Gottlieb Auction

[Serge M.]

Here is another that has been sitting for the past 5 years:

http://www.craiggottlieb.com/engine/...rman+Militaria

Another Goblin faked color visor, I assume.

[Gary B]

Was there something wrong with the desk set?

There was nothing wrong with the desk set. The set which was used to sign the Munich agreement was known to other dealers long before Craig obtained the opportunity to sell it. The only "issue", if you will, was the asking price. I recall CG (or the consignor) was looking for over $1M USD for it.

Gary B

[Flextech]

I disagree, plenty of evidence to suggest that it was a humped up piece of garbage
anything that Gottlieb and Alexander autograph conspires on you can bet your sweet spot somethings fishy

[Gary B]

As I recall the debate over this set was not that it was humped up but whether or not it was the ACTUAL set used in the signing of the agreement. As mentioned the set had been available to other dealers long before CG auctioned it.

Gary B

[BrianK]

Let's leave the desk set aside for this thread. There's enough to discuss here with the headgear in the auction.

[BenVK]

Agreed Brian, one should never judge an item based on the reputation or the personality of the seller.

Unfortunately though, none of these photos of the colour piped SS visors Gottlieb is offering can tell us much about them either way. On the surface, they seem ok but we all know that means very little.

In my experience, if you want to sell one of these caps online via photos, you have to go that extra mile and supply a forensic analysis backed up by lots of detailed macro photos. Either that or you send it to a few collectors with experience of judging such things to get their hands on appraisals. Regardless of the method, you at least have to make that effort. Simply taking a few photos of the exterior is simply not good enough.

It's no wonder that a lot of these caps sit there for years if not decades and remain unsold.

If they were classic car dealers, they would all have gone out of business years ago. At least the car guys make an effort and will bend over backwards to supply you with as many photos and as much information as you want and in super quick time.

I really don't see the point in having stock sit there for years? do you? The longer it sits there, the less likely it's going to sell.

[Jeff V]

Agreed Brian, one should never judge an item based on the reputation or the personality of the seller.

Unfortunately though, none of these photos of the colour piped SS visors Gottlieb is offering can tell us much about them either way. On the surface, they seem ok but we all know that means very little.

In my experience, if you want to sell one of these caps online via photos, you have to go that extra mile and supply a forensic analysis backed up by lots of detailed macro photos. Either that or you send it to a few collectors with experience of judging such things to get their hands on appraisals. Regardless of the method, you at least have to make that effort. Simply taking a few photos of the exterior is simply not good enough.

It's no wonder that a lot of these caps sit there for years if not decades and remain unsold.

Agreed, especially with the extremely high prices being asked.

[BenVK]

Well, the price is always subjective and based on one's own opinion.

Personally, I think that any authentic coloured piped SS visor in great condition should be up in the $20 to $30k range simply because they are so hard to find. Don't get me wrong, that price is ridiculous for a cap but if you consider that a regular white piped SS kleiderkasse visor in similar condition is going to be $8 to $12k and that a colour piped cap is what? 100 times more rare? it starts to make sense.

That's never going to happen though because the market for such colour piped caps is so tainted.
But does that make sense either?
Shouldn't it make the real ones more desirable? Not in my experience. Seems the risk is too great for most collectors who are not experts in judging visor caps , hence the true value is not there...yet.

[BrianK]

Well, the collector's market is a bit irrational. SS items sometimes sell for 10 times the price of non-SS TR material of equal rarity. But this discussion agrees with what I was thinking. The only reasonable person who would bid on a SS color piped visor cap in an auction would be an expert who had already handled the hat.

[alexanderautogr]

I disagree, plenty of evidence to suggest that it was a humped up piece of garbage
anything that Gottlieb and Alexander autograph conspires on you can bet your sweet spot somethings fishy

Flex this.

[BenVK]

The only reasonable person who would bid on a SS color piped visor cap in an auction would be an expert who had already handled the hat.

I've owned a few. There is little to get excited about apart the colour of the piping but that's exactly how it should be. It was the same when I restored the peak on the white top SS Officers cap. Nothing special apart from the colour of the wool but I doubt I'll ever hold another in my hands. It sold for a small fortune but I didn't charge a penny for the restoration, just wanted to handle a white top. What a fool I was...

[BrianK]

The cavalry piped SS visor cap in the Craig Gottlieb auction sold for $4,700.