Attention – collection stolen!
Article about: It is sad, but true. Next week I will return this subject for more details, but for now just a short announcement. Last weekend the entire collection from my friend Philippe Gillain from Bel
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Attention – collection stolen!
naamloos boeven.png
It is sad, but true. Next week I will return this subject for more details,
but for now just a short announcement.
Last weekend the entire collection from my friend Philippe Gillain from Belgium,
who helped me a lot in the past with my books, has been stolen from his house!
And when I say collection, one hardly can imagine what this means. I have seen
the collection many times and I must say it is practically impossible this is done
by one person only. This must have been done by a gang, a scrupulous number
of thieves, and must have taken hours and hours before all was taken from the
house!
It is speculated the theft was on orders of some person, who may have paid the
gang for their job! Who knows where all the items have landed? We can be sure
the items from the collection won’t be offered that quickly, as for now it is HOT STUFF!
I will keep you all informed, but believe me there were enormous rare items in the
collection: hundreds of rare buckles, rare cloth insignia, numbers of headgear of
all kind, flags and so on. Too much to mention!
PLEASE keep open your eyes and ears and inform me when there are rumours of
any kind. Thanks in advance!
naamloos boeven.png
Just some of his headgear and buckles:
img148.jpg
img153.jpg
img293 - kopie - kopie.jpg
img842.jpg
img293 - kopie.jpg
Last edited by Wilhelm Saris; 09-15-2017 at 03:05 PM.
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Sad to hear of this happening, and it is a good lesson for all of us to learn from. One of the reasons that I have backed off quite a bit from posting my collection on line is amplified immensely from this instance. We all like to be able to show other collectors what we have in our collections but we are also opening ourselves up for other entities. When we also post our locations in avatars and other personal information, we tend to forget the long term circumstances and risks. I am not saying that the victim in this case, Mr. Gillain posted his collection on line, or advertised his location, but there could be so many other circumstances that led up to his collection being stolen, such as a contractor coming to the home to make plumbing or electrical repairs for instance and those workers were making observations of what they saw. This happens guys.. Not just in the USA...
This kind of report is very disheartening and I hope that all of the items will someday be recovered.
Mr. Saris, If you would please pass to Mr. Gillian my sympathies and hopes that his items will be recovered and justice brought to the criminals
Smitty
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Devastating news ! I'm really sorry to hear that and I can't imagine how hard it is to have a full collection that took maybe an entire life to be what it was at the time stolen.
I'll certainly advise in case I hear anything from that, that is not from you or Mr.Gillain !
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Very sad news William, it does sound like a Criminal Gang robbery, could be all gone to Russia or similar by now.
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by
CBH
Very sad news William, it does sound like a Criminal Gang robbery, could be all gone to Russia or similar by now.
That's what I think. My friend was not at home, nor was his housekeeper, but image what could
have happened when he was! Maybe some may remember the dirty job done a few years ago in
Germany!
Have a look in various of my books and then you know more, especially the enameled wall plaques
and HJ-handbook or the various of my headgear-books. A good thing is a fact I have the various
photo-books mr. Gillain made from his collection. So when the one or the other rare item is being
offered I will recognize it in a second. For example the extremely rare headgear for the Waisenhaus
from Potsdam:
O206274_1.jpg O206274_5 - kopie.jpg
O206274_6.jpg O206274_7.jpg
O206274_11.jpg
I am sure most of the TR collectors (98%) will never have seen this material ever before.
The set sold last year at Hermann Historica was a complete fake set. They didn't withdraw
it from the auction even they were told!!
Last edited by Wilhelm Saris; 09-15-2017 at 03:52 PM.
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Can I put the information on French Forums ?
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Yes, please do. I am not visiting there. Thanks on behalf of Philippe of course.
You can eventually also copy the last added photos in some posts!
Maybe one day we find the bastard(s)........as there is stuff no one or hardly
a person has ever seen this material.
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Thanks for letting us know, Wim. This is really infuriating. I can't imagine what it must feel like to lose a collection that must have taken insane amounts of time, effort and money to assemble.
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by
HPL2008
I can't imagine what it must feel like to lose a collection that must have taken insane amounts of time, effort and money to assemble.
This collecting is/was a lifetime job (as far as I remember mr. Gillain started collecting since he was about 16
and is my age or about at this moment) and in some ways meant to be an extra pension, I think! If some person
would steal what I collect (no TR), I think I would get a heart-attack!
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Terrible news, lets hope this will all be recovered.
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