SS Tunic Opinions.

[gew98]

The most interesting aspect of this thread is how this topic has revealed the mentality of collecting in general.

The addage of "buy the item and not the story" is over used IMO. Most of the people that I hear throwing this advice out at every turn are the very ones that rarely follow it themselves! By this I mean if someone is selling 5 SS camo smocks that are identical (for example) and suggestion is that they were found in some discovered stockpile then there is a cry of "no way"! This is in effect looking at the story and not the item! I don't care if a dealer has 1000 un-issued SS smocks for sale, do the smocks stand on their merits each or is the "story" that there are too many of them cancell that out? Time to put your money where your mouth is in terms of letting the item speak for itself!

There are collectors out there that have accumulated for instance dozens of FJ helmets....some with over 100 that I have known.... if this collection came on the market from one dealer would it be rejected out of hand?

One thing that I have long noticed in this hobby and most other similar ones is that if you are known to pay good high amount hard cash on the spot for a certain type of item....no BS or games, then those type items will come to you.

Phil ; Your opinion on the "abuse" of buy the item and not the story is flawed if I may say so in a nice PC way. The Market of nazi uniform items and headgear is so freaking polluted with fakes that any dealer with oodles of such items cannot be completely insulated from selling such tripe. That's the nautre of the beast when wandering into such a rife fraud strewn "commodity". Now if these dealers detailed their buys of fraudulent items and their recourse on them I'd have some good faith in them. I know for a fact that collector friends of mine when they buy a fake rifle/bayo/dagger they make it known to the world what the deal is and it's flaws and whom the seller was. Rifles and bayonets of the two world wars are rife with fake junk too , but it's so much easier to tell the real deal from the ersatz boinkered with items , unless of course you are a blind fool with money whom buys the stories and not the items.
If a dealer buys a known collection it's usually advertised as such with all the fanfair involved for "validation". It's also a known gimmick for some shady types to salt such auctions with fake crap to move it.
And of course as already noted some collections when auctioned off contain alot of fake junk hitherto never before admitted to - like the Bruce Stern collection of small arms for example.
I also know a handfull of high end collectors whom use that hard cash expecting no bull method. It's freaking flawed as they often buy crap from such sellers as they get some good with the bad and take the hits to get the good stuff coming their way.Good methodology ?.... no , unless you have the money to burn.

[Mike C]

John,
I know you say it how you see it and that is refreshing and there should be more like you who are not beholden to any secret handshake club or afraid of commenting on dealers items even if you buy from there.

If the dealer is a good guy he will understand and should expect that some of his items maybe/will be put up on forums like this and others for discussion, just like in the panzer wrap thread many have jumped to praise the seller and pored scorn on doubters instead of addressing the questions about the items, maybe the thread was doomed from the start when it was known who the seller was, but there have been plenty of topics about many dealers throughout this whole forum some well known some not, for example and all site sponsors Gotleib, PVL Detlev where no punches are held back so why is this thread any different?


Would it not have been better to discuss the items to counter the doubters ?

Best
Bob

Bob,

Dragged back into this thread to point out that the difference is that no one (until Glenn and NTZ's very welcome comments below on the cap) has pointed out anything negative on any of the items in the shop. It has been an utter generalization based on quanity and price - no more - to this point.

The other point I would make is that, in my opinion, the four covers you refer to are absolutely legit - and should be studied by those that want to learn more. I have owned 6 or 7 in my time (none from this owner and none of the 4 on the site) and they are (IMHO) good. You may wonder why these 4 have suddenly surfaced - and I suspect I know the reason and the source of these pieces - but it makes NO difference if they are good.

And, by the way, I again stress that I hold no brief for this dealer - but I dislike uninformed or non-specific comment. If a piece is wrong, go after it - but know what you are talking about.

Mike