Militaria collectors anyone?

[Douglas Jr.]

Hi everybody,

I´ve been participating of this nice forum for a while but I´m curious about something. It is pretty clear that everybody here enjoy a lot of subjects related with military stuff.

However, I didn´t see any collector here It is not a critic, but just a curiosity. It would be expected to find someone who collect medals, pictures, patchs or anything...

Just like to hear from you.

Douglas.

 

[Nonskimmer]

I thoroughly enjoy the stuff! All I possess I'm afraid are my grandfather's RCAF uniform and my great-grandfather's bayonet from the Boer War, which is in less than ideal shape.

 

[Erich]

yes Douglas depending what it is. My phtograph collection is rather huge. problem with medals and soft goods is my space in which to present them. Several K-98 bayonets. A German fiorestry dagger with engravd blade. A EK 2 marked # 100, Ost front medal. A Rag -tag of German Heer uniform pieces and belt buckle. A very rare KM Mutzenband of the KM Schiff: Linienschiff Schlesien and an Oberfeldwebel KM shoulder board. Other items include a rare and in excellent shape DAF flag with the black cog and the Ferrul - flag top included

 

[Nonskimmer]

Wow. Nice!

 

[Douglas Jr.]

Erich and Nonskimmer,

Nice to see that you are around with some nice stuff! My field of collecting nowadays stay with medals, documents and Wehrpass/Soldbuch. One or two helmets, all from Imperial or III Reich Eras. Pictures are, of course, a nice thing to collect. Do you collect official cards (Hoffman, Verlag, etc...) or private shots? Or both? I´m starting to collect pictures also, because they look great in displays! By the way: very beautiful DAF flag!

Nonskimmer,

Some nice collections started as you, with ancestors´ items. Sometimes they worth much more for us than any other stuff!

Douglas.

 

[Douglas Jr.]

By the way, here are the most recent items that arrived at home: a Luftwaffe 2nd Model Dagger and a WWI and III Reich Medal bar.

Douglas.

 

[Nonskimmer]

Nonskimmer,

Some nice collections started as you, with ancestors´ items. Sometimes they worth much more for us than any other stuff!

Douglas.

Absolutely! I'll part with my grandfather's uniform the day I die, and then it will go to a reputable museum along with a service history of the man who wore it. It's been arranged.
For me it isn't simply an artifact, but an heirloom. It's a piece of my heritage, and one that I'm extremely proud of.

Thanks for the latest batch of pics. They're great!

 

[cheddar cheese]

Yeah great pics! 8)

 

[DerAdlerIstGelandet]

I have been a World War 2 Memorabilia collector for about 12 years now. I mostly collect Third Reich uniforms and headgear. I will have to take some pictures of my collection, I have a room set aside in the house that I am building that I am going to display my collection. Probably my favorite piece is my Afrika Korps tunic complete with Cuff Title. I also really enjoy my first tunic I recieved 12 years ago which is my Grandfathers Wehrmacht tunic.

 

[evangilder]

I just acquired another mahogany model, a P-40B signed by Tex Hill. I was actually looking for a P-38, but when I saw an autographed model, I had to go with that one. I have been collecting a few items here and there as time and money permit. Most of my stuff is American Army and Air Corps items. I picked up a working Waltham 24 hour clock from an F4U Corsair. I also managed to find an Army green hebrew prayer book issued to US Army Jewish soldiers. That was an interesting find.

Hey Adler, did you get a Gideons bible when you were at the MEPS station? I still have the one that was handed to me back on September 20, 1984.

 

[DerAdlerIstGelandet]

I never went to the MEPS station. There is only a recruiter in Germany and then he does all your paper work and puts you on a plane to Basic Training.

 

[Medvedya]

Here's my Gran's WAAF Gideon.

 

[DerAdlerIstGelandet]

Pretty neat.

 

[Medvedya]

Thanks! I remembered that it was sitting in one of the office bookshelves.

Just one of the odds and ends that thankfully survive the passage of time.

 

[evangilder]

Those are real gems! I once heard a story of a Gideon bible that saved a soldiers life. A piece of shrapnel that would have ended up in his chest got stopped by the Gideon bible in his left shirt pocket!

 

[DerAdlerIstGelandet]

I can believe that has happened on several occasions but it sort of has become a tall tale and that story is used now in every conflict. We heard about in Iraq "Hey did you hear about the grunt who got hit by a bullet but it lodged into his bible and saved his life." Dont take me wrong I can believe that it did happen but I think that most tales of it are just that stories.

 

[BombTaxi]

Ive got an oil bottle from one of my Great-Grandads Enfields - so it could have been at the Somme or Gallipoli. I also have my other Great-Grandads manual "Instructions For Armourers 1915" He was anout sixteen at the time and responsible for maintaining the 15" guns on HMS Barham. He was wounded at Jutland but it was only minor and he lived to a ripe old age I also have my uncles badges from his spell in the Staffords during the 80s.
My grandad still has his leather flying helmet, a navigational computer, pilots notes for Harvard and Chipmunk, and his flying overalls (he still wears them for decorating etc!) 8)

 

[evangilder]

I agree Adler. They have taken a life of their own. I can see a Gideon Bible stopping a piece of shrapnel, but not a bullet. There are many stories like that and stories of flasks that stopped bullets and shrapnel. I am sure there is a lot of lore in them, and I haven't seen any of these alleged items that have stopped them. But they are neat stories anyway. I heard about the bible shrapnel story in a Vietnam book I read years ago. Which one, I don't remember.

 

[BombTaxi]

The Queen Mary tobacco tins were credited with saving quite a few Tommies on the Western front. I can imagine they wouldnt have been so impressed with a bullet in thier baccy tho!

 

[DerAdlerIstGelandet]

Yeah I can believe shrapenal over a bullet anyday.