Small Attack Craft Awards Valuation Survey

[Jeff V]

IMO the prices listed are at a minimum double the real world pricing, if not triple. I have personally seen these things languish on those dealers sites for years at a time with no action. These dealers believe that if a sawfish patch has not sold for 3 years the price must be doubled. After 6 years unsold we end up with the absurd numbers they are currently listed at. Rarity does not equal desireability when it comes to these pieces.
best wishes,
jeff

[JustinG]

I tend to agree with Jeff V.
The prices these fetch are really outrageous. Most are unissued format. This is believing that these sawfish badges are some of the most valuable cloth in the field of collecting.

Me personally, I feel that about 400Eur for plain sawfish, and going up by a multiple of 200euro for each upper qualification is reasonable pricing for these awards.
A wartime attributed smooth fin metal version would be hard to set a value. I personally know of only one example.

Prices of course are subject to opinion. Value is whatever someone is willing to pay.
Maybe someone will bite on the values listed earlier. There just won't be as many takers when it comes time for a re-sale.

Views expressed are simply that: views/opinions IMHO.

Regards,
JustinG

[Jody]

Small Attack Awards

Hello,
I agree with Justin and Jeff. The prices for these badges are crazy and that is the reason that I do not own any. It would make a possible re-sale impossible. When I buy something I have to take into account the possibility that I may have to re-sale it. I don't see too many people lining up for these badges.

Just my opinion and Happy New Year!

Regards,
Jody

[Ludwig]

http://dev.wehrmacht-awards.com/foru...d.php?t=564655

[John R.]

Ludwig, here are the patches that were for sale, mentioned before in this thread. I have been told the qualification patch is period but the grade patches are fake. This is the only image I have of them.

In general, there are speciality areas that command high prices even though others may not value those artifacts as highly as the specialty collector obviously.

Dealers rapidly increase the price of those items in their stock since they know there is a demand.

It can become a vicious circle when individual sellers check dealer websites to see if they can price an item, then they see the artificially high prices on those websites and then try to demand that from you--in other words, dealer prices from a non-dealer. I have tried to buy items in South America for example and have been surprised to be referred by the seller in some small town to the "Collectors Guild" as the price they expect. The internet can be amazing and it does no good to tell them that those are consignment prices at all. They just will not sell their item for a penny less.

So valuation is very difficult and if only one piece is needed to complete a series for a collector, then sometimes the sale price is far above what other collectors deem realistic.

I have been told by certain Napoleonic collectors that what we pay for TR is ridiculous, and to them, it is. I guess in the end, as Justin said above, it is up to the collector as to what he wishes to collect and to how much he is willing to spend. It helps to specialize these days IMO since then you can spend more per item in that area since you are not trying to buy everything. Collectors that only collect Tigerverband items will spend more in that one area since in the end, their total investment in the hobby is not that great.

In the early collecting days of Jody for example, I think you could collect over a broad spectrum, but if what you are looking for today are pieces in outstanding condition, it is just too expensive, at least for me, to try do anything else but specialize and keeps the collecting drive going without breaking the bank.

Just my take.

John

[Bob Hritz]

From what I read, there is only one accepted maker of the embroidered badges. Is this correct and therefore Huskin's examples are not considered original?

Bob Hritz

[Ludwig]

From what I read, there is only one accepted maker of the embroidered badges. Is this correct and therefore Huskin's examples are not considered original?

Bob Hritz

That´s correct! But what do I know...

[Thomas Bendixen]

Hi guys, interesting subject and agreed the dealerprices on these IMO are crazy. Heres one I photographed on the danish armoury museum in Copenhagen, the museumnumber on it was so low that it suggested that it entered the museum very shortly after the WW2.

Cheers Thomas

[John R.]

Thanks Thomas.

[Norm F]

There's one in bullion posted here by member "germanpolice" in England. Anyone ever seen one like that before?

Best regards,
---Norm

[germanpolice]

Looks like nobady has seen one like this before from teh lack of comments, which gives me the impresion that it is genuine. This is obviously made from silver gilt as the metal has gone black which is typical of silver, not the first time I have seen this on KM insignia.

[Ludwig]

Looks like nobady has seen one like this before from teh lack of comments, which gives me the impresion that it is genuine. This is obviously made from silver gilt as the metal has gone black which is typical of silver, not the first time I have seen this on KM insignia.

I´m afraid it´s not what I expect to see, when looking at an original badge.
IMO a postwar fake.

[germanpolice]

Ludwig if it is a postwar fake where are the others??? The construction of the bullion is within accordance with other bulliion insignia of the time, its as thick construction as other bullion insignia and highly detailed for a (as you would put it) fake, there are 3 types of bullion used in the construction of this thing which would take an inordinate amount of time for such a small badge, cannot see any reason to go into such detail to turn this into a fake, this insignia also has a cardboard template, which is also in keeping with original workmanship. Until I see others appearing in bullion in this description I will remain positive that this one is original

[Ludwig]

The only known originals are like the one posted here by Thomas Bendixen, but if you are happy with your badge, be my guest. I have no problem with that.
If I thought it was original, I would have offered you so much money, that you couldn´t refuse to sell it, because I still miss that grade.
Send some pictures to some well known dealers (Weitze, Winkler, Baldes etc) and ask EUR 300.– or so, and see what answer you get. Or put it up for sale here at the WAF. This is, of course, just my humble opinion.

[Ludwig]

Ops! Sorry! I don´t miss that grade, but that version of costruction. I miss the 4th grade (three swords).