New to forums and a couple of questions

[Kelly H.]

Hi, I’ve just signed up on the forums

I have just now become financially able to start collecting German WWII memorabilia. I’m studying to be an archivist so I have access to a variety of conservation materials like acid paper, mylar, etc. for objects. Because I’m on a limited monthly budget I can’t really afford to collect helmets or the like.

I would like to get some ideas/opinions from the community on something that is collectable but affordable. My wife has limited me to about $200 a month… Some items that I’ve considered collecting..

1) Feldpost letters: I have a spent a few years studying German and thought that these would be interesting to collect since they might give an idea about what life was like during wartime. Does anyone have any experience with these items? Are the letters heavily censured or do they give a good idea about events/battles going on?

2) Photos: Since my main interest in archival studies is in photography I thought this might be a good area to get into. I noticed that photo albums seem to run be increasing in price though especially those relating to the SS/Navel/Luftwaffe. Any tips on collecting albums? Are fakes a big problem?


Anyone from the states have experience using ebay.de or ebay.be? Are the prices on average cheaper then those found on ebay.com or do the shipping costs/euro conversion make up for the difference?

Sorry I have so many questions…
Thanks for helping out the new guy.

[Gary Jucha]

Paperwork

Hello Kelly,
Even though I'm not a German paperwork and photo collector, I will say that you've found the right place to start doing some background research.

If you check through the forum using the search menu from the top bar, using general search terms that you are interested in, I'm sure you will find plenty of info to keep you busy for a while.

Take note of what the senior members have to say, as their knowledge of collecting to specific areas covers most pit-falls that you may encounter. There is no substitute for experience ... so spend some time reading up on some past forum postings ...


Good luck !

Gary J. - England

[douglynn]

wellcome to a bug

[Mark Proulx]

New Guy!

Hi:

Like Kelly's posting, I too am new to this site only just signing up today. My interest is in collecting photos of Luftwaffe and Eighth Air Force aircraft from WW II, in particular late war 109's, 190's and 262 variants.

So far I'm rather impressed with the shared knowledge on this site and I hope I can add a little bit from the aviation perspective.

Mark Proulx

[R MICHAEL]

Kelly, Welcome to the forum! $200.00 a month... nice allowance for your habit... . I don't know much about the feldpost side of collecting and the few I have do not appear to be censored, though by far my few is no way to judge the average...
As for photos and albums they are and can be faked. this forum is great to read about some keys things to keep an eye out for originality. good luck and look9ing forward for your updates as your collection grows...Mike

[Tim DC]

Hello Kelly and welcome.

eBay.de is the place to buy photos. Of course the EUR/US$ conversion isn't really encouraging for you guys, but the shipping costs shouldn't be much more than shipping within Europe. Photos can be shipped in normal flat enveloppes so these costs keep low. There is always a huge amount of photos and sometimes you can get great photos for low prices.

eBay.be (I'm surprised that you mention it) is usually cheaper than the bigger eBay sites, but for photos taken in Belgium prices go to the top.

As in each militaria collecting area, there are also fakes in this one. But I shouldn't consider the fakes as a "big problem" like in other collecting areas such as medals or uniforms. The last year I have only encountered one, out of hundreds of photos I've bought. Just like in other areas, the chance of a fake item grows if the value grows. And fortunately, the prices of photos - though growing - are still reasonable.

Hope this helps. Good luck.

[Hank C.]

I'll kick in with my two cents worth...not a photo guy, but the few feldpost letters I have are generally "the weather's nice and send more jelly" kind of stuff. Letters were required to be censored, so good details about where they were or what was (really) going on were for the most part not allowed. However, if you get good sized groupings from the same person over a couple of years, you can sort of read between the lines to get a better feeling of what they were thinking, even if they are not overly exciting.

Hope that helps as far as the Feldpost goes. Not glamorous, but there are a few "diamonds in the rough" to be found.

[djpool]

Hi, I’ve just signed up on the forums

I have just now become financially able to start collecting German WWII memorabilia. I’m studying to be an archivist so I have access to a variety of conservation materials like acid paper, mylar, etc. for objects. Because I’m on a limited monthly budget I can’t really afford to collect helmets or the like.

I would like to get some ideas/opinions from the community on something that is collectable but affordable. My wife has limited me to about $200 a month… Some items that I’ve considered collecting..

1) Feldpost letters: I have a spent a few years studying German and thought that these would be interesting to collect since they might give an idea about what life was like during wartime. Does anyone have any experience with these items? Are the letters heavily censured or do they give a good idea about events/battles going on?

2) Photos: Since my main interest in archival studies is in photography I thought this might be a good area to get into. I noticed that photo albums seem to run be increasing in price though especially those relating to the SS/Navel/Luftwaffe. Any tips on collecting albums? Are fakes a big problem?


Anyone from the states have experience using ebay.de or ebay.be? Are the prices on average cheaper then those found on ebay.com or do the shipping costs/euro conversion make up for the difference?

Sorry I have so many questions…
Thanks for helping out the new guy.

Hi Kelley,

Welcome to the forum. Just a few things to add to what the others have said.

Actually a $200 a month budget isn't too shabby and with the great lay away plans many dealers offer you might be able to set your collecting goals a bit higher. Fellow collectors are usually more than willing to work with fellow collectors on payment options. But thats your call of course.

As far as feldpost collecting goes there are a few folks that specialize in them. If you collect for content most of its pretty mundane reading.Plus lots of letters are in Sutterlin script. I'd say less than 1% of the actual letters are interesting. Letters from unit commanders to next of kin are interesting and contain lots of information.Letters from Germany to the front often talk about the bombing campaign, shortage of rations etc. I have a map from the Stalingrad area the soldier folded and sent home with his general location marked. Most FP collectors concentrate on different unit stamps, numbers which are great to research. Some of the feldpost envelops are also interesting. As far as collecting them Germany is the best place to get them.They are still cheap there and can be found in bulk. See if you can find a fellow forum member in Germany willing to find and sell them to you. Some U.S. collectors who spent time in europe have lots of FP letters they might be willing to sell you. Unless they specialize in FP most of these letters just take up space. So put an ad in the wanted section and see what happens.

Well good hunting! Regards Jim