regret not buying it!

what items came your way? and now you regret big time not buying them,or wished that you had the money at the time but just could,nt afford to....

 

just recently i had a great chance to get a heer zeltbhan....near perfect condition, and the dealers asking price was very low but i waited too long to get back to him.....so now im kicking myself silly

 

I regret not buying original ww2 u.s. dogtags 2yrs ago which had my name on,I waited! and lost them,gotta go for it andy, I! like you, did,nt,ray..

 

I had the opportunity to own an absolutely mint condition - still sparkling - cased GWB. Just didn't have a spare £300...

 

I have too many to list but will list a few anyway.

One item that singes my butt because I didn't get it was an almost absolutely perfect paint-decals leather and all-conditioned Double Decal M-35 Sauerland helmet that a German dealer offered to me first and for $500. I had to decline buying it only because I had just bought something else from him for about the same price-and I still had bills to pay first. He posted it on his site and the helmet sold quickly for $1,500.00. This happened about 8 years ago.

Another item I missed out on but could easily have had-was an officers shoulderboard single-that had the Stalingrad Cross on it. This one was not a field worn board because it had a beautiful conditioned Dark Blue enameled cross in it. The one with crosses on them worn in the field-were still highly detailed but had sky-blue paint on it instead of enamel. The only reason why I passed this up at that time, was because it is my policy to not buy shoulderboard siingles. I regret it in that case. BTW, for you that might not know-the "Stalingrad Cross" insignia that was worn on shoulderboards-were done so when the 44th Inf Div had been re-built after being descimated and captured at Stalingrad. When the 44th was reborn from the ashes-like a Phoenix-they were renamed the Hoch und Deutschmeister Division.

I would have greatly regretted not buying these following items to keep from going into temporary debt. They are:

A mint pair of Generalmajors shoulderboards-that I bought last year for about $450.00.

My mint Mauser Sniper Variant w/ 25 round fixed magazine. The dealer at the time (about 13 years ago) wanted $800 for it. However, I talked him down to $600 for it and he HAD to take it because his Wife was expecting their first child-and he needed the money to help pay some Med bills. I also didn't have to pay for shipping fees, insurance-nothing-which would have been at least another $200.00.

Lastly, I dug up the available money to get the Signals and Panzergrenadiers Officers tabs sets. Both for some reason unknown to me-are VERY hard to find and or find in the conditions mine are in. I can't fathom why PzGdr Offz tabs are hard to find at all? because the Army had at least 97 PG regiments during the war-excluding W-SS PGs as well as LW PG rgmts.

Each Regiment should have had some 60 officers (at full strength) who had the Grass Green collartabs. This of course excludes the number of oficers in PG regiments and or PG Divs that were in other branches like Arty, Medical etc.

 

Instructional cutaway Panzerfaust projectile - red edges to the cuts and everything - £30 in an Antiques shed in Surrey, still wonder why I didn't buy it.

My Dad still regrets not buying a 25pdr Gun from a scrappie for £5 back in the 70s... would've made a fine lawn ornament.

If in doubt, but you love it... buy it; you never regret an extravagance .

~A

 

Same with me, they saw action on Iwo Jima, but I wasn't able to get them in time.

 

Darn you Adam! for shame!!! For that, I hope the Queen or whomever can do it-takes away your OBE ;-)) Heh heh, I knew a guy who bought a 14 PDr US Civil War Cannon from somewhere, and did place it in his front yard. Needless to say, he recieved many visits from the Authorities because one of his insane anic: neighbors told them that he fired it at her house This happened about five years ago in Corpus Christi.

 

will opportunity present itself gain?,I know what you mean,if only,thanks for that,ray..

 

A Red Army General´s ashtray captured in Winter War. At the time I thought I had offered enough money but these days I have realized it was absolutely "humorous" sum that I ended my offer with....

 

sounds like a great helmet,and to know what it went for carl,OUCH! some good things you decided not! to let pass you bye too,ray..

 

very true von poop,just do it....

 

hindsight is a wonderful thing,pity,a nice trophy too kai,ray.

 

we ponder and its lost,or we jump in and do it,these things dont come along very often if at all kato,ray..

 

Carl, great post about the canon in somebody's garden. I know some people own tanks in the UK but I have never heard of an artillery peice in some ones garden even an antique one.
I always tell my wife if you see it then buy it. Will she? No.She drives me crazy about stuff she should have bought years ago....richardS

 

the reverse of this,a couple of yrs ago on ebay,I bid on an m40 german helmet which looking at the pic I thought an attempt to make it look like an eastern front,camo white,I bid around £62 I believe,and I won it! nor did I really want it,I said to myself why did you do that! as I really did,nt think I'd get it,no other pic to go on and did,nt ask seller questions,just thought a helmet with potential, if I wanted to do a paint job on it,and this is what turned up 3 days later what a surprise!!!! added chinstrap,a repro,damn

 

same sort of thing here,my wife when she went to spain this yr,and I said if you see a german helmet dont buy it as it,ll most likely be spanish,she,s off to egypt next week and I wonder what she'll find? here's hoping..

 

Hi Rhs, what's even funnier about the guy who had a cannon in his front yard-is that he's a US Postal Worker. Have you ever heard of that saying: "Somebody went postal?" - which means that someone went crazy and started shooting people - just in case you have not heard it ;-)) Anyway, this guy didn't lose his sanity but was the brunt of "Going Postal" jokes for quite awhile.

Also, about 15 years ago, I was friends with a family that owned a huge Antique shop in Kingsville, and they had bought two fully functional Brass cannons that fired tiny (im not sure what calibre? shells. These mini cannons were made in about the 1920s and sold to rich people who owned large Yachts and such. These cannons were used for actual protection from Pirate attacks off the Coast of Florida. Anyway, I had the money at one time to buy both at their asking prices of about $3, 500 each. I now wish I had bought them because last I heard, these easily sold for over $10,000 each-and that was over 10 years ago.

Also, as one thing that I greatly do regret not buying at the time, this was about 10 years ago. I was offered a Knights Cross, by a German dealer I then and now still buy steadily from) who had one for sale at only ONLY $400.00. They steadily sell these days for about $7,000 on up. Well, instead of spending too much for "such a large iron cross" I instead bought my first Krim Shield for $155.00 - knowing I paid too much for it them but wanted one badly) and I bought two Panzer Assault Badges for $75.00 each, a Silver Infantry Assault Badge for $75.00 and a mint black wound badge at $20.00.

Had I only known???? I bought volumn over rarity. For this one, I have kicked my own butt so hard that I wore it as a hat.

One thing I did not regret buying now that I think about it-is an Imperial Pinback award I think is called a: Warriors Cross in Iron-which is a Hessian award. These are rarer than Knights Crosses and im waiting for prices on these to start rapidly going up. I bought this about 10 years ago from the same dealer who had the RK for $400. I think at that time, I think I paid about $90 for it??? Im not sure what they might sell for today as you just don't see them for sale. If still fairly cheap enough? i'll buy more of them (only for investment purposes) and would use these as Trade items and such on stuff I don't have the money to spend on. Im supposing and is just a wild guess? that this award is probably in the $400 dollar range by now?

 

There are two things i regret buying, the first one is a Norwegian Resistance arm patch, i didnt know what it was...And the next day it was gone and the market closed so i didnt get to buy it then. And the day after that i found out what it was, so i have been going around thinking what an idiot i was for not buying it!(They sell for about 125 dollars online) and i went to the same market the year after and i discover a german spade, and there is lot of junk laying on the ground and i grabbed it and there was a lady that had bought a lot crap(Mostly lamps and much more junk) and she said it was her's(It was apperently in her basket[She was walking around with a basket]) So i got pretty pissed...

 

many interesting items, we've missed out on collectively