Changing collecting interests, how has your collecting interest changed over the years?

[Adrian Stevenson]

I have always collected Third Reich items since I was 15. Initially anything with an eagle and swastika on on it! But gradually specialised in the Waffen SS, Heer Panzerwaffe and the Luftwaffe FJ units. I also avidly collected WW2 US Army uniforms and equipment throughout the 1980's. I used to re-enact US forces. However due to divorce in 1989, I had to sell all my US kit and it was a large collection. But in 1990 I discovered my Jeep was ex British Airborne Forces and this took my collecting interests down a new path. In 2001, I began to collect WW2 Soviet kit, again due to re-enactment interests. I am still collecting on three Fronts today.

Cheers, Ade.

[ObKrieger]

I used to collect anything that came is a shade of green, brown, grey, or feldgrau, and had either a swastika, star, or hammer and sickle on it.

Since I was a kid I have narrowed that down to WWII, then down to mostly German and U.S. items. Headgear has always made me giddy. Lately, I have been getting more interested in U.S. service jackets, mostly because they all have a unique story, are dated for the most part, and are often researchable. Plus, they're cheap, and there are a lot of them to go around.

I tend to change my mind pretty frequently though. I'll find a badge at a bargain price and suddenly I'll be on the hunt for kriegsabzeichen. Then I'll find a cheap M1 helmet, and all I look for from then on are helmets.

[jimpy]

I started off many years ago collecting British web equipment and badges and just abouthing military from tools to ammo cans! Then some years ago I had to let the majority of my collection go. I am now starting to rebuild it again, this time concentrating on British cap badges and other patches/badges......BUT, if I see something that catches my eye, regardless of nationality, and I have the money, I will usually buy it.


Regards etc

Ian D

AKA: Jimpy

[MD Helmets]

I started by collecting WWII German steel helmets, and that comprises the majority of my collection. I have miscellaneous items I pick up here and there, but I always come back to helmets. I have recently picked up a few WWI "Dough Boy" helmets and most recently a WWI uniform. I just picked up another WWI US uniform last night, not as complete as the first uniform and a few more moth holes than the first I picked up, but I still like both of them. I haven't given up my passion for German steel noodle protectors, but I am getting bitten by the WWI US uniform and field gear bug. But, as several others have said, when I see something I really love and take an interest in, and I have the money to buy it, I will. That's part of the fun of collecting. Buying what you want because you like it, not just because it fills in a block on your "wants" list.

[Walkwolf]

I'm all over the map, and have been back and forth with varied interests over
the past 35 plus years. I collected world medals, bayonets and Third Reich
items throughout my teens and twenties, then in the 1990's decided to
collect only antique firearms, suddenly switching to USAAF wings, and
then USAAF flight helmets ( All the while having a love affair with
Gibson guitars and Fender tube amplifiers from the 1960's ).
Now it's pretty much anything and everything military
A good deal at a show is always welcome.

The problem I find is that when you specialize, it takes so much longer for
pieces to crop up, that the wait is sometimes boring and tiresome, and
you can quickly lose interest. Eventually you have to broaden your
scope so that you're hunting down more items more often
- the 'fix' comes on much faster.

It's incurable, that's for sure.........

[Chopperman]

I started out collecting knives and bayonets when I was 14-15 years old.
It didn't matter where they came from or what time period. The interest in
bayonets faded and I concentrated on fighting knives and commando daggers.

Prices on the good pieces has out grown my income. I had picked up a couple
old iron crosses along the way and I decided that Eks would be a cheaper way
to get my collecting fix.

[Sir Payne]

First I started collecting fakes because I didn't know better, then I started collecting overpriced junk, then I moved onto the stage that so many others started from...collecting everything, then I moved onto HJ knives. I sold all my HJ knives and started collecting helmets. Then I sold all my helmets and bought a bunch of electronics. I ended up selling most of the electronics and then started collecting rifles. I then started collecting helmets again, and then photographs, and then HJ stuff again. Next I decided to stop collecting HJ stuff, so I sold all of it, and started collecting propaganda posters while also collecting rifles, photographs, and helmets. Now I'm thinking about selling all my photographs and going back to HJ knives. So I'm planning on collecting only helmets, posters, rifles, and HJ knives. But tomorrow I'll probably change my mind again...

[kylesbullets]

First I started collecting fakes because I didn't know better, then I started collecting overpriced junk, then I moved onto the stage that so many others started from...collecting everything, then I moved onto HJ knives. I sold all my HJ knives and started collecting helmets. Then I sold all my helmets and bought a bunch of electronics. I ended up selling most of the electronics and then started collecting rifles. I then started collecting helmets again, and then photographs, and then HJ stuff again. Next I decided to stop collecting HJ stuff, so I sold all of it, and started collecting propaganda posters while also collecting rifles, photographs, and helmets. Now I'm thinking about selling all my photographs and going back to HJ knives. So I'm planning on collecting only helmets, posters, rifles, and HJ knives. But tomorrow I'll probably change my mind again...

That's a mouth's worth lol

- - Updated - -

I started and still am collecting russian and german helmets because of my family but i still gather random stuff that is US, or anything else.....

[FrankBooth]

I've always collected HJ items. At one time I had uniforms, caps, knives, flags, etc. I sold off all of my items in the 80's and bought assault rifles as fast as I could grab them. I discovered the collecting arena again on the internet about 4 years ago. When I collected before it was tough and frustrating, as items on offer came via snail mail and most of the time were sold by the time the offers even reached your mailbox. I found things online that I could only dream to find years ago. It was amazing, here were so many impossible to find items when I collected before now merely a mouse click away. I soon realized that I could never afford all the items I wanted and decided to focus on HJ shoulder straps and DJ Sigrunes. I rarely stray from those areas unless a really difficult to find cloth HJ insignia is offered up. I see no change in my focus anytime soon, it's been a lot of work amassing the HJ Shoulder straps that I have and I could never recoup what I have paid for some of them.

[coldcashandcolderhearts]

I started "collecting" when my grand father gave me his brass items (buttons, rank insignia, and medals) he took of his Canadian Leftenant uniform from WW2. I was about 12 at the time and still have them all. My dad had an old British Mk.II helmet and a Canadian MKIII that I used to roam around the country side wearing. All four of my grand parents served in the Canadian forces during WW2 and I owe a lot of my interest to them.

I started collecting anything with a swastika when I was in high school. I spent a lot of my Burger King minimum wage money on German medals.

I've just recently picked the hobby back up and will be focusing on Wehrmacht medals, awards, caps, cloth insignias, flags, K98ks, ammo, leather straps, pouches, gas masks, mess tins and uniforms. My goal is to assemble a complete a EM/NCO Wehrmacht battle ready tunic with all the fixins.

I'd like to get an SS runes collar tab and a few other SS items for a small display as well.

Helmets are also on my list. I have three all ready and it's only been a week, LOL! Looking for a Heer M35 next.