Prices and trends within Militaria collecting from 2019
Why sell Militaria now?
I speak from the perspective of someone who largely derives their living from trading in Militaria .
Currently the patriotic grandchildren of British WW2 service personnel are buying up everything from the period. The greatest prices being achieved for Normandy related items ,anything airborne followed closely by a former favourite the royal air force.
Driving the British boom is a groundswell of historic re enactment groups .The committed re-enactor will be sporting replica kit on the field . He or she once acquainted with copy items will invariable start buying genuine examples to be hoarded at home .
British Militaria as the less glamourous option has not suffered at the hands of speculators in the way Third Reich Items have.
German Militaria is another matter, It has always been far more expensive, but prices may well be dropping in real terms.
As we move further away from WW2 the conflict has less relevance to the new successions of generations. In all area with the exception of the SS items prices have failed to increase much at all in the last few years .
What factors which affect prices ? Demand is the obvious factor multiplied by availability .
When the arteries through which German Militaria travelled were a) markets and b)auction houses c) Shops prices could be artificially created and maintained by the trade.
The advent of collector’s on-line forums coupled with the proliferation of Militaria websites have dragged prices down. The spiral in prices is further encouraged by the unending choice of products afforded by the Net.
The Pound or dollar is spread more thinly now as devotees of any collecting genre are tempted away by a thousand and one other online opportunities to buy things they do not really need..
If what I have stated in the previous paragraph is accurate and other’s follow my lead in exposing the frail nature of this market then what will be the outcome?
Collectors (otherwise known as investors) are not going put their money into a market which is bottoming out . For every one dreamer with an unbreakable affinity with the Third Reich there are a thousand enthusiasts who have squirreled away items based on there once proven investment potential.