Ownership has nothing to do with knowledge, period. An astute student of German militaria collecting can evaluate a certain piece and then without ever owning said piece determine if one is real or fake based that learned knowledge.
Jeez, Craig. You couldn't sound anymore condescending in your post to Jim. Just because you've owned some of these particular honor degens and Jim has not does not make his evaluation of the pieces any less valid than yours. Not to mention the fact that he didn't once say he was fooled by the fake degens. He said they were convincing. That would lead you to believe that a less informed collector would be fooled. Not any well traveled collector. So I must vehemently disagree with your statement. "There's a difference between observing photos, participating on forums, handling a few of somebody else's artifacts, and actually putting your money on the table to buy something. I've done that six times with SS Honor Daggers, so I think my experience in this field makes my opinion more credible than yours, when judging the quality of higher-end fakes."
I don't think putting money on the table gives you anymore knowledge. Because evaluating yours or someone else you are still able to evaluate the same darn thing! Whether you own it or not. I think throwing the money down might stimulate your ego but nothing more than that. Unless times have change that much that money equals knowledge. I think Jim's collected longer than either of us and has pull a lot of stuff personally out of the woodwork. Albeit no honor degen. But those years of experience are the most relevant thing in my opinion.
