How old were you when you started collecting?

[ppsh33]

hi all , i was around 10 when my dad gave me a few cloth eagles and metal eagle and wreath he had got from german pilots and aircrew interned here during the war. that was my first infection with the militaria bug!!!..funny i can remember when you could pick up a kc for around £300/£400 ..if only i had invested more in medals and less in bimbos.!!!!! paul

[lew07]

Hmm it all kicked in when I was 13.Used to find .303 and .38 spent rounds at low tide where I live.Sometimes you would get the brass sometimes the bullet.The bullets would vary from as new to mangled messess!!Even had bomb disposal out when what we thought was a section of scafolding bar had a nice bulb on the end and tail fins!!Any one know what exactly that was by the way?

[jimpy]

My interest in militaria and military history started with me when I was about 5. I blame my late grand-father!, who bought me my first model kit of a Churchill tank in OO/HO scale by Airfix. My late grand-father, a Grenadier Guards Serjeant, despite coming out of the army in 1947, was still a reservist up until the early 1970s and used to attend his two week reserve training so there was always military kit in the house!
The first bits of militaria that I got/had given, were his cap-badge and WW2 dog-tags when I was about 8 years old. As I got older, he gave me the odd bits and pieces, some of which I still have, a lot that I dont.
When I joined up in 1981 he gave me the chain-saw kit, (posted on another thread) and when I was due to go on my GPMG-SF Fire Controllers course in 1982 he called me up and said that this might be of some help......he gave me his old map-case/board, so that also saw a second lease of life with the army, 40plus years after he was issued it as a serjeant/tank commander.
Over the years, like a lot of us, I have bought/had given lots of stuff, but have let the majority go for one reason or another and I am now trying to rebuild the collection.
As is well known on here, I have a passion for British army webbing, but it takes up loads of space, (and costs a lot in comparison to other things), so I am trying to concentrate on my second love of cap-badges, shoulder flashes/patches and medals.

Regards etc
Ian D

AKA: Jimpy


And I am still making the model kits!

[waffenrock42]

i was 10 my great uncle gave me a bayonet, two german helmets, one SS and a german messtin. I was hooked ever since

[militarymania]

i was 8 years old,,,now i am 56,,,my how time flies,,,

[banksy]

Hi

I was 12 I started collecting shotgun bullets had some 200 then It just started from there ! 5 years on I have my collection !

[Franz1944]

12 when I got my first items..... really started collecting when i was 14...... that was years ago. Found this site .... been very happy collector since

[colt45]

started finding old license plates at 30 , now just porcelian ones

[carlarganda]

well i started collecting at 14-16, but have been very interested in relics since i watched saving private ryan for the first time (when i was like 6-9).

[sailorjerry]

Me 7 or 8 yrs old, was raised in part of town that was all new houseing for war vets, you could just knock on any door and ask for any old medals,,and get something, my first item, l found was next door to me, in the basement, a fair sized NSDAP pennant that had names of soldiers written all over it....The fellow gave it to me, then shortly after a Fire Police Helmet, over the early years i have had some very rare items, that never knew what they were, like a very nice Luftwaffe Standarte, that l traded for an army belt and buckle, was not untill the early 60,s and up, that any info on the items started to show up...so l traded of a lot of great things, and picked up some very nice items, now gone...most of my first real collection items, in later years, were given to me, as far as i can remember, the first item i bought was an iron cross, it cost 10$ ... wish i had a kept everything i ever picked up...but it was fun, lot of good memories..jerry