Collecting values in the future

[Jayman]

As collectors especially the ones who have been collecting for many years feel the market will be in the future? I could be wrong but i heard that the market for Civil War collectables value went down because of all the fakes being produced today actually ruined it, which made me think of WW2 German militaria and the future it holds might just follow. I am just starting out and have a lot to learn and am willing to learn but already a bit discouraged after hearing that and seeing how good some of the fakes are. I don't want to work hard and spend a fortune to find out 40 years from now no one will be interested in this stuff and it didn't hold its value and can pick it up for close to nothing. I know it is a gamble you take but I wanted to see what the other collectors say and feel about it. Do you think the value will always hold with War Relics?

[AmericanKraut]

I think "personal" value will always hold I really dont care what other collectors think about my collection thats why its mine and I collect what I like, so collect what you will always like. However monetarily I believe "war relics" will gain value as time goes on due to the sad destruction of originals and more repros the value of the real things will go up. Real collectors will always pay alot for the real items some civil war was hit because it lost popularity among reenactors I believe, but I was at an auction recently and saw a pair of confederate boots go for over 1,000$ and a pistol for close to 5,000 so Im sure the value is still there. One last note look at it this way 40 years from now if you can find this stuff for next to nothing buy it if its your hobby isnt that your dream? -Ben

[Franz1944]

It depends on why you collect. For history? For money? I do it for history, money is just object that holds back my obession. Fakes will always have there flaws, they might become very hard to detect. That why when you collect you need to know what the items details are like the back of your hand.

If you do it more for long term investment you are running a risk....

Say if fakes become so good that you cant tell the difference, then i will give my collection to someone who has the same obsession as i do or give it to a museum (when im ready to part with it).

[ToxicGas]

I can't see the value of militaria dropping any time soon. It only becomes rarer as time goes on, and as has been said, most fakes are detectable in some way or other. I can't see the interest in the World Wars declining either!

If in future I have amassed a large costly collection (well, it's costly already!), it would be annoying to discover they had devalued, but conversely, I doubt I'll ever sell my collection. As Ben said, I'd love to be able to pick up rare items at low prices! I read the stories of those who have collected for many years, picking up original SS gear for low prices 'back in the day' and wish it were like that now! I picked my SS Totenkopf up for £75, but that was a very rare exception to the rule... I'll never sell it, so I wouldn't mind being able to grab them for that money normally!

At a militaria fair, I once heard an elderly man saying to someone 'I've made more money in my life investing in militaria than I have investing in property!'

Mat

[sam1chlt]

I will not be redundant, but I collect the things that I like and have always wanted. I was fascinated with WW2 as a kid and grew up with half my family serving in 2 wars. I watched and still watch all the famous movies and what not. I replaced my 401k retirement with my collection. It means more than money to me and is something I can hand down to my kids someday!

In regards to civil war items. The main problem with the civil war is that the south did not have armories. So most of the stuff they had to fight with was unmarked and came from home / hunting. Allot of stuff was hand cast in the field as well. This makes it easy to replicate and hard to determine if its real or not especially swords, knifes and guns!!

Regards,

Sam

[cricketchris1944]

There is too many ww1 and ww2 collectors for that to happen.
Everyday new collectors start collecting.
Civil war Item are very hard to find and cost big money.
chris

[SteveR]

CW stuff is exteremly expensive, ergo lots of fake items. The sources for this stuff has dried up over the years. I have a couple of mounted shell jackets that I bought in the 70's for less than $100.00 each. There is no way in hell you can buy legitimate items unless you have a very large bank account.
From what I have witnessed over the last 45 years I believe this will also happen to WWII German stuff also.
I also collect WWI and WWII American stuff as there is still a large amount of it to be had here in the US at very reasonable prices.
With mankind being what it is there will always be military conflicts so there always will be new fields to collect.

[Frundsberg]

It is almost impossible to say what will happen to the prices. It is just like every other market. My suggestion is not to put all eggs into one basket. For most of people WWII items are useless junk and they will not pay a penny for it. So it is not so easy to sell Your collection for a good price. After stock market collapsed 3 years ago prices of German militaria also lost around 30% or even more. For example in 2008 price for EK II here was already around 120 euro or more. Now it is around 90 euro. I do not belive militaria, stamps, coins etc. is a good investment unless you have plenty of time and money to survive the bad times. If You are forced to sell You will get in many cases 30-50% of Your original investment and are still lucky someone was interested. For me collecting is just a hobby so I do not care much are these items investment or not.

[ObKrieger]

It is almost impossible to say what will happen to the prices. It is just like every other market. My suggestion is not to put all eggs into one basket. For most of people WWII items are useless junk and they will not pay a penny for it. So it is not so easy to sell Your collection for a good price. After stock market collapsed 3 years ago prices of German militaria also lost around 30% or even more. For example in 2008 price for EK II here was already around 120 euro or more. Now it is around 90 euro. I do not belive militaria, stamps, coins etc. is a good investment unless you have plenty of time and money to survive the bad times. If You are forced to sell You will get in many cases 30-50% of Your original investment and are still lucky someone was interested. For me collecting is just a hobby so I do not care much are these items investment or not.

Yes, one should not collect militaria only because he or she sees it as an investment.

Militaria should be collected because you can appreciate the history, and because it's fun as hell to find it. It's also fun because, of course, you can spend hours on here talking about it with other people like you.

[Lowboy]

I was told by a serious collector/dealer/historian that prices of WW2 militaria will be rising in the future due to the fact that so many new Russian and Chinese collectors have started. A growing percentage of purchases are coming for those 2 countries. As for the civil war.. normally only people from the USA collect Civil war items... but the world wars are collected by people worldwide.. JMO.