Joe, To answer your question, Yes, there is. I have only 6 original unmessed with SS uniforms, two dot pattern suits, two smocks, and one overcoat, and I have been collecting for years. All but two have come directly from veteran buys out of hotel shows. I would be extremely skeptical on buying any on todays market! Let me clear things up as to what I am saying, I am refering to "Untouched Examples". I think that 98% of the SS uniforms out on todays market are put togethers ie. one, if not all, insignia have been added to an original uniform. Also, if you look on certain websites you will see SS tunic after SS tunic for sale and priced for 4 - 9K range, come-on, lets get real. Why is it that well known dealers sell their SS EM, NCO, or Officer tunics for in excess of 20K, well there is a reason for that, not because they are price gougers, but, because they are untouched originals! Lets face it, 15K, 20K, or up is a whole lot of money, so if you cannot afford those prices and want an SS tunic, then you will have to assume that it will be a Put-together. If you can live that and be happy, then so be it.
In IMHO in the next twenty years you will see a lot of old time collections be bought out or broken up. I know that there are a lot of 100% original untouched examples, some which are pictured in books, will come out for sale over this period of time. The queston is, will they be made available for the public? I beleive that the vast majority of them will not. ie. There will be deals done in private by closet collectors and dealers without anyone knowing. Does any other member(s) remember Bob Alexanders collection being broken up? Bob had some really nice stuff and all of the good items were sold in private. I remember that Steve Wolfe and Neil Harding bought first, then It was Walter Hombach, etc.. , then the rest was laid out on tables at the MAX show in Pittsburg back in the late 1990's. The point is, all of the untouched really good stuff was gone before it was offered to the public. So, there are a couple things that could happen, first: All sales could be done in private just like Bob Alexanders stuff, second: It could be made available to the public, but the prices will be out-of-sight, or third: All of the serious SS collectors who drove the prices up anyway are the ones whose collections are being sold and you MIGHT see prices become reasonable again, that would be reaching. Anyway, that my two cents. Grant
