Advise on starting a collection

I've got a few items in my collection but nothing that is too unique. I'm looking to buy a few items but I'm worried about replicas/reproductions. I've spent quite a bit of time reading through this forum, and reading what I can on the net.

At the moment I'm looking some german flags, medals, patches. It's not hard to find online stores selling these items, but who do I trust? Are there dealers that can be recommended to me? Prices are all over the place. I'm not so much worried about getting the best deal, I just want to make sure I get an original piece. Any recommendations would be great.

I plan to also checkout any shows that may be in the area soon.

 

Always use well known dealers who will not sell fakes. If you buy them on Ebay, use Paypal ,so if it's a fake you should get a refund guarantee. Of course the best would be to make a trip to the Battlefield countries and find the items yourself , or go to antique shops or flee markets in Europe as I do.

 

I was in London for a week in December and randomly found a shop selling ww2 stuff. I picked up an iron cross while I was there but wished I had time to go back.

Can you recommend any dealers online? I try to stay away from Ebay when it comes to this kind of stuff.

 

A good place to start for getting opinions on various items is Wehrmacht-Awards.com Militaria Forums - Powered by vBulletin Have a look through the forum there (you will need to register - for free - to see the pictures and pay an annual fee to post your own pictures) and you will see that there are many people on there who will be willing to help. It also has a section selling loads of items.

Dealers with good reputations (and I have used many times with no problems) are...

The Ruptured Duck
The Collector's Guild
ww2
Janssen-Militaria
Klaus Butschek - german militaria
German militaria - iron cross, waffen ss, luftwaffe, paratrooper – Military Antiques Stockholm
German Historica-Thomas Huss- Militärische Antiquitäten und Militaria Versandhandel
CoCollector.co.uk | Collectables, World War Memorabilia, German Militaria, Medals...
Archive Militaria
Galerie d'Histoire - Historische Antiquitäten und Orden

That should keep you going for a while! I am presuming you are from Washington, USA and not the Washington in England? If it is the latter let me know and I will send you more UK based dealer sites. All of the above have good reputations among collectors who are also helpful. But at some point you will buy a fake and get your fingers burnt, as some of the fakes out there are very good and they are improving. It is just the nature of the beast so to speak.
Have fun collecting as it can be a good hobby and a good investment. The one piece of advice I would give is to identify the area you wish to collect and stick with it. The hobby is an expensive one at the best of times without trying to collect everything that is out there. I did the latter for many years but have now concentrated on soldbuchs, wehrpasses & award citations.

And it is a good idea to steer clear of Ebay. A section on the Wehrmacht-Awards forum lists loads of good dealers and also ones to be avoided.

 

I have a very small rather strange collection. I bought most of the items from yard sales, garage sales, and flea markets. I only buy items that are unique, and what I hope are authentic, which is really the hard part for a novice!

 

Also, to broaden your own knowledge a little it is worth investing in some books on the topic/area that you wish to collect. Considering that EK I's go for anything around the $350-400 mark spending that amount on the relevant books is a wise move in the long run.

 

Go for QUALITY not QUANTITY.

 

I was wandering around London and stumbled across this place! My girlfriend wanted to check out Grays Antique Market and I just walked around looking at things and was amazed at what I found! I bought a simple Iron Cross from the owner. He was very helpful and I wish I would have been able to go back and look over his collection again before I left.

Thanks for the great links!

 

That's what I'm in the process of doing. I've gotten a few books right now to educate me on whats out there, and what to look out for. Reading these forums has been a great tool as well.

 

I second this recommendation and add this one too;
Gentleman's Military Interest Club -> Germany: Militaria & History

And the best dealer I know for German items;
Das Reich .co.uk - Third Reich Militaria & Collectables

The one thing I would mention is how I've generally found yank prices much higher than UK ones, in fact I've found UK dealer prices to be lower than German dealers even.

I don't know how much jet-setting you do, but it might even be worth considering timing a visit to coincide with a big show like War & Peace in Kent at the end of every July. This features a wide range of dealers from across Europe, which not only gives you a chance to see the things first hand, haggle like crazy, but also get used to seeing a wide range of items and so get a feel for what things look like.

Happy Collecting.

 

Are you interested in US items or German or what?

 

Right now I'm looking at getting a few things US and a few Third Reich. I've been starting all small with medals and things like that.

 

London is a good place for antiques, I'd also recommend the small antique shops in Lincolnshire, that where Raf material might end up from time to time. It's often a matter of sheer luck as many are lurking and buy the material for resale on Ebay etc... I live in France, so I visit my local shops once a week and there is always something new for a few euros. I have posted most of my finds in the militaria section

 

Many dealers above w/ good reps-also sky-high prices.

Try these:

Detlev Niemann - Orden und militärhistorische Antiquitäten
Helmut Weitze - Militärische Antiquitäten und Antiquariat
Home Page
www.bcmc.com
www.lakesidetraders.com

All good to deal w/ and i've been doing so from most of these for up to 12 yrs now.

Imperial German-try: Der Rittmeister Militaria Entrance Page

Bill Shea & CG are way over-priced.

 

Forgot to mention-stay away from Peter Lukacs-he f*****me out of some mint and very rare cloth.

 

ive been doing a lot of militaria searching (lol) on militaryantiquemuseum.com
its a museum website so almost everything on there is real and they tell you what is a reproduction

 

A good source for original autographs of Knights Cross recipients is heroautographs.com Ritterkreuzträger- Autogramme, Autographen und Unterschriften
Autographs is also an interesting field of collecting and not so overpriced like medals.

 

A much cheaper and better source for these is to write the Vet himself.

 

Anybody bought any items from Military Antiques Stockholm lately? happy with it? Thanx for info!

 

I think I found the answer by checking who owns the place:

Peter v Lukacs...

At least by what Carl thought about the man in Dec 2008..