Wehrmacht Collection

[Kopf-Jaeger]

Chris and Prein, very nice displays and tastefully done. What is the phrase? "To the victors the spoils".

 

[The Lonely Navigator]

Thanks Kopf-Jaeger I hope to keep finding little odds and ends when I can. Finding early WWII U-Boat stuff is rather hard I've found out - as most of the pictures, etc. come from mid-late war. Same with WWI U-Boat photos and art type things...I didn't think it would be that way, but...[huh]

@ Stetson: Oh yeah lol. There was one thing I found really odd, and I know it isn't related in a sense but...

...when I went to a visit to Salem, MA, and the surrounding area, there was a place in Beverly (if I remember right) and it was called the Ninety Nine and had a yellow/golden colored horseshoe. I just thought it interesting to see Kretschmer's number and the golden horseshoe like that.

 

[jawisher]

Let me first say I in NO WAY SHAPE OR FORM support the ideals of the NSDAP or any Neo-Nazi screwballs!

That being said, here goes. My humble collection. All 100% original.

My display room, always a work in progress:

Just wanted to say, thanks for posting those pics. That is quite a nice collection and display. I really enjoyed viewing those.

I have been collecting for about ten years myself, mostly for reenacting, and mostly with repros, but have no room for display in a small house crowded with kids...

 

[Chris Dillon]

Again, thanks for the kind words!! I really do appreciate it!

Prien, it might interest you that a collector friend of mine recently met the vet that did the original artwork for the Sawfish emblem. He had him do a little doodle of it for him on a poster. VERY cool!

 

[The Lonely Navigator]

@ Chris:

Oh wow That's pretty neat!

 

[Zemke Fan]

All of the political posts removed from this thread...

This is about Wehrmacht COLLECTIONS. Not a debate about politics or a history lesson. Confine your discussion, please, to that topic. Other comments will be deleted.

 

[Chris Dillon]

Thanks Fred!

Lets keep this thread rollin guys!

 

[Chris Dillon]

Not exactly Wehrmacht era, but cool none the less.

WWI patriotic ring I picked up recently:

 

[The Lonely Navigator]

That is an awesome find Chris! I had always thought of buying WWI patriotic stuff like that - especially a ring, but I doubt it would fit my any of my small fingers well.

I had got my 1920s print from an English language book of the U 53 in the waters of the New England coast.

I just keep an eye out...and it tends to be when I'm actually not looking for something that I find neat things.

 

[The Lonely Navigator]

This is the print that I purchased:

 

[StetsonHomburg]

I am reviving this thread and later today I'm posting my new collection and how it is presented (because we just settled in from moving and I thought
I'd change it around a bit...)

 

[filfoster]

Replicas

Congratulations on your very fine replica examples! Well done! Why aren't replicas more respected?
I also collect replica uniforms, ww2 and many other time periods. Like many, I began collecting originals and it was disappointing. The things I wanted, high-ranking uniforms of all the major combatants, in my size and in new condition, were just not available or hideously expensive or worst: fakes sold as real.
The past 25 years have been filled with great pleasure, seeking and meeting many wonderful folks to help realize these dreams in replica fashion. The great challenges: rank insignia, cloth, basic tailoring, decorations and awards and of all things, buttons! (Ever try to find a full set of WWI French Marshal's or General's buttons? Italian MVSN or Army general's buttons? Oh my.)
Replica collectors have what we want, for relatively reasonable prices and we aren't being deceived by our purchases!

 

[The Lonely Navigator]

^ Replicas should be respected - I agree. At a time when I had the money, I had purchased the higher quality replicas from Soldat FHQ for my medals. Many people had asked me (both other reenactors and 'the public') if they were original. Awhile back, I had sold my other Iron Cross 1st class (pin-back) and purchased a 'screw-back' one from Military Tour. While I had paid less for it than the one I had purchased from Soldat, it was still a very nice quality replica.

My Knight's Cross is a two piece - as I can just barely move the center of it.

All my medals are aged (even more so now that I had put heavily salinated water on them and my reefer jacket...which caused some lovely verdigris to happen on the buttons )...and now the medals look even better with this 'uber-aging' that I did.

I had also been asked by many if my cap and reefer jacket were original as well due to how well they had been aged by me. But none of my stuff is original...it's all replicas that I've aged (and doing that - the aging - I tend to think is a bit of an artform).

 

[filfoster]

Patina

^ Replicas should be respected - I agree. At a time when I had the money, I had purchased the higher quality replicas from Soldat FHQ for my medals. Many people had asked me (both other reenactors and 'the public') if they were original. Awhile back, I had sold my other Iron Cross 1st class (pin-back) and purchased a 'screw-back' one from Military Tour. While I had paid less for it than the one I had purchased from Soldat, it was still a very nice quality replica.

My Knight's Cross is a two piece - as I can just barely move the center of it.

All my medals are aged (even more so now that I had put heavily salinated water on them and my reefer jacket...which caused some lovely verdigris to happen on the buttons )...and now the medals look even better with this 'uber-aging' that I did.

I had also been asked by many if my cap and reefer jacket were original as well due to how well they had been aged by me. But none of my stuff is original...it's all replicas that I've aged (and doing that - the aging - I tend to think is a bit of an artform).

Good replicas, made as the originals will look better with time and wear, as you describe. None of us believes that these should be passed off as originals but it is a real pleasure to own and enjoy well made copies of things we could scarcely find or afford as originals.
I wince when I hear the two common criticisms of replicas: They are dangerous because they may fool the unwary or because they are not worthy of the investment. These remarks usually come from collectors who are smug in their good fortune of having gained what they wanted when these things were less expensive and less collected or they have many empty shelves or places in their collections which will never be filled as they hunt like Captain Ahab for their 'Moby Dick' elusive relic at gun shows and yard sales. I say buy a good replica and enjoy it!

 

[The Lonely Navigator]

^ I agree. Also, I like to tell people how I aged my uniform items in case (should they be other reenactors) want to do it as well.

I've also thought about the smugness with some collectors. Quite frankly, I really wouldn't want to wear an original U-Boat badge to an event. I'm happy with my replicas and am not out to collect anything outrageously expensive. My few original vintage items I'm happy with. Besides, it isn't just U-Boat stuff that I like, but my Cape Horn Ship items too.

 

[filfoster]

There are more high quality replicas available now than ever before. We are really lucky to have so many reputable vendors who take the time and trouble to get things made well. Prien mentions good European vendors as well as the ubiquitous Sanjay of Replicators (He's batting about .600 for me-some pretty good things and some truly dreadful). There are many sources here in the States of really well made WWI and WW2 uniforms and equipment and of course the ever popular American Civil War.
I want to share a recent example of the cameraderie of replica making. I live in a town (Fort Thomas, KY-across the river from Cincinnati), that has a connection to the Spanish American War and wanted to get some examples of Spanish colonial officer's uniforms. I had tried several years ago but there were no sources for the Rayadillo cloth. Surprise! A new Google search revealed a forum thread mentioning a man in the Philippines who could make these! More sleuthing produced an email address and in only four weeks, I had two perfect examples of Rayadillo Spanish colonial officer uniforms, tailored to fit, with insignia. And I have become email friends with a real authority on Spanish colonial history and uniforms. What a world!

 

[StetsonHomburg]

There are more high quality replicas available now than ever before. We are really lucky to have so many reputable vendors who take the time and trouble to get things made well. Prien mentions good European vendors as well as the ubiquitous Sanjay of Replicators (He's batting about .600 for me-some pretty good things and some truly dreadful). There are many sources here in the States of really well made WWI and WW2 uniforms and equipment and of course the ever popular Ameirican Civil War.
I want to share a recent example of the cameraderie of replica making. I live in a town that has a connection to the Spanish American War and wanted to get some examples of Spanish colonial officer's uniforms. I had tried several years ago but there were no sources for the Rayadillo cloth. Surprise! A new Google search revealed a forum thread mentioning a man in the Philippines who could make these! More sleuthing produced an email address and in only four weeks, I had two perfect examples of Rayadillo Spanish colonial officer uniforms, tailored to fit, with insignia. And I have become email friends with a real authority on Spanish colonial history and uniforms. What a world!

Another good one is world war two militaria, supplies some nice hats! http://www.worldwar2-militaria.com/

 

[The Lonely Navigator]

In response to what Filfoster said - I agree. I'm very thankful for the proliferation of excellent quality reproductions. There are also reproduction WWII style German naval officer daggers. The only difference is that in place of the swastika there is a fouled anchor. This was posted on the U-Boat Society's forum as we had discussed having tried to find these. All the other branches are rather ubiquitous except the Kriegsmarine.

I also think that it is nice that some reenactors have even started to produce their own reproductions to sell.

I suppose a sort of parallel could be said with regards to the civilian clothing too - although I wouldn't know completely because I don't specialize in that.

 

[filfoster]

I suppose a sort of parallel could be said with regards to the civilian clothing too - although I wouldn't know completely because I don't specialize in that.

Yes, indeed! Prien, You bring up a good point. The civilian attire is very much desirable and there are some very fine vendors.

in the UK: http://www.old-town.co.uk/

From New Zealand, but drop shipped from several places:
http://www.magnoliclothiers.com/

Many of us have period clothing from these makers and they are wonderful. Not cheap, but very well made.

 

[The Lonely Navigator]

Ah

I think that with the civilian items, there is more of a 'grey area'...and I'm very much in that 'grey area'. lol My only 'vintage repro's' (nice oxymoron) would be my Stacy Adams Madison boots.

This as a opposed to the militaria items where there's great repros and originals. I think that the days of the crummy repros are limited, because I keep seeing less and less as the years pass by.