Hello, & how did you begin collecting?

MedalFuhrer

Hello,

I'm not sure if this is the right section to introduce myself or not. I am a friend of Herr Scheisse and started collecting at the start of the year when he did.
We did a mammoth road trip about a year ago driving across Eastern Europe together. While in the Czech Republic we wandered into a dusty old military anique shop- it was a treasure trove of historical gems. Herr Scheisse made some nice buys and his collection was started!
I regretted not buying anything but a few days later while in Vienna we went into a less dusty antique shop and I got ripped off with my first medal! I bought it because I liked the workmanship of the medal rather than knowing what it was. I paid way over the odds, but my collection was started!

Order of The Red Banner of Labour








So how others get started? And what was their first buy/ item?

So I hope in the coming months you don't mind me asking questions and using your experience as I am very new to this. Thanks.

Dr Strange

Welcome to the forum MF and HS!

The more the merrier and it is nice to see a variety of awards and collectibles.
Please make sure to familiarise yourselves with the forum charter just to be aware of what can and what cannot be posted here:

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=51832341#post51832341

Hope you enjoy your stay and get a couple of discussions started.

Best,
P.

Morlar

I can't remember my first medal, I have a feeling it was either an Iron Cross 2nd Class, or maybe it was a set that included a) Infantry Assault Badge, b) Eastern front medal (Winterschlacht Im Osten) & c) wound badge in black.

I definitely overpaid for some of them - mostly EKII buying in STG. From medals I moved to award documents, and to postcards, photographs and onto photo albums. I still make buying mistakes from time to time but far fewer than when I started.

Welcome to the forum btw ! Looking forward to seeing more of your and Herr Schiese's items. Sounds like an interesting roadtrip.

HerrScheisse

Thanks for the welcome everyone! The first thing I bought was an impulse buy in a Viennese antique shop - a german WW2 dagger. I was so amazed to have genuine history in my hand that I started getting more things here and there.

Here some of the first things I picked up. The Soviet Patriotic War Badge Second Class - I wwas delighted when I got it! And later I realised it was not from WW2 but the 40th jubileum given to all surviving veterans :-)

But its a beautiful piece.



And a Capture of Berlin medal. I have some more Soviet but have to photo it still.

MedalFuhrer

Cheers guys. I will post some more of my small collection. I am sure most of this is run of the mill stuff that the more experienced has 100 times over, but I will post pics anyway as it is all new to me.

BlackEdelweiss

This is my collection so far, not too much in it yet but it is growing. I started about 3 years ago but unfortunately I went back to college 4 years ago so I have not had much money to invest in new things. Unfortunately I have spent the 4 years studying engineering so I cant see my finances improving much in the next while either.
All my stuff is Third Reich militaria, I have absolutely no interest in anything else. There is just something about the swastika that fascinates me and has done since I was a child, I have no nazi sympathies whatsoever by the way.
To my knowledge everything is genuine except the helmet which is a genuine shell repainted by Richard Underwood. I also have a few photos which I cant find and a few other postcards that fell behind my bookshelf last week.

Fuinseog

MedalFuhrer wrote: »

Hello,

I'm not sure if this is the right section to introduce myself or not. I am a friend of Herr Scheisse and started collecting at the start of the year when he did.
We did a mammoth road trip about a year ago driving across Eastern Europe together. While in the Czech Republic we wandered into a dusty old military anique shop- it was a treasure trove of historical gems. Herr Scheisse made some nice buys and his collection was started!
I regretted not buying anything but a few days later while in Vienna we went into a less dusty antique shop and I got ripped off with my first medal! I bought it because I liked the workmanship of the medal rather than knowing what it was. I paid way over the odds, but my collection was started!

[.
So how others get started? And what was their first buy/ item?

So I hope in the coming months you don't mind me asking questions and using your experience as I am very new to this. Thanks.

I have been collecting on and off for about twenty years.

I do know if everyone follows it but I notice collectors often are reluctant to say where they got something or how much they paid for it.

Vienna has several militaria shops and sometimes you can get a good deal and sometimes you will be ripped off. very often you are given the bums rush if ask the price.

Dr Strange

I started collecting because of my family history. I found out more about my grandfathers, uncles etc who all served in different armed forces branches during WWII (there are also family records of members who fought in WWI but they are rather obscure).

As a kid I always listened to my grandfather talking about his time in an artillery regiment on Crete. He was lucky as he went into British captivity there because his regiment was scheduled to be sent to Stalingrad.

There's so much more but unfortunately no documents and medals survive for any of them. I think my grandmather has her fathers' Wehrmacht driving license. He went missing in East Prussia when the Russians advanced there.

My uncle was in the Kriegsmarine on a Mine Searcher in Brest (Brittany). He went into captivity with he Americans. His brother was not so lucky, he got injured in the Balkans, went home to Danzig (which is now Gdansk) to a hospital and was caught there by the Russian advance.


Lots of stuff there, and everyone has their own story to tell.

HerrScheisse

Hi Preusse,

That is some interesting family history to know and to have heard first hand - thanks a lot for sharing!

MedalFuhrer

BlackEdelWeisee- that is some collection "for just after starting"! Nice! Where did you get them- here or abroard? Nice collection.

And Preusse, is it brilliant that such family history is never forgotten.

BlackEdelweiss

MedalFuhrer wrote: »

BlackEdelWeisee- that is some collection "for just after starting"! Nice! Where did you get them- here or abroard? Nice collection.

Sorry, I meant to reply to this ages ago MedalFuhrer, I got everything online so far, I havent had the chance to hit mainland Europe in the last few years to try my luck in the antique shops or flea markets. I have a few new additions and I am waiting for 3 others to arrive in the post so I will put up a few new pics when they arrive. I think I have been ripped off on one deal though, I bought a 101 Jaeger Division stickpin from a guy on a forum and I still havent received it yet(2 weeks now). I had a bad feeling from the start but I am trying to collect what I can about that unit and dident want to pass it up.

Jagdtiger

I've always had an interest in military history, fueled by hearing about my

family's military history, which included everything from the G.P.O. in 1916

to both World Wars and possibly Vietnam (something I'm still looking into).


The first items I acquired were a Hungarian helmet from WW2 which my

granny brought home from Luxemburg, as well as my Great Grand Uncles

WW1 Trio which she had gotten off my aunt to give to me.

From there I started to collect helmets, jumping to general German awards,

naval badges, Luftwaffe flight clasps, and on to what i collect now which is

Imperial German medal bars.