Hello to all....This is pretty wild. The other day I was helping my mother move some boxes of stuff she was going to sell at her garage sale. Quite a bit of it belonged to an old friend of hers who passed away about a dozen or so years ago. He was something of a pack rat/hoarder type, and had no living relatives. As such she was in charge of his estate. All kinds of stuff, lots of tools, hooks, rusty things. In one of the boxes filled with winches and pulleys, something caught my eye. It was not even the object that stood out at first but rather its color. The unmistakable late war German Dark-sand Yellow used on armor and vehicles. As my eyes adjusted I almost fell over. It was the unmistakable U towing shackle and bolt found exclusively on Panthers and King Tigers.
It is rather chipped up in the paint dept., but nonetheless unmistakable. And rather heavy. Having built models for many years, this was one of those parts that was easily lost or broken and very small in 1/35 scale. To actually have one in reality puts it all in perspective. So gentlemen the question is this: How much could this conceivably be worth?? Much as I would like to keep it, I think the money could be very helpful to her. Being that these were often lost on wartime photos, I have to imagine that there are not many around. And considering the prices on various other artifacts of much more common items have gone up considerably in recent years, how does one put a price on this? Lets face it: Lots more collectors can say they own a panzer uniform as opposed to a piece of an actual panzer...let alone one of the big cats. I will post some photos in the next few days, my camara is busted so I will have to visit my brother to do this. For right now I'm attaching a couple of photos of the Patton Museum King Tiger, just so we are all on the same page. By the way, It is not just the u shackle but the bolt with the unique end piece that holds it on the tank. And once again, this is unique to Panthers and King Tigers. Tiger I's were rather different.
Gentlemen, any thoughts would be truly appreciated!
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