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Archive February, 2017
Wednesday, February 15, 2017
The army lot below is kinda neat. I don't know if it's all original to WWII or not but it's a big glob of equipment including some knives and will fetch a pretty penny. I also like the bullion listed below because I'm really into patches and insignia.
Another German listing pulled and this time it's the wooden box lid pictured to the left. We will never know how the bidding would have played out. Still lots of good picks here to choose from in the German category.
A couple of nice listings in this block although it's the pistol lanyard that makes me wonder. If you look at that listing it looks like something that would sell for $1 at a yard sale but with knowledge you can list it on eBay and fetch over $100 in bids.
Auctions can be a bitch or maybe it's just wishful thinking. The seller of the Russian pilot's ring below states he estimates the value at $5500-$6500 but with 8 hours to go the 20 bids have driven the price up to just over $300. I'm sure there must be some snipes waiting out there....right?
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Friday, February 10, 2017
Man this is a pretty tough category when you have an auction on a helmet that is over $2000 in heavy bidding and the reserve has not been met! If that's more than you can afford there are some nice war bonds posters in today's issue for less than $200. I'm also watching the tank destroyer patch.
The two familiar friends are once again tops in this German category. Helmets and any type of blade are very popular in this category week in and week out.
Some of the best selling items I feature every week in the newsletter are those representing the Airborne. In this block the Canadian officers cap badge is lights out hot with 19 bids and over $1100 in bidding.
One of my favorite types of listings is one that includes a complete uniform with some of the gear that you can put a name to. Pictured below is a grouping from Sgt. Harshbarger who served in the 91st Wild West Division. Right now it's got 15 bids but hasn't made it to the reserve yet.
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Monday, February 6, 2017
Thanks to Rarepatchman on eBay there are a few really neat pieces in this United States block. The one getting the most attention is the OSS SACO US Naval Group jacket patch. The other one is an Allied Mission To Observe The Greek Elections shoulder insignia. Some of you may prefer to look left and bid on the original nose art photo for the B17 named the SEQUATCHIEE.
You can't go wrong with a German infantry officer hat or the helmets that are included in this block. Like most issues of the Hot Finds there are several daggers that have poked their way into the the top of the listings.
We can only hope the ritual suicide knife listed below didn't have to serve it's purpose. This one looks pretty clean so my consistence doesn't bother me including in this block of auctions featuring items from many different countries.
The US 2nd Corps helmet looks very clean and will make a really nice pick up for some collector when it ends tomorrow. All of these listings are from the WWI category and are among the highest running auctions with bids in the category.
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Friday, February 3, 2017
The bidding on the 83rd infantry fixed bale helmet has eclipsed $500 but it still hasn't met the reserve price. Meanwhile my favorite in this block is the tank killer patch which seems to be in interesting variation as shared by some bidders. Looks like some bidders were also trying to get him to yank the auction down early but he didn't go for that trick.
The eBay police have stuck again. After I found and posted the German pin pictured below they have yanked the auction. Well another good one that is still live would be the Panzer officer's cap or on the left there is a nice tunic.
I thought it was pretty interesting how the British poster below has the word "Brexit" as a key word in the subtitle. Is this totally spamming or is there an honest connection to the wartime nationalism of 1940s and the modern day? I also liked the Canadian grouping pictured below from Nova Scotia.
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Friday, February 26, 2016
I've been writing this newsletter for several years now but I don't know if I've ever featured pantyhose. You know you are a serious collector if you are willing to pay more than $100 for some WAC stockings.
One of the WWI inventions that is on the project list is the submarine. If you are going to tell the story of the German sinking of the Lusitania then it fits. The sub binoculars listed below are from WWII but are a reminder for me of that lesson coming up.
To get my class warmed up for their presentations tomorrow I showed them a video on the Battle of Jutland. I usually see more RAF stuff in this block as opposed to the Royal Navy. Although I grew up as an Air Force brat I was always interested in big naval ships.
The Zimmerman telegram was probably the thing that ultimately pushed the United States to enter the war. We have been talking in class about the entangling alliances and protection agreements we have in the United States today that could possibly draw us into a war that we didn't start. Even my students wrote out some hypotheticals that sounded like reasonable theories of how this could happen.
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