What is the best deal you have ever made?

[Chopperman]

I found a 1917 Plumb bolo knife for $3.50 at a flea market. Also found a ww1 german butcher bayonet for $12.

The best deal I ever made was trading in my old wife for the new, improoved model.

[thekid]

Best deals and Almost best deals..hmm..
Best Deals:
1. In a local antique shop,I once picked up a Canada General Service medal with an 1866 Fenian Raid bar and inscribed to an Australian Sailor,of all odd things. Had a price tag of 14 dollars on it.
2. Stopped at a rummage sale some time ago and found a box under the table that had a complete US WWI uniform in it. Had the tunic with full insignia,the belt,pants,overseas cap,roll leggings,gas mask and case,cartridge belt,and a hand-knit sweater and snood in Khaki colour from the home front-as well as all sorts of small things like a song booklet from the YMCA,and a shaving mirror and sewing kit. The seller wouldn't budge down from his asking price of $35...
3. Bought a sheet music lot from a junk shop for $2-in it,it had a beautiful sepia marching Hitler pictorial cover sheet music booklet of the Horst Wessel Lied printed by a music dealer in Leipzig.
Great Almost Deals:
1. Ran across a rummage sale when I wasn't expecting it(had 26 dollars in my pocket). The seller had a Pair of SS Model 1933 daggers in vertical hangers-in Vet Bring back original condition. He wanted $40 dollars and refused to hold them for me-I offered to leave my wallet and wristwatch there until I could hurry back,but he was snooty and said no. I got back in less than 30 minutes and they were gone.
2. Walked into a basement sale of an old neighborhood church and missed by 10 minutes being able to buy on a Mannequin,a US Civil War officers blue frock coat,pants,Hat,sword belt and red sash for $45. The people said there was also a sabre that was with it,but the family decided to Keep it. The purchaser had Just went out the door to go home and get his van-I must have passed by him on the way in.
3. A not too bright friend hurried in to see me and told me that an old man down a block away was having a rummage sale and had a mint condition Model 42 German helmet with full paint and decals for 2 dollars and would I want it? I was there 3 minutes later,but it had just been carried out the door. The old man said "the next time he was shipped over to Germany,he'd get me another one"...nice guy.
But enough reminiscing! It just raises my blood pressure! William

those are some great deals, and with some of those stories i think i might have had a brain anyerism

[Grimebox]

Best deals? Just a few I have bought in the last couple of years

1944 dated USMC hbt jacket (size 42)- £5.03
WW2 German 'Eastern Territories' brest badge and Luftwaffe cap badge for - £7
1944 dated British lightweight gas mask in case with all of the ointments, etc - £10
1945 'mosquito' flying boots - £35
1943 De-act Long Branch .303 - £30!!!!
1944 'zones of France' silk escape map - £30
1944 Kangol Parachute Regt beret (size 7)- £25
WW2 8' x 4' Union Jack flag - £1
1943 dated Royal Ensign flag - £5
WW2 silk escape map of the mediterranean - £5
Various WW2 escape compasses - £4 - £20
WW2 British Airborne wicker drop pannier - £2 (and when I went to collect the seller had another one, also for £2!!!)
SOE pencil dagger - £30
Alloy hilted commando knife (in FS scabbard and came with a 'Zones of France' escape map, bought about 10 years ago) - £35 (the link below has the exact same knife)

us marine raider stiletto

What seems like good deals now

De-act Sten Mk2 - £100
De-act Sten Mk3 - £100
De-act 1942 Lee Enfield .303 - £100
De-act 1943 'hammerless' .38 Enfield revolver -£100

.....and not really deals at such as they were given to me
1943 Mills No36 Grenade
1822 pattern infantry sword

And the best of the best. A 3rd pattern Fairbairn Sykes fighting knife. Given to me by mothers friend, his father was a jump master and landed on D-day and was at Arnhem. He did about 75 jumps in the Parachute Regt and it wasn't until he returned to his native Ireland in the 1990's (by then aged in his late 70's) that he actually landed in a plane! When I showed my mothers friend some of my De-activated guns he didn't bat an eyelid. He recognised the Lee Enfield .303 as they had one in the house when he was child, the .38 Enfield revolver he remembered making a fox trap with!! (He made up some sort of cage with the revolver attached and rigged to fire when a fox went in. He left it a couple of hours but felt guilty so went back and dismantled it!) and when I showed him my Bren he said that he remembered finding one wrapped in cloth under the stairs when he was a child. When his mum found out she made his father get rid of it, but not before they took it to the building yard they owned and shot an oil drum, which, in his words 'went shooting fifty foot into the air'.

Unfortunately I am a WW2 collector/hoarder and as my wife keeps saying to me 'It's only a good deal if you're going to sell it' (Women, when will they understand?)

[Vegard T]

Wow, where on earth did you find all those items at such a low price? Those are things a collector only can dream about!

[Grimebox]

I'm a sad man who spends hours searching through Ebay, car boot sales and flea markets! Although some of the items were bought from collectors/curiosty shops like the alloy hilted commando knife. I also bought the RAF battledress blouse (in the second photo) from the same shop for £35. It has padded RAF wings and the medal ribbons have the DFC and bar, unfortunatley there is no name in the jacket. I got to know the man who owned it when I was a teenager and he would put items behind the counter for me until I came in. The RAF trouser fly escape buttons came with a 'mulberry leaf' (tissue) escape map of Germany also came from the same shop for £30 and the British .303 for £100 although I do remember turning down a costal command Irvin jacket (with the yellow hood) for £100 as I didn't have enough money and a reconditioned (poorly repainted) german helmet with orginal liner for £35 as I naively only wanted 'genuine' items! Unfortunately (of fortunately for me) I was buying these items 10-15 years ago. Most of the rest of the items I originally posted were bought in the last 2 years, the USMC jacket and flying boots were bought off Ebay last sunday. The photos show a small proportion of my collection which I have amassed over the years. I always try and buy cheap as with 4 young children I don't have a lot of spare cash. If you put the hours in looking through the books so you know what you're looking, trawling the internet and car boot sales and a little bit of luck you'll find bargains (although it's easier for me as I collect anything (and I mean anything!) WW2

[Chopperman]

Grimebox,
Those are some great blades.
I have a real soft spot for the F/S style knives.

[ww2 freak]

i made a deal with a lady who was selling ww2 german stuff i got a armband the 1930s iron cross and it mite be a whermacht officer hat or waffen ss it has the skull and the eagel with the swatskia

[ww2fotos]

Back in 1956 I bought a CASED RK with EL & S for $25.00. I was only a kid back then $25 was a LOT of money! I bought an SA dagger for $3, you'll get sick if I continue. ha ha

[Aleksander P]

Oh man if i had lived in that era .

[Walkwolf]

Up-date of TR militaria I just bought as a group this past Thursday, December 10th.
The fellow knew I like to collect WWII German stuff and was glad it all went
to a good home. He wanted $400 for everything, which I though
was a great deal................


'44 ASW' unissued K-98 bayonet - matching #'s
WWII EKII - no maker mark
WWI EKII - maker mark 'N'
WWII Wound Badge in black
West Wall Medal
KVKI with Swords in zinc - maker mark '3'
KVKII with Swords in bronze
N.S.D.A.P. 'button-hole' style party pin
WWII Wound Badge in black (damaged - missing fittings)