Why Do I Collect this Stuff ?

Mein Vater sammelte über 60 Jahre lang. Alles begann mit der Uniform meines Großvaters. Er besaß nur dessen Jacke und war immer stolz darauf. Schließlich gab er sie meinem Vater, der dann nach und nach die fehlenden Teile zusammentrug.

Unser Großvater besuchte uns Kinder jeden Sonntag. Nach ein paar Flaschen Bier erzählte er uns immer vom Krieg und wie er seinen besten Freund verloren hatte. Und dabei weinte er immer. Das habe ich bis heute nicht vergessen. Wenn er nach Hause ging, musste er sich immer noch einmal seine Uniform ansehen.

In Filmen wird dieser Hass auf den Feind immer wieder gezeigt. „Wir ziehen jetzt nach Frankreich und besiegen die Franzosen. In drei Wochen sind wir wieder zu Hause.“ Mein Großvater sagte immer: „Ich wollte einfach nur zurück zu meiner Frau und auf seinen Bauernhof.“ Er verlor zwei seiner Brüder und seinen besten Freund.

Ich möchte die Erinnerung an meinen Großvater und all die Männer bewahren, die in diesen Krieg zogen und dabei ihr Leben verloren.

Freund oder Feind!!!
Anbei finden Sie die Uniform meines Großvaters, seinen Wehrdienstnachweis und einige Fotos. Auf dem Gruppenfoto ist mein Großvater links und sein bester Freund rechts zu sehen.

Ich habe sein Kampftagebuch fotografiert.
 

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@Kaisersammler , vielen dank für ihre beitrage, wenn sie meine beitrage hier gelesen hatt, dann wissen sie das es für mir das selbe ist, meine grossvater hat die krieg auch uberlebt., aber ist gestorben wenn ich zu jung wahre, um ihn etwas zu fragen..
 
Kaisersammler said:
My father collected for over 60 years. It all started with my grandfather's uniform. He only owned the jacket and was always proud of it. Eventually, he gave it to my father, who then gradually collected the missing pieces.

Our grandfather visited us children every Sunday. After a few bottles of beer, he would always tell us about the war and how he had lost his best friend. And he always cried while he did it. I've never forgotten that. When he went home, he always had to look at his uniform one last time.

This hatred of the enemy is repeatedly depicted in films. "We're going to France now and we'll defeat the French. We'll be back home in three weeks." My grandfather always said, "I just wanted to go back to my wife and his farm." He lost two of his brothers and his best friend.

I want to preserve the memory of my grandfather and all the men who went to this war and lost their lives.

Friend or foe!!!
Enclosed you will find my grandfather's uniform, his military service record, and some photos. In the group photo, my grandfather is on the left and his best friend is on the right.

I photographed his battle diary.
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That is a great story and very touching. Thanks for sharing it.
 
Also.... let's not forget the craftsmanship and unique design of the Pickelhaube. The depth of the uniform / helmet industry back then was impressive and often unmatched.
That said, I should've found a nice (replica) Garde Adler to affix to my tanker helmet. Damn... another opportunity lost. ;)

Zu Prosit!

Ron
 
I have always been fascinated by all things military, the history, the strategy, the weapons, the tactics, the uniforms, etc. I think it comes from reading the book All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque when I was about 12-13 years old. I still have that exact book and have read it several times. It's in pretty rough shape now but other than Lord of the Rings, is my favourite book. Then when I was 14 my uncle gave me an old WW1 camouflaged German helmet that is quite unique (see pic below) that was in his neighbours barn out in the country where he lived. He helped his neighbor paint the barn and his neighbor had this old helmet he said his grandfather brought back from WW1 and was just collecting dust so he gave it to my uncle when he said his nephew (me) would love it. If I didnt take it he was turning it into a flower pot!

As I was financially able to I jumped into militaria collecting after numerous forays into other collecting fields (record albums, concert and movie posters, military diecast) and went a little nuts, specializing in Stahlhelms and had hundreds of top shelf pieces that I think some of you might now own.

Sold it all back in 2013/14 as I retired from militaria collecting, however after Karel's passing I got back into Imperial German pickelhaubes. Karel and I were good friends and I saw him often in Belgium when I was there visiting my son who moved there years ago as he lived not far from him. Karel found a helmet that was the identical twin to my helmet and I remember he called me from the Boot Sale where he found it as he couldnt believe he was holding the twin to mine in his hands and wanted to talk about it before he bought it! That was a fun call, and we always said we would get the two helmets together as we were 100% positive that they were painted by the same hand on the same day if not the same hour and nobody to this day knows why there is a red band from vent lug to vent lug and believe me I have researched the daylights out of this and after almost 50 years still no definitive answer!

When I retired from militaria collecting I had donated my helmet along with some extremely rare Canadian militaria to our Regimental Museum here as their WW1 stahlhelm example was an interwar fire helmet and my helmet was a vet bringback from a farm just north of here. When I saw that Karel's helmet was for sale in the auction, I was buying it no matter how much it was going to cost me (sorry if I outbid you!) and then decided to buy some of my favourite pieces from his collection as well, and since then I have not stopped. Now the shelves are full again!

So this helmet has brought me into collecting militaria now not once but twice! Mine is the one on the right, Karel's is on the left. I took this photo at the museum of them both together a few years ago, reunited after 110 years! The colors are a perfect match, both are painted camo over camo, something rarely if ever seen, same red band, even the brush strokes match. Both helmets have handwriting in pencil on the inside, both to 3 different soldiers. Mine had the inscription Peronne France 1917 on the inside, presumably by the vet who brought it home to Canada, but who knows.

Anyway thats my story and I am sticking to it! Oh and my wife blames Tony for getting me back into the hobby, our visits out to his place always re-whetted the appetite lol.

PS some have talked about missing Steve, I did not get a chance to get to know him well before his passing, I have the same sentiments expressed here about Karel. Miss our emails, posts and conversations to this day. I often look at his items (I still consider them his) and brings back a great memory. Collecting for me is also about friendships and have made some lifelong friends via the hobby.

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beautiful helmet Doug! Would that on my shelf as well! Can't believe it was 10 years ago you liquidated your helmets. Time flies.
 
@Doug B ,Karel is missed by many here, me included. I first got in contact with him in our, now not existing anymore, ForumEerste Wereldoorlog, where he was not regarded as a dedicated collector, but as a know-it-all, which I resented. So he went away there, pissed-off, which is quite normal, he was only posting real things, about haubes. That forum doesn't exist anymore, most folks had quite enough of it. I, and many others tried to get it back, and continue it on a normal, collector based forum, but we got no reply from the guy's/girls running it.
We met again here, where I again saw his fabulous collection. We even had quite nice conversations about those years on the Dutch forum. He even knew me from those day's.
When he passed, I saw his collection for sale, at the auction by Hermann Historica,I even have that booklet from the auction here.
I sometimes still think about him too, just like I will about Steve.
 
MAP said:
beautiful helmet Doug! Would that on my shelf as well! Can't believe it was 10 years ago you liquidated your helmets. Time flies.
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lol what do they say, time flies when your having fun?! Since I was collecting military die cast again and then sold all those tanks and got into die cast aircraft. Sold all those and back home in helmets but not stahlhelm only pickelhaubes this time but this one helmet from Karel.
 
Doug B said:
I have always been fascinated by all things military, the history, the strategy, the weapons, the tactics, the uniforms, etc. I think it comes from reading the book All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque when I was about 12-13 years old. I still have that exact book and have read it several times. It's in pretty rough shape now but other than Lord of the Rings, is my favourite book. Then when I was 14 my uncle gave me an old WW1 camouflaged German helmet that is quite unique (see pic below) that was in his neighbours barn out in the country where he lived. He helped his neighbor paint the barn and his neighbor had this old helmet he said his grandfather brought back from WW1 and was just collecting dust so he gave it to my uncle when he said his nephew (me) would love it. If I didnt take it he was turning it into a flower pot!

As I was financially able to I jumped into militaria collecting after numerous forays into other collecting fields (record albums, concert and movie posters, military diecast) and went a little nuts, specializing in Stahlhelms and had hundreds of top shelf pieces that I think some of you might now own.

Sold it all back in 2013/14 as I retired from militaria collecting, however after Karel's passing I got back into Imperial German pickelhaubes. Karel and I were good friends and I saw him often in Belgium when I was there visiting my son who moved there years ago as he lived not far from him. Karel found a helmet that was the identical twin to my helmet and I remember he called me from the Boot Sale where he found it as he couldnt believe he was holding the twin to mine in his hands and wanted to talk about it before he bought it! That was a fun call, and we always said we would get the two helmets together as we were 100% positive that they were painted by the same hand on the same day if not the same hour and nobody to this day knows why there is a red band from vent lug to vent lug and believe me I have researched the daylights out of this and after almost 50 years still no definitive answer!

When I retired from militaria collecting I had donated my helmet along with some extremely rare Canadian militaria to our Regimental Museum here as their WW1 stahlhelm example was an interwar fire helmet and my helmet was a vet bringback from a farm just north of here. When I saw that Karel's helmet was for sale in the auction, I was buying it no matter how much it was going to cost me (sorry if I outbid you!) and then decided to buy some of my favourite pieces from his collection as well, and since then I have not stopped. Now the shelves are full again!

So this helmet has brought me into collecting militaria now not once but twice! Mine is the one on the right, Karel's is on the left. I took this photo at the museum of them both together a few years ago, reunited after 110 years! The colors are a perfect match, both are painted camo over camo, something rarely if ever seen, same red band, even the brush strokes match. Both helmets have handwriting in pencil on the inside, both to 3 different soldiers. Mine had the inscription Peronne France 1917 on the inside, presumably by the vet who brought it home to Canada, but who knows.

Anyway thats my story and I am sticking to it! Oh and my wife blames Tony for getting me back into the hobby, our visits out to his place always re-whetted the appetite lol.

PS some have talked about missing Steve, I did not get a chance to get to know him well before his passing, I have the same sentiments expressed here about Karel. Miss our emails, posts and conversations to this day. I often look at his items (I still consider them his) and brings back a great memory. Collecting for me is also about friendships and have made some lifelong friends via the hobby.

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Thank you for sharing Doug, this was a real treat to read!
 
JPT said:
A person suffering from inner poverty is relentlessly driven to accumulate material possessions…
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So that's what I'm suffering from! I always thought I just liked collecting because i enjoyed German history since I was 4 and it was easier to collect Imperial German articles and "own" that history rather than Carthaginian items, another period of history that I am fascinated in. Started collecting for real when a certain red headed girl dumped me in High School. Must have been some sort of replacement therapy.
I jettisoned the Third Reich stuff I had co-collected 35 years ago and have not looked back.
 
Doug, NICE helmets! Seems to me the red line marks where a bullet would likely miss the head, or hit it. But then, that has no real tactical application, just a 'reminder'. ;) Karel was always ready to offer an opinion or help with a question. My wife and I had an open invitation to visit him in Belgium, but we had a long gap in our travels due to Covid.
I also never met Steve, but always enjoyed his posts. As our community ages, I'm sure we'll lose more friends... more endings than beginnings at this stage of life, it seems.

Cheers!

Ron
 
Adler, the late Karel van Boschaete was mentioned above,
He was een nice man, had enormous knowledge, gave me good advice more than once, and I'm happy to be able to buy items from him more than once, also a beautiful complete pelmutze.
He inspired me to try to upgrade my collection, but the way that happened was quite an experience...
it happened many years ago,

As I lived quite nearby to Karel ( Adler), some 50 kilometers, I agreed to pick up a helmet I bought from him at his home, a nice mecklenbourgh ,
At that stage I had no idea about his collection,
So he just said; you might like to see the stuff upstairs, and I thus entered the walhalla of German imperial collection,
Just was not prepared for it….
As said by coleridge:
He went like one that had been Stunned and of sence forlorn, a sadder and a wiser man rose the morrow morn..

I was not sad, but awed and stunned by that collection, that was auctioned after his sudden death at an too early age,
his GdC officer and IR92 helmets were sold for amazing amounts of money, but they were also in pristine condition.

After collecting some 25 - 30 years at that moment of my visit to Karel, I thought I already had a nice collection build up, but seeing his collection helped me to see things in their true humble perspective, it felt somewhat humiliating, but that was not his fault, and as said it inspired me to upgrade my collection, thereafter I try to buy one special helmet each year rather than piling up easy to acquire regular stuff.
 

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As a kid I watched Hogan's Heroes and Klink had a pickelhaube on his desk.
I thought when I get older, I have to get one of those hats .
Well, I got older and ended collecting over 100 of them.
Now I am in the process of liquidating them.
 
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