Uncategorised Machine Gunner group and tears of frustration......

[Chris Boonzaier]

Well, it was a long battle, and there was no victory :-(

Some time ago a Jeweller sold a group on ebay, I managed to get MOST of it... awards and documents to a guy in a MGSSA... EK2, Braunschweig Cross, Cased EK1, Ehrenkreuz, Treuedienstkreuz.....

I missed the Sachsen Anhalt Friedrichskreuz and document (went for EUR190) , but was able to get the details of the buyer.

After many efforts, including trading him another Anhalts Kreuz with award document, AND almost EUR400 extra in trade (yes, i became desperate), he still refused. I have to respect his descision, but it really bites not to be able to complete the group... :-(

The sticking point is/was that it was an early 1915 award. IMHO it does not really add any value to the Document and award, so you can understand my frustration :-(

I need to go cry in my beer tonight.... sigh.....

[Dete]

Hi Chris,

so we can stick our heads together and cry in the beer. Prob it s the same guy who own my Kreta and Erdkampf award docs.

I was able to buy the beautiful para group through an auction. Only these two docs were missing. Later on they were found and sold on Militaria321, which i missed.

I offered twice the price he paid and the same doc from another person, but no way.

Off course you are right, it s his decision, but there is not really logical reason, or?

So lets wait for the miracle.

Best regards

Detlev

[Chris Boonzaier]

It feels great to share the pain ... :-)

[Claudius]

I commiserate with you and offer my condolences as well.

This is an obvious example of a collector who DOESN’T see any value in keeping a group together and many others that do. You were willing to pay way over the price to keep it together.

Sort of reminds me of the story in the bible. The Wisdom of Solomon when the one woman would give up her baby rather than have it killed and split between the two mothers. Not that I recommend somehow selling this guy the rest of the group in an attempt to keep it together. This guy would just sell off the pieces he didn't want

[Chris Boonzaier]

S'funny you should say that... I had actually used that very phrase, "Solomon" and was thinking of offering him the group, but arrived at the same conclusion.

He does not seem like a bad guy, but I do find his reasoning to be very disrespectful of the recipient, it is a way of collecting I really do not understand.

Thats life, I will get a replacement cross to complete the group, and a copy of the document, it wont be the same, but will go a ways to saving the history.

[dond]

I've had the same thing happen. Quite frustrating.

[Chris Liontas]

Don't give up hope Chris!!! Ive had several things like this happen, and you can be surprised what happens later. Make sure he has your info, so if something he wants more comes up on auction/sale he can call you. I've had to wait up to three years, yet I still got the items I wanted from a split up group!! Don't give up!!

[Paul C]

Been there. I had to wait a year and pay double for a Purple Heart group to a man from my hometown. The sell was a bit of a d?ck.

[Les]

My father's mothers-mother family name is very uncommon. Years ago, I saw a camo'd and named m16 type Stahlhelm on ebay. The likelihood of the helmet having been worn by a family member is extremely high. The seller would not agree to a direct sale. I bid almost three times market value, and was outbid seconds before the auction closed. I contacted the winner, told him I was interested in the helmet (and exactly why) along with an offer to buy it if he ever got tired of it.

The response? A nasty-gram.

Edited May 26, 2014 by Les

[Rogi]

lol

Man so this doesn't only happen to me

It is called Karma and what goes around comes around, trust me, I've had this situation too many times before.

From family items that were stolen during the war (we should get these things for free, no? lol alas, I offer a fair price regardless, because I don't like people losing money on items they paid for)

To items that complete groups. The epic X10 the price event usually comes to mind. A this medal or that document usually springs up in price, later, maybe a year or 2 down the road, karma comes back and they sell the doc I need on ebay on an auction for 0.99 cents or something silly (happened to me once before

In short my friends, keep on hoping and being good collectors like you all are treating people respectfully and hoping one day that this will join the collection, I find that evil and bad people in the collecting world sometimes with the help of some good karma get what is coming to them (if they are complete douches )

[Chris Boonzaier]

Here is the group... I have a replacement Friedrich August cross as a space filler.....

[Chris Boonzaier]

the complete group, minus the space filler

[turtle]

Nice group to a well decorated soldier!