Friday, September 22, 2017
Today's issue featured some nice uniforms including some dress versions and some that are a little more battle worn. I used to write a similar newsletter for pocket knives so when I spotted the nice example pictured below I made sure to put it in here.
This block is stocked full of German auctions that are getting lots of bids. You can always count on some helmets here and vintage equipment doing well.
This final block featuring WWII items give me a chance to scout out the small corners of the category and find some picks that are hiding in plain sight. For the most part there is very little Russian or Japanese in this group today.
I get emails about estate sales and like many of you I keep an eye out for interesting military pieces. I haven't been to one in many years but I'm thinking about getting back into that game.
Friday, September 22, 2017
I mentioned in the last newsletter that I'm watching the Vietnam documentary on PBS with my daughter. Yes she actually made it all the way through the 1.5 hour broadcast last night. She kept asking questions and it was hard to keep up with the fast pace as they tried to cover the history of Vietnam going back to the mid-19th century when the French invaded. I got a B.A. in History from a good public university and I confess that I was learning as much as her last night. Mostly I didn't appreciate just how long the whole conflict simmered. Essentially the Vietnamese starting resisting the french before WWI and tried to declare their independence after the Japanese were driven out after WWII. Although Ken Burns probably gives the Vietnamese a little overly sympathetic viewpoint in the first episode towards the end it becomes obvious that it's only the threat of communism sweeping Asia that seems to lock in decisions of presidents like Truman, Eisenhower and others into backing French colonial rule. I am not sure if my daughter will be as eager to watch the next episodes as I understand in all it's a 16 hour mini-series but hopefully she can stomach that much history. I think in many ways the politics and aftermath of the Vietnam era affect use more today than perhaps the post-WWII era.
Thursday, September 14, 2017
There are some pretty cool pieces included in this lot of USA only auctions. Click on some of the knives that are getting lots of bids or check out the uniforms and equipment that are ending soon.
I have decided that Sunday night I'm forcing my daughter to sit down with me and watch the new PBS documentary airing on Vietnam. I'm tired of her asking me questions like "now dad was it the British fighting in the Civil War?". I can't have my own kid that ignorant on history any longer.
Of course growing up I watched every war movie they made but this generation just sits on YouTube and watches videos of other people playing video games. So I'm going to start a new family tradition of taking in some non-fiction on the big screen to make sure she can have an intelligent conversation. She is reading a book in school right now on Stalin and the persecution he inflicted on people so that's a start.
My kid is a passionate reader but her favorite books are fantasy ones where the characters are cats that talk and fight - sorta like Avatar meets Game of Thrones. I'll report back her impressions of the first installment of the documentary in the Monday issue.
Thursday, September 14, 2017
The United States category is the largest of them all so I usually have the top of each issue devoted to these items. Enjoy checking out what came up on my radar. Some of these are ending soon so take a look before they close.
The German category is hopping this week which made it easy for me to single out the nearly dozen auctions that you see featured here.
This block is loaded with Japanese and Russian pieces because they were too good to leave out. I usually find a few other categories to include here but I filled it up before I could move on.
Listings from WWI have been a nice compliment to the main focus of this collector's newsletter for several years. Sitting at a century old now these picks have stood the test of time.