A few that got away.

poniatowski

poniatowski

Well-known member
Reading all of these early collecting stories, especially as kids, I have to talk about the great things that I couldn't afford as a boy:

1) $20 M98 E.M. Prussian Pickelhaube. I remember being surprised it was made of leather!
2) $50 6th KR E.M. helmet. This one was beautiful and complete (gold washed if I remember). It was at a flea market and I hovered around the fellow's table admiring it. Had I been a bit smarter, I'd have gotten his name and address, then begged (and I do mean begged) my dad to get it. Christmas, birthday, etc. presents all rolled into one?
3) $2,000 M3A3 Stuart tank being sold by a local construction company. Running, no main gun, but at 10 years old, it might just as well have been a million dollars. It would have been a great investment seeing as how these little tanks in running condition are well over $100,000.

It looks like a lot of us started with bayonets, medals, steel helmets and went from there into this fascinating hobby.

:D Ron
 
Unfortunately, it all relative...my mom told me that $20 bucks worth of groceries fed her and my Dad for a week in the early 1950's. Wages go up but so do costs of living. I also think, that someone who had survived the depression as my parents did would be hard pressed to even think about spending money on some war junk or a leather hat with a spike on it.
 
b.loree said:
Unfortunately, it all relative...my mom told me that $20 bucks worth of groceries fed her and my Dad for a week in the early 1950's. Wages go up but so do costs of living. I also think, that someone who had survived the depression as my parents did would be hard pressed to even think about spending money on some war junk or a leather hat with a spike on it.
Click to expand...

Yes, same here. Sometimes, I wish I'd inherited more of that practicality.

:D Ron
 
One must also remember that there was much less disposable income in the 50s and 60s. Putting food on the table probably took 20 to 30% of the family's income, now it is closer to 6%. There are a lot of things that are now considered necessities that were either luxuries or not even conceived of yet. Part of the reason so many people live below the poverty line now is not because they make too little, but because they spend too much.
One of the things that got away from me was a Colt 1911 manufactured in December of 1912, it was not in the greatest shape, but it was complete and with no pitting or damage. This was in the early 70s, Recently I thought about what happened to it, and I remembered trading it for a sheepskin coat. That coat wore out after a few years and was thrown away and I thought that I had made a very bad trade. Then I remembered that I was wearing that coat when I flipped a Ford Bronco on black ice. I was partially ejected (I was not wearing a seat belt, and because of that I survived as there was no room for a human body in the driver's seat) and the coat surely saved me from severe injury. Sometimes there is a reason that one got away.
 
I never stopped to consider how much of my income goes into food (16%)... :-k No wonder I can't retire! :wink:

Isn't it funny how things work out, with the coat for example. Somebody 'up there' likes you!

:D Ron
 
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