Recent Trip to Germany

[astrelick]

Recently I spent 4 weeks in Germany. Primary purpose was to see our daughter perform at the State Theater in Ulm and to look up my wife's ancestors. In between I attended a number of antique markets and visited a lot of militaria/antique shops in a number of large and small German towns. I was particularly impressed with the size of the monthly (?) market in Neu Markt, near Nuernberg. As far as dealers are concerned, I was very impressed with Carsten Baldes of Militaria Archiv, in the Fisherman's Quarter of Ulm, tel. 011 49 731 159 73 28. I made most of my major purchases from him. He is young, speaks good English, has a huge selection of high quality WW II, WW I, and earlier German military items. His prices are at least 50 % lower than those in Munich and at other dealers. He takes mail orders and is on the internet.
Generally speaking I was disappointed with the quantity, quality, and prices of the low-end items I was seeking. It seems that everything was 2 to 3 times more expensive, in US$ terms, than when I was last her two years ago. The main culprit seems to the Euro!!! All the Germans are complaining about the high cost of goods and services since the introduction of the Euro. One Euro is equal to about 2 DM but it seems that most of the merchants just replaced the DM sign with the Euro one!!! I found this to be the practice at most antique markets and with many dealers.
Would appreciate hearing from any members who had similar (or different) experiences.
Art

[James Noble]

Hello Art. Could you give Carsten Baldes of Militaria Archiv, internet address. Thank You, jnoble

[astrelick]

Internet Address

J
Sorry, but I don't have it. Perhaps you may want to give him a call. He is open 1100 to 1800 hours German time. He was on the phone a lot both times I was in his shop.
Art

[Gene]

He can be reached at:

http://www.militaria-baldes.de/us/us_frame.html

[Rich G]

Jeez-us! Is that site hard to navigate, or what!?

I tried for ages to try to list some items and after continuously finding nothing I finally had to give up.

Either the site doesn't work properly, or I'm a total thicko !(oooops did I say that out loud? )


Rich

[James Noble]

Rich, Don't feel alone about the site it must have been a nightmare to set up because it's a sob to use. Been in 3 times and just starting understand it........jnoble

[Klaus O.]

Dear fellow collectors:

I just hope that Carsten Baldes is reading your messages, because I find his website extremely unpleasant to browse with...

Too bad, because you can really find some goodies.

Does somebody have some problems in viewing Weitze's website, because I do... In fact when I try to open the "Java" windows, it gives always "error". I guess it's a configuration problem. Anybody has the solution to this problem?

Thank in advance!

Ciao,

Claudio

[James Noble]

Well after several attemps I think I have it figured out. the only problem I have now is his lack of pictures of the items for sale. I know he has a thumbnail catolog but that only covers a small amount of items for sale. So stick with it guys , it only hurts for a little while.....jnoble

[hawksy]

Hello,

Claudio,

I have the same problem with the error on Helmut weitze site, i thought it was just me, some great things on there but i don't bother looking anymore it got to be a pain in the backside.

If you find out what's wrong could you tell me please.

Thank's

lee.

[David S]

I wish I had the same difficulty on the site! Unfortunately not ... lots of nice stuff, spend way to much

I hope you get on it, a good site, good prices!

David