Handling my mixed militaria

[MAP]

I'm with you brother. There's that sensation of "touching history" and connecting with it. We just have to be mindful. I read Smitty's post with great interest. Glad we have him here.
I rotate my cloth items that are on display so that they spend some time out where I can enjoy them, but the majority of the time in a dark, moth-protected closet. I always have at a minimum a lace curtain across the window to act as a filter and the combo of the trees and my roof overhang also cut down any direct sunlight, but I have a heavy dark blue "blackout" curtain as well (that I bought in Germany as a coincidence) for summer days when the sun is at it's strongest. I'll draw that curtain across the window and leave it until I actually spend time in the war room and then I move it aside to allow light through the lace/mesh curtain just while I'm actually in the room.

Black out curtains are key. My war room windows are always blacked out and the door is always shut when I'm not in it. Healthy amounts of cedar chips are spread around as well has most everything not behind glass is covered in ultra thin plastic sheets to keep the dust off.

[JPhilip]

Hello again,
To complete what i have said in my previous post, i could add that i've seen almost everything in terms of collecting from the funniest to the weirdest way to handle and display/store items, from the collector wrapping everything in small bags stored in boxes and admiring his collection once a year to commemorate i don't remember what to the guy throwing to the ground each single piece of german uniform he could handle just because of a bad habit taken in his job of secondhand clothes retailer. He treated items like rags and had a collection i can't even dream of.

Perhaps some here are going to say that i'm a retard or what they want to call me, but since the day i bought my first Feldbluse until today, each single piece of german uniform (tunic, pants, greatcoat) bought for my collection is handwashed in slightly warm running water with in my opinion the best soap ever for this, le savon de Marseille, the real one, handmade without chemicals.
1. Men, the colour of the water after the first wash always amazes me (i wash each item twice), it looks like coffee
2. it gives a nice and fresh smell to the wool for months, sometimes years.
3. the nap loves it...and the wash "inflates" the nap just a bit
There is no miracle of course, but i've seen great results. In conjonction with the anti moths products, it gives to the room some special smell. These pieces of uniform were meant to be washed anyway, so i never saw anything wrong to do it.

I never wash soft headgear, also never woolen items with patina and 100% provenance.
I also vacuum them at very low speed to remove dust when on display on mannequins.
Garments stored in a closet are in covers with anti moths sheets in the pockets.
All Feldblusen and pants on display have the same sheets in the rear and front pockets (they last 6 months).
All Equipment is stored in drawers or in big cardboard boxes in my room, except those on display cleaned with a cloth once a month at least, sometimes more. I empty my cabinets twice a year to clean inside and remove dust that goes everywhere...
When i'm not in my room, it's totally dark all the time, when i'm in i use a low lux bulb. There is no sunlight that comes directly to my room, never, i open the window once a week for the cleaning of the room itself. My curtains are great, as thick as Heer blankets, giving no chance to the sun.

Like i said before i've seen almost everything and i now consider that one can do everything he wants with what belongs to him. I do not give a s... anymore as our US friends say. Some, like me, consider that we own these things for a certain amount of time before passing them to the next generation that will continue our work of preservation and make it even better, who knows? and some say it's mine i do what i want with it, i paid for this, it's my property for now and ever....it's sometime sad for the item itself, item that is often ruined by ignorance, selfishness and/or greed...what to do? nothing, just keep on keeping on, on the same path, on the good side of the force. Keep on learning, keep on showing items, keep on sharing knowledge, keep on helping forum collectors and close friends to avoid fakes and Pawel Nowak's adepts, while building a collection that i dream of since i'm 11 yrs old...
Thanks

[Rakkasan187]

Well said JP.. Well said...


Smitty

[MAP]

JP....what "anti-moth" sheets do you use? I use the fabric softener sheets.

And like you, my room is always 100% dark when I'm not in it. But I have yet to wash anything.... and probably will not attempt that

[JPhilip]

JP....what "anti-moth" sheets do you use? I use the fabric softener sheets.

And like you, my room is always 100% dark when I'm not in it. But I have yet to wash anything.... and probably will not attempt that

Hello,
The brand of the anti-moths sheets is KAPO (not a joke)
Concerning the washing, you should give a try, it's a no risk situation, wool does not melt in water, results with used Feldblusen are sometimes surprising but never bad. My first wash was a Feldbluse 36 that looks ok prior to the wash, just a little bit dirty and wrinkled. What i removed this day was not World War II patina but forty five years of storage/display dirt. I washed it five times due to the amount of dirt. When it has been dry, it was not the same Feldbluse anymore...from toad to princess...
You can use only water the first time and its colour will tell you if you need to add soap...
Thanks

[HARRY THE MOLE]

I only have two uniforms on display at any one time, the rest are stored in drawers... and everything is rotated every few months. Nothing is left in direct sunlight - including my framed sets of medals. Helmets are protected with a thin layer of beeswax, caps and uniforms are protected with cards impregnated with moth killer, and guns are always wiped over with an oil impregnated cloth after handling. I never wear gloves, and in more than 50 years of collecting, I have never damaged anything through improper handling.

[JPhilip]

The notion of pleasure is also important as i'm not collecting this stuff to store everything in boxes and closets. Let's make it clear, if i had enough room and mannequins i would need no closet at all and could enjoy all my items. There are things that i haven't seen in years. For instance, i do own a tremendous brand new dark green german civilian suit from 1945, perfect for a Volkssturm mannequin, it's in a closet since 18 years...the day i can afford the right mannequin, i will display it with complete accessories...

A friend of mine lost all his collection two years ago when a pyromaniac lighted up the stock of wood for heating that lied against one of the walls of the family house. He of course also lost all he had in life, all material things i mean, same for the all family. When one leaves the house in the morning for work and has 200,000 euro worth of the finest german artefacts and comes back at the end of the afternoon only to see that what was his house is now 1 meter high only. Yes the notion of pleasure is important, for me it's crucial. If one day i feel no pleasure handling my stuff, i will sell everything and leave preservation to others...but it's not for today or tomorrow as last month i found myself literally harassing a seller at a local fair for a simple late war messkit (mint example tho)that he didn't want to separate from a A-frame (he added it to the frame)...the guy refused all offers, so i negociated a pair of late war german tropical straight pants made of italian olona cloth (that i was very interested in)with him and after the deal, i asked again for the messkit. He took it off from the frame in three seconds and i got it for a very very good price...pleasure...
Thanks

[Pauls1970]

I keep my collection boxed up, mainly sealed & away from sunlight, (years ago I had a WW1 medal trio & the ribbons were bleached by the sun....never again). My helmets I handle with cotton gloves & uniforms are in zipped protective covers. All I own, has been preserved exactly as it first came to me & in my lifetime, will preserve it as such. Quite a duty, to think that we are preserving these historical items for the duration of our lifetime, then when we're gone, they'll pass on, hopefully to another custodian.
Regards
Paul

[TWS]

The notion of pleasure is also important as i'm not collecting this stuff to store everything in boxes and closets. Let's make it clear, if i had enough room and mannequins i would need no closet at all and could enjoy all my items. There are things that i haven't seen in years.

Amen brother. Amen.
I only have display space for a portion of my collection to be out on display at a time, so I rotate pieces in and out of storage. I think the guys who buy something, look at it for 5 minutes, then throw it in a closet where it never sees the light of day for years and years and years are a little sad. There are tons of hoarders in this hobby like that and it's a shame because if they would just get off their bum and share their items on the forums or even with other collectors that visit them in person (but more on that in a second) then the knowledge and history contained in those items would be shared - to the betterment of the collecting community.
There are collectors with footlockers full of uniforms, daggers, medals, etc that they never look at, yet they have to go out and buy more and more and more...to throw in the footlockers! The urge to acquire more gets in the way of appreciating the items they already have.

I'm really sorry about what happened to your friend's collection. That really stinks. I had an adult collector friend when I was a teenager and part of his collection was lost in a horrible episode. He lived in an apartment complex that was owned by his father. His father was letting him use an empty apartment to store and display his collection while he and his wife lived in a different unit. Three rather shady guys had met him at a gun show and wrangled an invite to come over and see his collection in person (although I enjoy hosting and being hosted by other collectors, I always get to know them well first). Anyway, they repeatedly asked him to sell some of his German WWII firearms. He said sorry, they are not for sale. Well, they came back some nights later to the unoccupied apartment where his collection was stored and helped themselves to the guns. They put them in a waiting car and decided to cover up their crime by setting fire to the empty apartment. They were not too bright and poured gasoline around a small enclosed room. When they lit it, there was an explosion and in a dose of instant karma, the guy standing there was killed. When the police and fire fighters arrived, one guy was still there, sitting in the car unable to function due to the shock of seeing the other guy killed. With one guy dead and the other in custody, the third perpetrator was easy to find and apprehend.

[JPhilip]

Amen brother. Amen.
I only have display space for a portion of my collection to be out on display at a time, so I rotate pieces in and out of storage. I think the guys who buy something, look at it for 5 minutes, then throw it in a closet where it never sees the light of day for years and years and years are a little sad. There are tons of hoarders in this hobby like that and it's a shame because if they would just get off their bum and share their items on the forums or even with other collectors that visit them in person (but more on that in a second) then the knowledge and history contained in those items would be shared - to the betterment of the collecting community.
There are collectors with footlockers full of uniforms, daggers, medals, etc that they never look at, yet they have to go out and buy more and more and more...to throw in the footlockers! The urge to acquire more gets in the way of appreciating the items they already have.

I'm really sorry about what happened to your friend's collection. That really stinks. I had an adult collector friend when I was a teenager and part of his collection was lost in a horrible episode. He lived in an apartment complex that was owned by his father. His father was letting him use an empty apartment to store and display his collection while he and his wife lived in a different unit. Three rather shady guys had met him at a gun show and wrangled an invite to come over and see his collection in person (although I enjoy hosting and being hosted by other collectors, I always get to know them well first). Anyway, they repeatedly asked him to sell some of his German WWII firearms. He said sorry, they are not for sale. Well, they came back some nights later to the unoccupied apartment where his collection was stored and helped themselves to the guns. They put them in a waiting car and decided to cover up their crime by setting fire to the empty apartment. They were not too bright and poured gasoline around a small enclosed room. When they lit it, there was an explosion and in a dose of instant karma, the guy standing there was killed. When the police and fire fighters arrived, one guy was still there, sitting in the car unable to function due to the shock of seeing the other guy killed. With one guy dead and the other in custody, the third perpetrator was easy to find and apprehend.

Hello,
Thanks for this story, too bad that someone lost his life...but fortunately it was one of the "bad guys"....some would call this death, natural selection, but they wouldn't be nice i guess...
This story leads us to a very important point concerning your collections guys....beware of who you let in....
In 35 years of collecting, only eight people who do not belong to my family have seen my room, five collectors (of which four are close friends), two colleagues and one of my wife's female best friends who did not understand the purpose of collecting such an amount of nazi shits....now she knows and she understood that my items were not nazi shits but artefacts of the german army.

If you want to sell something, do it on the Internet or in fairs, if the buyer wants to pick up an Internet buy, meet him in a bar or in a park, not at home.

When i sell something in my country to someone i haven't dealt with before, i never write my exact address on the parcel, the name & town are ok, but not the street, in case of a return, the postman knows my family and i get the parcel back with no problem...it's a lot safer as my name is well known in the community and it could give ideas to people with bad intentions.

there are several measures that can ben taken in order to make deals safer...think before you act and this prevails for everything in life....think before you act...
Thanks