A Message for gsm7

[Anonymous]

As moderator of this forum, I have a few comments to make regarding the following posts:

Ugly, but original, and why so cheap?

just to say i dont upload my photos i dont take pictures of every helmets as they are made all the same and would take a lot of time ,as for the quality my feedback says it all ,hope you all liked my prussian tin tschapkas you were on about ,people shouldnt call others without seeing things first some badges were good enough to be put on one of your members website :lol: :lol: :lol:

A not bad copy - Look closely, though.

you want to try looking on www.derrittmeister.com you may find you have put your foot in your mouth as it has 8 stars too oops ,except hes listed it as artillery i have bought of this gentleman they are very good and well made and he will go out of his way to help you ,i have originals only a few but the two i have bought do not look out of place against any of them

this is my second post the other was for saying i pinch photos which i dont and use them to sell on ebay ,all i can say is all you can do is call everyone else and thats sad ,all my parts and skulls are hand made and are as close to the originals as i can as they are made from original parts ,the plates are not electro-formed they are hand pressed , i have loads of books for references and other on-line sources ,the only thing different if any is the cockades which are officers ,look here i cant see anything comical www.militaria-online.de ,i can sell these till the cows come home so its water of a ducks back, have a nice day :lol: :lol:

Given the provocative and acrimonious tenor of these comments (if not the lack of punctuation and coherency), I think we may take it for granted one author is responsible: new member, Gary.

Gary, welcome to the forum! Though I can appreciate these posts were motivated by a perceived slight against your reproduction helmets, I find it impossible to sympathize with your attitude. Given the consequences of your words, I am surprised you have not come forward to apologize to Otto and to thank Laurie for pleading your case most eloquently.

I have looked at your eBay auctions whereby items are described as “a high quality reproduction.” Clearly, there is no obvious attempt to deceive. However, you have also acknowledged your helmets are being sold by third parties as originals. In fact, you have insinuated derrittmeister, militaria-online, and Andy Beal have dealt your product (a shocking confession if true and libel if false).

For serious collectors, fakes and forgeries are a growing and persistent concern. Are you actually proud one of our members was nearly duped by your “prussian tin tschapkas?” You may consider this an occasion to “laugh out loud,” but I fail to see the humor. Since you followed that thread, you are also aware the helmet was returned for a refund. So much for that swindle.

Perhaps you would be willing to respond with a word or two regarding ethics and integrity. Evidently, you make no requirements of your customers and do not mark your product as “Reproduction” or “Copy.” Rest assured, the dishonest parties you sell to will harm your reputation more acutely than any criticism presented herein.

The purpose of pickelhaubes.com is to share knowledge and provide a forum for collector and historian alike. Some of our members have websites of their own, some are published authors. Rather than make enemies, you might participate constructively and learn a great deal.

Chas.

 

[Anonymous]

just to say i have never sold any helmets to any of the people above ,i do not like them selling as real but they get passed around and theres nothing i can do to stop it ,if someone buys one on ebay and sells it on what can i personally do ,a lot of the time they are only sold in a country not worldwide so i cant see it ,as for being negative about this forum your wrong ,if you knew me you wouyld know i would bend over backwards to help someone out ,as you can see i dont rip people off buy selling things as real when there not

 

[Anonymous]

as for laurie he has bought off me and been very happy , and we have sorted anything out we had to which we didnt ,and not all people can afford such luxuries as real pickelhaubes

 

[Anonymous]

forgot to mention the tin tchapkas are about 8 years old and i have not had any left for years ,as for this post being personal ,thats what my grief was in the first place and as a moderator you should know better than too pick on one person for replying to posts which concerned him personally,looking forward to your reply

 

[Anonymous]

Hello,

Helmet arrived safely thanks! Didn't quite know what to expect from a replica but I'm very pleased. Can you tell me where it was made and are they made for re-enactors? Amazing amount of detail for a replica and certainly great value when compared to the cost of a tatty original. I would love a good original but extending the mortgage doesnt appeal! Obviously you don't want to reveal your sources but how is it you seem to have such a steady supply? Thanks again.

Nick
recieved this today of sallet2004 one of many i recieve

 

[Anonymous]

as for this post being personal ,thats what my grief was in the first place and as a moderator you should know better than too pick on one person for replying to posts which concerned him personally,looking forward to your reply

Hello Gary:

As moderator I have no intention of picking on you or anyone. In fact, I would prefer never to act in this capacity at all. I recognize other forums may be characterized by enmity, but pickelhaubes.com is a cordial and generally self disciplined place. In fact, our previous incarnation, which was fatally hacked, was established in 2004, boasted thousands of posts, and had no moderators at all.

Were I in your shoes, my feelings would have been hurt also. However, my initial response would have been a far different one. I further believe this misunderstanding has been a mutual one. If you reread some of the things written about you, I think you will find that no one actually accused you of pinching photos, just as you never meant to single out Otto when he responded to Laurie's post. Two wrongs never make a right.

Finally, you are by no means required to agree with my notions of "netiquette." We may agree to disagree on various issues related to collecting, but as long as we maintain a constructive dialogue, there will never be any "fighting words" between the members of this forum and you. It works both ways.

Gary, welcome to the forum! I think I speak for everyone when I say we are sorry if we gave offence. It was neither mean spirited nor capricious. I trust our future exchanges will be of a more cordial nature.

Chas.

 

[joerookery]

not all people can afford such luxuries as real pickelhaubes

This is an interesting thought. Do you save up for the real thing, or buy a reproduction as a substitute? I don't think there is that much difference in price between a reproduction and the real thing in a more common helmet. The more rare a helmet the price differential jumps. I am a purist and would opt for the real thing. I guess my thought is that these helmets have to be handed down to someone later on. What would I do with a reproduction? I would get enjoyment out of having one to look at, but I would always know it was not the real thing. That would eat me up. Who would want it?

What do we do about a part that you do not have? Many collectors myself included, would buy a reproduction, slap it on, and begin the search for the real thing. How many of us walk in horror at the thought that we discover a piece of our helmet to be a reproduction? It has happened to all of us.

What about fixer uppers? The byword of collecting has always been quality. Quality quality quality. I don't think it holds true all the time. Look at 6570272257. My foot artillery helmet did not sell, and the bidding was not much higher.

I don't have a deep truths just an interesting group of thoughts. It's been a good day. We were lucky to have a bunch of ICBC. Proof positive that even a blind pig gets an acorn every once in awhile.

 

[flasheart]

I would like to pick up on the discussion on the ethics of 'reproductions/replicas/fakes'. There is definitely a place for good quality replicas in collecting. I myself have a M1860 Tschako without a wappen and I am quite prepared to put a reproduction on it until, eventually, a genuine item shows up. Kokarden and chinstraps are also important candidates for reproductions - so many are missing and what do you do with a basic $250 Prussian M1915 missing these items? Do you go and spend another $200 on genuine chinstraps and kokarden?

The problem emerges when the replica passes through several hands, gets some wear and tear and a little bit of age, and someone passes it off as genuine. The fake may then pass through some more hands before a buyer detects the fake and there is no chance of ever tracing who committed the fraud in the first place.

I am all for marking the replicas in some way that will unmistakably identify them as repros. For example, if you look at any of the Prairie Flower products, they look the part in every way and could even be artificially aged to match the antique item. But if you put any of the Prairie Flower products to the black light test, they light up like a Christmas tree. A good example of where a manufacturer has make a high grade product but has permanently marked it as a repro.

I would hope that anyone making repro items or parts also adopts this philosophy.

Mike

 

[Anonymous]

Amen to that, Mike.

It might also be worth mentioning that items of recent manufacture exported to the United States are by law required to provide a country of origin, i.e., Made in Pakistan, etc. Though I sincerely doubt our Government would actively pursue violations involving reproduction haube parts, I do wonder why Gary feels there is nothing he can do to ensure his helmets are not passed off by others as real.

To me, the solution is simple: put a permanent date stamp on the thing.

Chas.

 

[pointystuff]

Amen to that, Mike.

It might also be worth mentioning that items of recent manufacture exported to the United States are by law required to provide a country of origin, i.e., Made in Pakistan, etc. Though I sincerely doubt our Government would actively pursue violations involving reproduction haube parts, I do wonder why Gary feels there is nothing he can do to ensure his helmets are not passed off by others as real.

To me, the solution is simple: put a permanent date stamp on the thing.

Chas.

Hi.
Polished black ABS plastic gives the outward appearance of a leather helmet, yet won't be mistaken for the real thing down the road. The same is true of fiberglass.
Regards,
Brad

 

[Anonymous]

they would also not look authentic ,plastic or fibreglass as for marking them easy to remove with chemicals unless i branded them, then who would want to buy one with that on nobody ,what would you like me to do stop selling on ebay and the poorer collectors with little spare money not to add to their collection ,same could be said for medals wouldnt we all like to own a victoria cross real of course but impossibe pricewise like i said for the last time i dont sell to people who sell them on as real directly i cant stop them being passed about many outside the uk you could always ask me but then there wouldnt be many discussions becoming an interesting post

 

[kaiserzeit]

Sorry - My back-handed sense of humour: Collecting is supposed to be fun!

Certainly one of the unfun things that happens is receiving a piece and knowing that you have a dud, the only thing worse is not receiving anything at all.

Believe me, in forcing myself onto a steep learning curve to get my little business going, I have encountered both scenarios many times.

Who am I going to blame?

I could moan about the dastardly creep who diddled me, or I could just take it on the chin as a learning experience. As painful as it is, the latter approach seems to work the best. When I keep gnashing my teeth and beating my brow, all I get is worn teeth and a sore forehead.

Personal responisibility has to come into play somewhere along the way. For my part, the earlier the better.

To borrow from another thread that comes close to this subject matter:

When buying, the only ways to protect oneself are to:

1) Study, study, study.
2) Ask lots and lots of questions - never be embarassed to ask questions!
2) Only purchase from people you trust.
3) Where ever possible, purchase on the basis of documented provenance; a Seller's well-spun yarn doesn't cut it. This is particularly true for expensive pieces.
4) If that little voice in the background is telling you that something is not quite right, keep your powder dry.

Enough on that tack!

To flasheart: Thank you for the suggestion about UV marking, I will look into it.

Thank you, All, for your support. Let's get back to collecting militaria.

Cheers,

Laurie