Viktor Kempf on ebay

[Thomas Durante]

Since you really do not own the badge (but I do) did you get permission from me, either verbally or in writing, to use my pictures? No!

Viktor, you such an amazing idiot. If you had only spent 30 seconds sending a simple email to Tom Yanacek politely requesting the use of some of his badges for your book project, you would have realized that he is one of the nicest guys in our hobby and would have been more than happy to contribute to your book. He is one of the most generous collectors I know and has selflessly contributed his time and effort to many books in our hobby, with absolutely no monetary gain at all for himself. All it would have taken was a simple, polite request on your part for his permission. The same with Hubert, Norm, Dietrich, etc. All it would have taken was a simple, polite email request and you would find out that these guys would bend over backwards to help with no gain on their part.

Instead, you spent countless hours doctoring stolen images from WAF in the hopes that no one will notice. Not only is that immoral and criminal, it is downright stupid and such a waste of your time. And now you are paying the price for your stupidity; hope you enjoy the fruits of your labor now that your books have been removed from all selling venues.

Tom

[Norm F]

All it would have taken was a simple, polite request on your part for his permission. The same with Hubert, Norm, Dietrich, etc. All it would have taken was a simple, polite email request and you would find out that these guys would bend over backwards to help with no gain on their part.

Although I agree with Tom that any of us are happy to give such permissions with no monetary gain, I must also point out that in this particular case such permission would never have been forthcoming.

There has to be some assurance that the publication in question meets a minimum standard in quality and integrity. A quick internet search on the author in question here shows he has multiple websites selling fakes as originals at inflated prices in both the militaria and coin collecting communities, not to mention infamy in the international press for dealings of questionable ethics on ebay. I don't doubt that some well-meaning collectors may have given their permission without knowing this background, but had they known his history and current dealings I'm equally sure that permission would have been withheld.

Best regards,
---Norm