Surprising coincidence - any other stories out there

[wehrpasswilly]

Hi all fellow collectors - just thought I'd share a story from my history of collection. In one of my phases when I was collecting all types of documents - I picked up a nice NSRL sports award book from an auction site (if memory serves me right it was Manions). Six odd months later, I picked up another from eBay and it was for another won the same person at a different sports venue. I'm assuming the Manions item was from a USA resident and the second one came from Scotland I believe. Nice to have them both together now.

Does anyone have any likewise stories from your history of collecting?

[hucks216]

A few years ago I bought from a dealer a Soldbuch and some miscellaneous paperwork to a pilot who flew in a Luftwaffe ground attack unit. Then one day in 2010 while just browsing this site someone posted a Flugbüch asking for information.
At the time I didn't have any interest in such items and so usually didn't bother going into threads showing them, but I did on this one and in the second image was the page showing the name of the pilot - and it was none other than the same man in the Soldbuch!
We managed to agree a deal and so I was able to reunite the operational Flugbüch with the Soldbuch.
Since then I have been contacted by someone who owns the pilots training Flugbüch but we weren't able to agree on a deal so that remains out there.

[Angel Farré]

Thanks to internet and forums like this it happens more often, I have three wonderfull expirences, first I bought a KC Soldbuch with some photos and documents, I showed it here and a memeber contacted me because he knew where the Wehrpas, preliminary KC award and some other photos were and now all reside in my collection. Them I purchase a group to a DKiG winner and Ian Jewion was so kind to sell me some more documents relating to the Officer so I can reunite the group. Finally I purchase the Sodlbuch to a DKiG winner and some months after this some of his citations.

It is wonderful when this happen.

Angel

[Tom B]

I've never had this luck ! What are the odds ? Tom

[Towarish]

Thanks to internet and forums like this it happens more often, I have three wonderfull expirences, first I bought a KC Soldbuch with some photos and documents, I showed it here and a memeber contacted me because he knew where the Wehrpas, preliminary KC award and some other photos were and now all reside in my collection. Them I purchase a group to a DKiG winner and Ian Jewion was so kind to sell me some more documents relating to the Officer so I can reunite the group. Finally I purchase the Sodlbuch to a DKiG winner and some months after this some of his citations.

It is wonderful when this happen.

Angel

Don't forget that we were able to reunite some of Heinz Wittenbergers belongings .

Cheers,

[Angel Farré]

True, you were so kind to make a trade with me in order to obtain a wonderful photo from this Panzergrenadier Oficer.

So as you can see it happens more often than you think

Angel

[schoenwurf]

Great thread, great stories. Here is my collector’s experience with a HUGE coincidence

2 years ago I bought a basic item on Ebay. The seller and I both live in the same area so we met each other to finalize the transaction. We talked about our hobby and it turned out we were both interested in the French 33rd SS Charlemagne (since then we became very good friends).
I told him about a document (SS Beförderungsschreiben) in my collection regarding the promotion of a French Charlemagne soldier to the rank of Waffen-Sturmmann. I got this document from a German dealer and didn’t really pay attention to the name of the promoted soldier…
My new friend from Ebay told me he knows a Charlemagne veteran very well and could introduce me to him. He mentioned the name of the veteran, which didn’t say anything to me.

Once I was at home I looked at my Charlemagne document closer and guess what…..: The document was about the promotion of THE Charlemagne veteran I was expected to meet a few days later !!!

So I met the veteran and I was able to show him “my / his” promotion document. We could evidence that the rust stains on the document were strictly identical to those on his Soldbuch (which he still had).

This is how we were able (after a succession of coincidences) to reunify the promotion document with the Soldbuch in the hands of the SS veteran (about 70 years later !)

But the story doesn’t end yet : I asked the German dealer (who sold me the promotion document) about its origin. Sadly he couldn’t answer me, he was at the hospital... A few days later he died.

So we will probably never know :
- how this Charlemagne document has been separated from the Soldbuch (in 1944-45 or later ?)
- and how did some German dealer in Cologne got this document, before selling it in 2011 to some French collector (me) who could finally present it to the meanwhile 93 years old promoted veteran !

… Unless someone here has the answer ??!

[wehrpasswilly]

Excellent stories

[Lambert]

In 2012 I bought a small group to an infantry soldier, consisting of his WWI Militärpaß and his WWII Wehrpaß. A few months later, I was able to pick up his citation for the Ehrenkreuz für Frontkämpfer.

[Tom B]

Great stories !!!

[Joe1944]

Several years ago, (at least 6?), at an automotive swap meet, I picked up a regular old U.S. Basic Field Manual, the guy selling it was the son of the former owner, a T/5 who wrote his name and SN# on the inside. One of the first military items I ever owned!

A few years later, at a completely different show, in a different state, and from a different vendor, I bought a "Basic Notes" booklet from Camp Crowder, Missouri, which also served as a kind of "get-to-know-the-place" introduction for facilities in the camp. It's actually pretty interesting to read.

A short while after, I began to pull some of my books out to try and do some research on the men who owned them.

First the Handbook. O.K., found the guy on the web, done.

Then I open up the cover of the Basic Notes.

I tossed the 2nd down in shock. Same owner, and SN#.

Bought years apart from 2 different vendors in 2 different states.

Freaky and Awesome!

[Gran Sasso]

Got some years ago a nice foto of a SS tank driver, given to me by his former tank commander.
Found another example of the very same foto at a show in italy years later.

[Brian R]

I've never had this luck ! What are the odds ? Tom

Me too, Tom. I'm amazed that I haven't had this type of luck.

To Angel's point, though, I have benefitted from the internet when looking at certain award documents. I have had a couple where I was sure they were original, but not 100%. With some major searching, I have found documents related to the recipients of my citations elsewhere on the web. They weren't situations where I was able to reunite them, but seeing other legitimate documents to "my" recipients gave me the confidence that what I had was, in fact, totally original.