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**CPB** · 01-09-2016, 05:22 PM

Ha, no you're not crazy. But hey, we're not talking about Hitler's iron cross here. It's a cool piece, bought at a fair price, with a story that adds up, and the veteran's details to boot.

**CPB** · 01-09-2016, 05:27 PM

Originally posted by max history View Post

Sorry, but I disagree. There was no 'market value' at the time these items were looted. They were seized as trophies of victory and nothing more. I am old enough to remember schoolboys swapping Nazi items in the 1950s and whole Nazi uniforms, swords, daggers, medals and the like being sold in Portobello Road market and similar places for next to nothing. The Nazi collecting craze didn't really gain pace until the 1960s and it then developed through the 1970s when fakes first really started to appear in small, but then increasing numbers. I wish I'd held onto the items I swapped away as a schoolboy - bomb fins, caps, tunics, flags, badges, medals. Most bits brought back by fathers who gave them to their kids, now worth a fortune.

As for this particular book, I don't find it unusual to see a lengthy story written by a vet. However, looking at the book itself, I am a little sceptical that it came from where the story relates. Knowing Göring, if this had been a personal copy, it would have a much more ornate binding and cover and I would have expected to see a personal message written by the author who was Goring's personal assistant. I hate to say it, but I have serious doubts it came from Göring's desk.

Max.

We'll probably never know for sure. The fact that the vet gave the background story to why he was in the area at the time, plus his name and phone number, definitely ups the chances.

Would I bet my house on it? No.

Am I happy to take a leap of faith for the price I paid? Yes.

**max history** · 01-09-2016, 05:35 PM

Originally posted by CPB View Post

The fact that the vet gave the background story to why he was in the area at the time, plus his name and phone number, definitely ups the chances.

Sorry, but I cannot agree. It doesn't if it was a wrong number or if it was the vet himself who was trying to increase the interest and therefore the value. I hope I'm wrong, but it just doesn't ring true. Anyway, if you're happy with it and the price, that's all that counts.
Max.

**CPB** · 01-09-2016, 05:53 PM

Max, I really don't think this was a personal copy - I'm under no illusions.

All I'll say, if I was a vet pulling a fast one, I wouldn't give my phone number...

**max history** · 01-09-2016, 06:03 PM

I think the inference is there because it supposedly came from Goring's desk. Otherwise it's just another low value commonly found book. Glad you've not been swept up with the illusion it was a personal copy.
My point about the number is that we don't know if it was a correct number, so maybe the vet didn't give his number!

**ReiseReise** · 01-09-2016, 07:45 PM

I tend to agree with Max on all points (but maybe things were different in the US?), and I still think there is little significance to a story written in the book by the vet (or at least supposedly by the vet), especially later in life; it comes back to that old collecting mantra, "Buy the item, not the story."

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