Hi Peter, interesting piece, but I have to agree that the title is "misleading": fact is that Hitler lost WW II, that he could have won is supposition, even if based on facts. No reason to ban it on FB though :) Regards, Lars Hi, Lars-- I agree with you. As a freelance reporter (even a st...

This is a topic that is debated a lot with German (Third Reich) militaria, but recently I ran afoul of Facebook for sharing a story I wrote. So rather than take it lying down I wrote another story (for Forbes.com) on how Facebook said my history piece violated "community standards." I was ...

I saw that OVMS has announced that the June show in Wilmington Ohio has been pushed back to July.

I didn't think it was right to have an MG08 and NOT have an MG08/15 to go with it. This just arrived on Friday (thank you to Gus for the help in finding it).

My collectible room is filled so I figured it would be good to just display it in the garden for now.

Well, my situation with UPS was in a word: surreal. The package didn't arrive on Thursday as expected but was literally 10 miles from my house I found out. It sat all day, so at 5pm I called UPS, waited on hold and asked to speak to a supervisor. I thanked UPS repeatedly for continuing to work, but ...

One point I will add is that in the short term we'll have to be far more patient. In the U.S. the mail has been painfully slow. I had waited three weeks for a "two-day" Priority Mail package to arrive. I'm still waiting for another Priority Mail package sent two weeks ago. Yesterday I expe...

Very nice displays - truly Out of Africa looking!

Not every young person needs to be interested, but remember when you see a kid at a show, treat him or her as they are the most important person there, because they are the future of our hobby. Every kid we snub at a show, or on line, reduces the value of your investments. I agree with you 100% Gus...

This is a topic that has been discussed on other forums. My take is that some will sell as they need the money, others will buy (militaria in general) and some dealers will be destroyed by this pandemic. So far I haven't seen price drops. Those who need money are selling, but unlike the "Great ...

I'm looking for an MG08/15 belt drum and steam port cover if anyone has a spare of either. Just name a price.

I've seen many of the YouTube videos on restoration, so this week for Forbes.com I wrote a piece on it.

Are restorations preserving or destroying history:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/petersuciu ... g-history/

Very nice examples. It is fascinating the extra work that went into these chinstraps.

We only looked at the issue today - all our mail is quarantined for two days!

And Brian, Enid just said you'll have to buy something even cooler next year to make the cut! And hey, she didn't include my MG08 purchase so don't feel bad!

Very nice Lewis gun and fantastic Commonwealth display.

We can't go back in time unfortunately - and right now who wouldn't rather be at SOS? So I wrote up a Best in Show Of Shows for GunPowdermagazine.com.

Not the same as being there, but it beats feeling depressed today:
https://www.gunpowdermagazine.com/best- ... -of-shows/

The Baltimore Antique Arms Show was officially canceled today.

This week I talked to Ian McCollum of YouTube's Forgotten Weapons. He is a very nice guy and is extremely passionate about sharing the history of old firearms:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/petersuciu ... f4a0a87cf3

From the NY Review of Books:
https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2020/0 ... ket-newtab

Those training pieces are very impressive. It is amazing there is so much detail in each.

There is some serious history with that one I bet.

I've seen on other forums similar designs. Most of the time it requires a custom made metal "hook" that comes out of the wall and has a 90 degree angle and then some sort of ball at the end for the helmet to rest on. As I can see from the photo above it appears it is standard track shelvin...

The gun is deactivated so no plans to shoot it. I will take some more photos this weekend. It has been a whirlwind since SOS. The week went by far too fast as I'm sure James, Gus, Brian, Amy and others can attest. I arrived home on Saturday, moved the MG08 to my collectible room and barely have had ...

Here is my piece on the subject - I spoke to a few modern helmet makers for commentary:
https://news.clearancejobs.com/2020/02/ ... t-helmets/

Nice finds!

Gustaf wrote: ↑

Tue Feb 25, 2020 9:36 pm

They make a great mail box stand too.

I'm in the 'burbs - an MG wouldn't do. I have a small cannon on the front porch so that works.

ww1czechlegion wrote: ↑

Tue Feb 25, 2020 4:40 pm

LOL, sorry Peter, I didn't realize those were your tables!

Again, congratulations on acquiring this very nice MG08. It looks super!

No worries. I guess my efforts to build the brand apart from being me has been successful!

Nice haul Amy! Sorry we didn't get to meet up at the show - always next year.

ww1czechlegion wrote: ↑

Mon Feb 24, 2020 7:00 pm

Is that the one that "Plunderer Pete" had on his table?

That is my table!

Wow! I never even saw that at the show. My wife actually was chronicling impressive finds from the show for Military Trader magazine. I wish we would have known as that would have made the list! Thank you for sharing.

Here is a link to my recent Forbes.com piece on history "influencers." We think of influencers as hawking products and promoting brands, but I've seen some great influencers on YouTube talking about history. Daniel Fisher also does a great job of promoting the items he buys/sells and the s...

This was my "only" real pick up at SOS this year.

It was great seeing everyone, and my apologies for those I did not see. I was so busy this year that there were literally a dozen people I wanted to see that I never did!

I had a great show. I really only made one purchase (actually not true but only one that counted).

FoxNews quoted me on this one:
https://www.foxnews.com/science/wwi-hel ... s-discover

Happy President's Day. Even if we might not always like who sits in the Oval Office I think we need to respect that office and hope the person does the best possible job. That said 29 former Presidents stand out as they donned a military uniform and served their country before they served as Preside...

I don't know if I believe this research. I've spoken to many modern helmet makers and concussions are something they've all been working to address, so I find this surprising to say the least!

Time until SOS:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9v-33jcEDk4

Glad to hear you'll be able to make it to SOS. I was going to suggest you come anyway to pick your items from Jeff!

Looking forward to seeing all you guys in just two weeks!

I ended the year with this new addition to the collection: a Schwarzlose Maschinengewehr M. 7. This was the standard issue machine gun in the Austro-Hungarian Army throughout World War I. This example was later reissued to the Romanian Army, and the water jacket extended (the gun was repainted too a...

I wrote a piece on the visit to the Musee de l'Armee in Paris:
https://www.gunpowdermagazine.com/milit ... de-larmee/

Truly a spectacular piece and one I know will be special to you.

James, very nice shakos but the connection to Paul is of course priceless. I'm sure you'll treasure these the rest of your life.

Excellent read Peter. Very useful and informative. It's always fun to go to a US Gun Show even though I know I cannot buy any firearms. That is funny as I find it frustrating to go to shows in Canada and not be able to buy the guns! I regularly make it to the Toronto Show (was there this past Satur...

While many of the members attend SOS, I thought my piece on the best shows for guns and antique arms might be of interest:

https://www.range365.com/gun-collecting ... -treasure/



I do put in the miles hitting a lot of shows each year.

See you guys at SOS then!

Will anyone be going to the Toronto Show on Saturday? I'll be there - hoping for good weather for the three hour drive each way.

That is a great start. But a piece of advice -- start the research when you are young. Buy and read the books. Collecting the knowledge of these items is as important as the objects.

This week I tried to promote the sale price of my book, "A Gallery of Military Headdress" on my Facebook business page and it was rejected by Facebook. In the past my attempts to boost a post for the book have been rejected on the grounds that it violates various standards - probably relat...

I've seen tea towels this size.

Here is a helmet I bought this summer. It was sold to me as a "Bolivian" helmet, but the seller probably didn't realize that Colombia is one of the Bolivarian nations in South America. This confuses people who don't understand that Bolivar is referred in several nations and that Bolivia wa...

This isn't original, but it displays well. The Ottoman uniform and bashlyk were made for the 2015 Australian mini-series Gallipoli , not to be confused with the 1982 Mel Gibson movie. It is likely as close as I can get to an original, and it displays quite well. I should have bought the trousers but...