaten rags, or whether they assemble a small, high quality collection of attractive, affordable artifacts which will appreciate in value over time. If you save your money and wait patiently, for example, with 500 Pounds you could buy a quality paratrooper badge, a pair of "been-there" collartabs, an original smock eagle and a postcard-sized portrait photo of a paratrooper in a splinter smock, and frame them together in an attractive wooden frame. Every piece there will appreciate in value, and in the meantime, you have a nice, colorful, evocative display of quality pieces any of us would be proud to have on our desk. Or you could have a pile of rusty junk which will never be worth anything.

I'll let you (and any other newer collectors reading this) in on a collecting secret: The way to build a collection is to build equity. You may one day live in a mansion, but unless you're Prince Phillip you don't start out in one. You work your way up. I could not possibly begin collecting FJ stuff today, it's out of my reach. What I do is cash in equity. Everything I've ever bought, whatever it was, a button or a helmet, was high quality. When I want to buy something, I sell something. But because I invested wisely, that button or helmet is worth ten times what I put into it. So by selling a piece I bought on the ground floor at today's top floor, I can afford another top floor piece.

If you buy that helmet, it will never be worth a penny more than you pay for it next week. Never. It's a $200 piece of crap today, and it will be a $200 piece of crap ten years from now. On the other hand, the sweet paratrooper badge you buy for $500 next spring by saving your money until then will be worth $1500 ten years from now. Invest in quality, not rubbish, and you will never regret it.

[August von Mackensen]

thanks guys.....could never have afforded it and i believed it was bad....

but what about this one

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI....me=STRK:MEWA:IT

i know it is one of our european friends but is it worth a punt

philip

philip,
exactly the same helmet was last week on german Ebay for sale, and also from a czech seller if i remember correct.
Curious or not?


Mathias

[Perry Floyd]

I couldn't agree more..

[Matt M]

Philip,

Everyone in our hobby has a budget. Well, almost everyone. The question is whether a collector pisses away their limited budget 100 Pounds here and 100 Pounds there on rusty bits of junk and moth-eaten rags, or whether they assemble a small, high quality collection of attractive, affordable artifacts which will appreciate in value over time. If you save your money and wait patiently, for example, with 500 Pounds you could buy a quality paratrooper badge, a pair of "been-there" collartabs, an original smock eagle and a postcard-sized portrait photo of a paratrooper in a splinter smock, and frame them together in an attractive wooden frame. Every piece there will appreciate in value, and in the meantime, you have a nice, colorful, evocative display of quality pieces any of us would be proud to have on our desk. Or you could have a pile of rusty junk which will never be worth anything.

I'll let you (and any other newer collectors reading this) in on a collecting secret: The way to build a collection is to build equity. You may one day live in a mansion, but unless you're Prince Phillip you don't start out in one. You work your way up. I could not possibly begin collecting FJ stuff today, it's out of my reach. What I do is cash in equity. Everything I've ever bought, whatever it was, a button or a helmet, was high quality. When I want to buy something, I sell something. But because I invested wisely, that button or helmet is worth ten times what I put into it. So by selling a piece I bought on the ground floor at today's top floor, I can afford another top floor piece.

If you buy that helmet, it will never be worth a penny more than you pay for it next week. Never. It's a $200 piece of crap today, and it will be a $200 piece of crap ten years from now. On the other hand, the sweet paratrooper badge you buy for $500 next spring by saving your money until then will be worth $1500 ten years from now. Invest in quality, not rubbish, and you will never regret it.

AMEN