The Channel Islands Military Museum, Jersey, Channel Islands.

**M18922** · 03-18-2012, 05:40 PM

Do you own the Bunker? If so how did you manage to own it?

Cheers, Pat

**Espenlaub Militaria** · 03-18-2012 05:40 PM

We also buy and trade your items and full collections!

**JERSEY 34** · 03-18-2012, 05:50 PM

Hi Pat,
Unfortunately I don't own the bunker, I have tried to buy it a couple of times but its actually on a larger piece of land with other buildings on it, and the bunker is the least significant structure on the land. Its difficult to slice off a small piece of the land with the bunker on it just for me but i will keep on trying. I rent the bunker from the owner. If after the war you found the germans had built bunkers on your land then technically they belonged to the Crown (All enemy property passed to the Victorious winners of said conflict), but obviously the Crown had no use for them and you were able to pay a nominal amount and buy them. I am not sure what happened if you did not buy them, I guess no one really bothered. Most people who found them on their land just buried them or ended up with a large unwanted lump of concrete in the middle of a good potato field as happened here quite a lot.
Hopefully one day the owner may decide to sell it to me, but i have been renting it since 1989.
All the best from Jersey,
D.

**rbminis** · 03-18-2012, 05:54 PM

by JERSEY 34

Hi Pat,
Unfortunately I don't own the bunker, I have tried to buy it a couple of times but its actually on a larger piece of land with other buildings on it, and the bunker is the least significant structure on the land. Its difficult to slice off a small piece of the land with the bunker on it just for me but i will keep on trying. I rent the bunker from the owner. If after the war you found the germans had built bunkers on your land then technically they belonged to the Crown (All enemy property passed to the Victorious winners of said conflict), but obviously the Crown had no use for them and you were able to pay a nominal amount and buy them. I am not sure what happened if you did not buy them, I guess no one really bothered. Most people who found them on their land just buried them or ended up with a large unwanted lump of concrete in the middle of a good potato field as happened here quite a lot.
Hopefully one day the owner may decide to sell it to me, but i have been renting it since 1989.
All the best from Jersey,
D.

Congratulations!

It looks like a fantastic collection. I really like all of the marked ammo crates stacked up.

Best of luck in purchasing this piece of history from the owners. I do hope that you are able to. It would be a shame to not be able to keep your collection in such an appropriate setting. It would also be a real pain in the a$$ to move it to another location.

Ralph.

**JERSEY 34** · 03-18-2012, 07:24 PM

If i had to take the collection out of the bunker then I am in real trouble. I open on april the 2nd for the season, but it does not look good for tourists here in Jersey this year. We are really going to struggle but we can only do what we can do. If the museum closes for any reason i will have to contemplate selling a lot of my collection which is not something I really want to think about so I hope to keep going a while yet. My admission price is hopefully going to help...£4 and adult and £2 a child. I am the cheapest tourist attraction/museum on the Island and its still hard to make a living. If I had the chance I would still look to buy the bunker even if it were just to keep my collection safe.
All the best,
D.

**KradSpam** · 03-18-2012, 07:38 PM

Looks really interesting mate. Jersey is definitely on my list of places to visit and I'll be sure to find your little corner of it. As people are saying, your own bunker (even rented) is a pretty cool place to house your collection

**Scout** · 03-18-2012, 07:51 PM

Excellent museum! Well done that man!
I like that there are not only guns and uniforms but also dishes and tins and other 'mundane' items to get a picture of daily life.
I have always wanted to go to Jersey.
I remember reading about the island having a huge underground WWII hospital also.

**banksy** · 03-18-2012, 07:54 PM

What an impressive display ! I think i no where my next holoday is going to be !

Kind regards
Alex

**Scout** · 03-18-2012, 07:57 PM

Hope you will be able to buy the bunker museum one day.

Are you legally able to move the guns and have them on your other property, if forced to move (and if you had the room)?
I suppose all weapons are de-acts, so there will be no problem there?

**JERSEY 34** · 03-18-2012, 08:06 PM

Yes I can move the guns and no, they are not all de-activated. I shoot once or twice a week here on the island and have around 100 or so firearms to choose from. Our gun laws are thankfully different to the uk so we can not only own bolt action but semi auto files and mg's converted to semi auto as well as revolvers and semi auto pistols.
We do have whats called the War Tunnels here on the Island, Formerly called the German Underground Hospital.
D

**LondonJay** · 03-19-2012, 09:39 AM

Hi D,
Would you be able to open a sort of rifle range for visitors to fire off a few rounds from an authentic German WW2 rifle?
I reckon that would get a lot of visits and push your revenue up!

Or would the police not frown to kindly on that?
The bunkers looking fantastic anyway mate.
Jay