UBB.threads Forums Edged Weapons HJ Edged Weapons Forum Now or never?

Gentlemen,

Went to a local show here in Belgium this morning.

Today, there were about 10 original HJ knifes offered for sale by 7 different sellers. It has been years that so many were offered on this small, monthly show... Some time ago, I would have been lucky to find just 1 offered...

During the past years, before the ending of the show, none would have been left at the tables, except if they were overpriced.
Today, I just bought 1 and the 9 others were still there when I left... I must say that the prices have not (yet) evolved, most sellers keep their top pricing so far.

This evolution is the same for SA's, Heer, Luftwaffe and the other more common daggers. You can even again find SS daggers at this small local show!

So this might be the right time to start a new area in collecting? Is this current exessive offer an opportunity for us collectors or not?

What do you guys think?

Best greetings,

Herman

I think its a buying opportunity, dags are certainly cheaper than they were a year ago.Same with housing, if you want that beach house nows the time, and in some places its still dropping.Buying -good, selling- not as much $$$

hallo Herman welke beurs was het ?
ik ging vroeger altijd naar Antwerpen maar dat is nu niets meer

gr Hans

Herman i think if you or anybody else has the chance to by cheap priced hjs, SAs ect ect do not hesitate & snap them all up because this is only a lull in the collecting world because of the global recession & Xmas coming up, prices are certain to go up again in the not to distant future, & yes it is a great opportunity for a collector to buy various types of daggers at this point in time but be quick

Regards Scott.

I think here in Belgium selling daggers is going very slow. Not enough money in the pocket, I guess.

Regards, Wim

Lucky, In the UK if you found 10 HJ's at a fair, you would still only be able to buy 1 or 2 as the others are usually repros or post war rubbish sold as good.....

When I go around to shows there aren't many young collectors.By young I mean under 40. As older collectors sell off this will affect supply and demand. You don't see as much interest from todays youth in WWII. I think we're looking at price stagnation 10 years from now. The recession may have sped the process up.

quote:

When I go around to shows there aren't many young collectors.By young I mean under 40. As older collectors sell off this will affect supply and demand. You don't see as much interest from todays youth in WWII. I think we're looking at price stagnation 10 years from now. The recession may have sped the process up.

I agree, the dealers will never admit it. But I am 27. When I attend shows nowadays I hardly see anyone my age interested in the WWII relics, etc.. The interest just isn't the same a "the son of the veteran" generation. To most of my peers they are old men (grandpa's) who fought in some war against some "Natzis" or "Japs". They rarely even know what D-day is(believe me I ask many and often). They forgot that soon after history class in high school. Forget asking about all the different fronts of the war! They don't know and don't care. They might know what cool guns they can use in a video game but they probably don't even know that they are WWII gun or that the game they are playing portrays WWII. I think there will always be militaria collectors but not to the extent of today. Price will no long out pace inflation. IMHO.

I think there are probably several factor for this,some of which were were already stated, but I think one other thing is that alot of collectors now use the internet for searching out items rather than hitting the shows. When a person live 100+ miles from a show, the factor of travel cost, time, etc, all will be considered, as opposed to sitting in front of a computer.
However, nothing can replace the hands-on knowledge you get from attending a show, and the talking to other collectors.

There never were many young collectors at the shows unless it was local one with minimal entry fee.

At 18-21, I prowled the antiques shops but had few coins. At 27, I was newly graduated Engineer with a good job and a new wife and my financial priorities were different. Decent furniture, paying car loans, etc, etc. It was not until 15 years later the $ to much good stuff.

Today, at local shows, I see a lot of young kids anywhere from 8 to 18 being very interested in their grandfathers or great grandfathers medals and similar things.

Dave

I would have to agree with Kriegsman i'm 40 and maybe see 10 or less guy's my age at local shows most will come in ask what something is worth or try to sell a dagger in fair condition at dealer minty prices the majority are older and retired or about to retire. In this Dave is correct about having the liquid cash on hand, the younger generation would rather sit in a pub and try their luck with the lady's been there done that! Over all the interst is not there with guy's my generation and younger i work with 350 guy's around my age and younger and i'm the only one who collects TR items. The younger guy's look at me funny when i ask them if they or their dad has any TR items they want to sell but you talk about sports, soda pops and women that's a different story. Maybe if there were shows covering TR items instead of shunning them i.e. antique road show and pawn stars etc. it would be a different story.

My 2 cents worth

Eric

I just attended the largest gun show in Arizona.
This is the combined Crossroads of the West and Small Arms review(Class III) which is held each December. I was heartened to see the number of young people at this show. What I didn't see was a lot of gun sales going on and I expect this is due to the current economy.
However I did manage to come home with a new toy.
Jim

Jim:

Are you now doing Pretty Boy Floyd impressions with this?

Neat.

John

quote:

Originally posted by jim m:
I just attended the largest gun show in Arizona.
This is the combined Crossroads of the West and Small Arms review(Class III) which is held each December. I was heartened to see the number of young people at this show. What I didn't see was a lot of gun sales going on and I expect this is due to the current economy.
However I did manage to come home with a new toy.
Jim

Great Jim
here is a Youtube video for you

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-TC2xTCb_GU

quote:

Originally posted by jim m:
I just attended the largest gun show in Arizona.
This is the combined Crossroads of the West and Small Arms review(Class III) which is held each December. I was heartened to see the number of young people at this show. What I didn't see was a lot of gun sales going on and I expect this is due to the current economy.
However I did manage to come home with a new toy.
Jim

,,toy indeed! .45 Thompson plus a 50 round drum equals a Happy New Year noisemaker 4 sure.

Gentlemen,

Thank you for the interesting replies.

For those who want to discuss about firearms, please start a new topic in the "firearms forum", so that our members interested in firearms can contribute:

http://daggers.infopop.cc/eve/...ms/a/frm/f/232097573

Thank you and best greetings,

Herman