About my collection

Kia Ora. This site lists out my grievously out of control militaria collection. Hopefully you find the droids you are looking for.

While I have always been an avid student of history, it has only been in the past decade or so that I have settled down in one place long enough to allow things like hobbies and collections to accrue around me. My collecting of military items began in the 70’s when my grandfather passed on his unit badges but it really only started to snowball in 2000 with the discovery of a German Silver Wound Badge in an antique store in Ontario. My obsession has now spread to a network of friends and acquaintances across the globe.

Okay, first up, the obligatory disclaimer about not being a neo-nazi. If I have something in my collection that has a swastika, hakenkreuz, צלב קרס, crooked cross, whatever you want to call it stamped on it, it’s because I bought it or was given it. I didn’t earn it during the war.

You will note that the vast majority of the gear I have here is military in nature and not political. Me having an item of Nazi origin and therefore being of the Stormfront persuasion is about as logical as taking my ownership of a Japanese rifle to mean I support the Greater East Asian Co-prosperity Sphere. You won’t find any KZ memorabilia here though, everyone needs an arbitrary point where good taste ends and tasteless exploitation begins, this is mine.

Secondly, if I have something for sale, then it will probably say in the description. Don’t ask me for my King’s Medal for Spoonbending just because you don’t have the search engine skills or the patience to find one for yourself. The only exception here is where I have accidentally listed some rare variant that you totally need to have. I also have a type-A personality and understand the insatiable obsession created by the need to own sets of things. I deliberately list the names on my orphans in the hope that you may be looking for that exact medal and I can be a part of reuniting them. Ping me and we can discuss.

Thirdly, if I have misidentified anything then please inform me. I have this collection up on this site because I wanted a persistent record that would help other collectors. This is why I identify the fabrications I have accidentally gathered and why I believe them to be wrong. Don’t email me on a point of law though, rabid fans of L16 stamped Advanced Duck Herding War Badges do not engage my interest. I have no desire to determine the number of angels dancing on the pin of your head.

Every collector I have met has a speciality, especially once they have moved past the accumulator phase and into a place where deeper and narrower knowledge is required. I used to collect a bit of German gear but the horrible amount of fakery in that field has made it almost too dangerous to engage in. Now I will only deal with a handful of trusted sellers and personal contacts. Once you have collected all the low level awards then you are putting a lot of cash at risk and I am sorry, I have bought my share of “lead pencils”.

I have a modest collection of WW2 service and commemorative medals. These are cheap, plentiful, rarely faked and quite varied in design.

My most valued (not most valuable) gathering is the 50 or so groups and singles named to my surname or one of the close variants.

And then finally there is my interest in WW2 German infantry weapons, that dates from my own military service as well as a lifetime familiarity with, and use of, firearms.

I hope you find something useful to you here and thanks to all my collector friends who have made my cash collection shrink in an inverse relationship to my “war stuff collection” (yes James, Andrew and Ian, I am looking at you).

I apologise in advance for my poor understanding of the rules of capitalisation. – Geof, April 2013

Wenn ist das Nunstruck git und Slotermeyer? Ja! … Beiherhund das Oder die Flipperwaldt gersput!