M38 prices on the up?

[7againstthebes]

I will give you an example of what I am talking about with dealers. All this year and last Ive been able to pick up Imperial EKIIs with ribbons for $80-$90 US. Lakesidetrader started upping them to the $125-$144 range. There is one on his site now for $144.95.

German-Militaria.com soon followed suit. There is a plain Jane Imperial EKII on their site right now for the low price of $550!! There is no shortage driving the price, there is no rarity affecting the price. It is simply dealers driving up prices in the area they do business.

If a FJR6 camo M38 comes along I expect that go for banana's prices. Not so much for late war slotted or single decals. The real rarities being the M38 DD IMO. Yet SDs and lat-war examples, are all up. Especially the late war, which used to be entry level.

Yes shop around, always. Most of us aren't spending our days running a hotel buy, hit all the show circuit, nor do we pickup items pre-general public between dealers, and we have to resort to the online hunt.

[Logictox]

It's not just this hobby, it's across the board no matter what you are buying these days. I'm sure it has a great deal to do with currency values after massive amounts of new money was printed around the world. If you're waiting on a bargain I'm going to go out on a limb and say that prices will probably continue to rise. Just my opinion.

[thecyclist64]

Here in England it is the same right across the board. I noticed it not long after the pandemic began when people must have obvioulsy been bored sitting at home and started buying items online because all the fairs were no longer open. This lead to a gradual, but sustained price increase. EKII's now sell for almost double what they did about 4 years ago. Ostfront medals are also going up by about 40%.