helmet prices

[Davidh]

Its because they belonged to the bad boys and the ss were even badder so price is more, the bad guys items in most collecting fields always seem to be more sought after, well thats my opinion anyway and they do look good rgds Dave

[Adrian]

Unfortunately our obsessions are a lot more expensive. I think most collectors develop the obsession first, then look up the prices. Adrian, if the average EKII cost $500, would you still buy them?

Anyway there is a difference between explaining why we like them so much and why the prices are so high. The price will always be controlled by demand. Some guy is willing to pay $800 for a helmet, he has the money, a dealer who has the helmet knows he can get that $800 from him, and voila...

I say we go on a collector's strike so that prices drop, and so that I can finally afford them.

No I wouldn't Mo and I mean that sincerely. I couldn't justify it. I was offered a rare L/12 marked EK2 a couple of years ago but the seller wanted €500 for it. That is way too expensive for an EK2 even a rare one. The trouble is is that the seller knew someone would pay that for it which goes neatly back to your second point above.

I fully support a collectors strike to lower prices too!

[Glenn66]

haha! A collector's strike! That cracks me up! nice one guys!

[roger9344]

No I wouldn't Mo and I mean that sincerely. I couldn't justify it. I was offered a rare L/12 marked EK2 a couple of years ago but the seller wanted €500 for it. That is way too expensive for an EK2 even a rare one. The trouble is is that the seller knew someone would pay that for it which goes neatly back to your second point above.

I fully support a collectors strike to lower prices too!

Hear, hear! Let's stop the madness!

[DougB]

Its all pretty simple with prices on any open market item; supply and demand. EK2 's are less expensive because there is excellent supply and moderate demand. Any collector can go out and buy a near mint example with a minimum of a search and for a couple hundred bucks at most. You can find a liner-less helmet in poor condition for a couple hundred bucks as well. But as condition being everything, price goes up from there. And there is the variety of branch, maker, decal style, model. Then you get into camo patterns and their endless varieties. Demand among camo collectors is very competitive. Demand for good helmets far outstrips supply hence dealers can keep ratcheting prices up on top examples. I wish they were cheaper too!

[davejb]

Ive Got to agree with Mo on this, its always been a case of supply and demand, because of the ever growing need to collect german helmets, dealers, etc can charge what they want and unfortunately get it, imagine a world wide decrease in demand, only the collectors who are fortunate enough to afford the prices being asked would benefit for a short time, any type of dealer has to rely on stock being moved, no increased demand , no stock being moved out of the door, but therein lies a problem, those that have high end collections would also see a decrease in their values, if you take rarity into account why is it that a nice looking M16, M17,M18 helmet can be obtained for half the price of a decent M35,40,42, the helmets are much older, they are the forerunner of the iconic german helmet and in fact are a true antique, but the mere association with the word Third Reich and prices soar, even a WW1 EK 2 is less price than its latter partner, we have become obssessed with the WW2 connection to german helmets and equipment therefore prices remain at an all time high and i doubt that this will change in the future, but there is also a danger that prices become so expensive that no ordinary collector will be able to afford them, and dealers will have to review their wares and price accordingly

[Tinhat]

This is a really interesting question, I don’t think supply and demand isn’t the only answer though, most militaria websites have more German helmets available than other countries combined, even the sales section on the forum does, so there doesn’t seem to be a supply issue. The question is why are we prepared to pay the price that people ask for them. The kit of the beaten army is always worth more, but Japanese and Italian helmets don’t hold such a higher premium, WWI German helmets are more expensive that other countries of the same period, but the same gap doesn’t exist.
There is something about the WWII German army that fascinates us, I personally only own 2 German helmets (and not great examples), but they are the helmets that people want to see and there is a different reaction when they hold one. Our generations grew up with war stories, films, magazines and documentaries with a lot of original footage, most of that German so we are more visually affected. Like it or not they were an exceptional fighting force, arguably the world’s first modern super power and it took huge loss and destruction to finally vanquish them, I believe it is in our psyche somewhere to feel a mixture of ,fear, admiration, loathing, awe that doesn’t exist with other armies. Even my toy Airfix WWII German Infantry looked better than their opposing forces. It is the feelings they evoke that allow us to justify the price that is paid.

Of course the short answer is, we all think they are too expensive because we want to own them…..and that is the reason they are expensive. There is a difference between not being able to afford it and not being prepared to pay that much, how many of us would break the strike if the price drop to our own affordability?

[DougB]

Thus the law of supply and demand. They are in demand (for whatever reasons) and supply for wanted pieces remains tight.

[Scout]

No I wouldn't Mo and I mean that sincerely. I couldn't justify it. I was offered a rare L/12 marked EK2 a couple of years ago but the seller wanted €500 for it. That is way too expensive for an EK2 even a rare one. The trouble is is that the seller knew someone would pay that for it which goes neatly back to your second point above.

I fully support a collectors strike to lower prices too!

[MD Helmets]

Supply and demand sets the prices. As long as the demand is there, it doesnt matter why we like the helmets, just that we do and the price will go up from there.

A strike to bring down the prices of all items would be nice for a while, but what happens when you want to sell one of your items that you initially paid a hefty price for but was now worth maybe several hundred less? It could be a double edged sword. Obviously, if you arent looking to resell than maybe the vaue dropping doesnt matter. But I know some of us sell items in our collection to raise the funds for another item or a new interest. The prices might drop but so will the resale values of the items we already own. We all collect because we enjoy it very much, but we also want to know we have made a good business investment should we ever need to part with our collections for whatever reason.

Now, if the prices of helmets continue to rise, I'll be out of the game soon enough. I'm saving slowly for a good looking SS lid with a decent decal, but after that I'll have to slow way down or move more into EK's or another cheaper item. A good SD SS M42 lid with the insides goes for about one fifth of my salary (after taxes), so I will be in the fund raising stage for a while. Unfortunately, I feel there will always be very well funded helmet collectors that will continue to pay astronomical prices, especially for SS and camo lids. Their collections will continue to grow while the little mans grinds to a halt at whatever they have managed to already get their hands on. I'd hate to see my collection grind to a halt, but it may be a very real thing in the future.