Restoration
- Thread starter dusmif
- Start date
pickelhauben
Well-known member
dusmif said:
This is a very good question and hard to answer. It all goes down to individual taste.
Some guys prefer mint pristine helms but chances of getting those now a days maybe few and far between.
And if you can find them they are so small that they barely fit on a child's head.
So we have the none pristine . Crazed leather tarnished brass loose visors that you see more often.
In my opinion these are diamonds in the rough. With little work these can be brought back to life and you will have a helm worthy of sitting on a shelf.
I go one step farther , I seek helms that are missing parts and have some damage . I know that I may have or can get the missing parts ( hopefully ) And usually I can fix the damaged parts .
I do this to fill my collection with no intent on resale . If resale is an option I would give a list of the repairs ( full disclosure )
Years ago I had gotten a pickelhaube that had lots of work done on it before I got it . The guy who did the repairs was one of the best in the business at the time .
I had my eye on a semi rare helm that was being sold by an American dealer . Back in those days you sent the piece to the buyer which I did. When they got it they would not give me the full amount that I asked for it saying that it had been rebuilt . Well I agreed and accepted their offer and I sent them a steel helm to sweeten the deal .
I got my part of a deal a week or so later. It was a beautiful Frie corp m-17 with the scull and crossbones on the front. I was delighted until I saw double decals under the paint. [-X
Well I called them up and demanded my helmets back and they told me the helmets have been sold . So they sent me back the asking price of their FC helmet.
About 2 months later I looked in the list of pickelhaubes on their web page and their sat mine. In the description they stated the pickelhaube was " wonderfully rebuilt " and they had a price tag of 3 1/2 times more than they gave me credit for .
Pickelhaube
Member
Like Brian said, it really depends from collector to collector.
In my case, i always try to buy helmets in the best condition, which means i won't buy helmets with torn liners or very misshapen helmetshells.
If i encounter a helmetshell in good condition which is missing the helmetplate (depending on the unit), i would consider buying so i can complete the helmet.
A few years ago i bought a garde schutzen shako which was complete, except for the helmetplate and it took me 2 years before i found a helmetplate which wasn't restored. I was offered a restored helmetplate 1 week after i bought the shako.
When i just started collection in the early '90s, you could find pickelhaubes on nearly every fleamarket in Belgium and France. In those days i bought all pickelhaubes i encountered, so i once had like 10-15 m1915 prussians without chinstraps and cocades. A few years back i decided to sell all my incomplete pickelhaubes, if i remember correct i've sold 23 pickelhaubes, and i used that money to buy some rare helmets, like my GDC and some hussar pelzmützen.
Greetings
Pickelhaube
In my case, i always try to buy helmets in the best condition, which means i won't buy helmets with torn liners or very misshapen helmetshells.
If i encounter a helmetshell in good condition which is missing the helmetplate (depending on the unit), i would consider buying so i can complete the helmet.
A few years ago i bought a garde schutzen shako which was complete, except for the helmetplate and it took me 2 years before i found a helmetplate which wasn't restored. I was offered a restored helmetplate 1 week after i bought the shako.
When i just started collection in the early '90s, you could find pickelhaubes on nearly every fleamarket in Belgium and France. In those days i bought all pickelhaubes i encountered, so i once had like 10-15 m1915 prussians without chinstraps and cocades. A few years back i decided to sell all my incomplete pickelhaubes, if i remember correct i've sold 23 pickelhaubes, and i used that money to buy some rare helmets, like my GDC and some hussar pelzmützen.
Greetings
Pickelhaube
From my experience and association with other other collectors of world wide reputation it is this.... and I am speaking without reservation, an unguarded comment. If you have the money, you are a millionaire, or better still have no children and are very successful, you can afford to demand perfection in Hauben and Imperial German militaria. You then, can afford to pay the top prices commanded by the "most perfect" pieces. At that level, you biggest concern is not to be taken in by the dealers who see you as a "Cash Cow" who can be fed, so called "rare helmets" which are in fact put together to suck your money out of you. Dealers are businessmen, no matter, militaria, art, antique furniture, watches, jewellery, whatever becomes collectible and worth money where they can make a dollar, they are going to find it, or fake it to sell it to the person they have identified as the guy with the bucks$ That is the problem of the wealthy collector, who becomes identified as such to the dealers....he/she has a target on their back. However, at the same time if a legitimate rare piece comes up, they are going to get first choice at it. First, because they are known to have the money, and second because they have already spent thousands with the dealer. Their self protection, is to become an uber collector and arm themselves with the most knowledge possible, or find an expert whom they can trust to "ok" their purchases, and guarantee that they have not been "burned".
The rest of us, which includes myself from the very beginning of my collection years, have to collect on a limited budget and have to accept less rare pieces, imperfections, missing fittings, cockades, chin straps, spikes, whatever. Any collector of anything, has to collect according to what they can afford, or what they can charge on their credit card
Then, there are those of us with limited budgets who decide that they can learn how to restore these helmets and save some money but also earn money by helping other collectors. Consequently, we have myself, who restores for others and charges for my expertise. We also have other members who fix their own helmets for their collections. Everything, is related to individual personality, and individual finances.
The last way in which "the little guy" can save money/make money and add to his/her collection is to follow czechlegion's example..... treasure hunt amongst the masses, and find the stuff. This is the ultimate thrill...Indianna Jones!! In my 30 year experience, this is how the entire collecting universe works. B
The rest of us, which includes myself from the very beginning of my collection years, have to collect on a limited budget and have to accept less rare pieces, imperfections, missing fittings, cockades, chin straps, spikes, whatever. Any collector of anything, has to collect according to what they can afford, or what they can charge on their credit card
Then, there are those of us with limited budgets who decide that they can learn how to restore these helmets and save some money but also earn money by helping other collectors. Consequently, we have myself, who restores for others and charges for my expertise. We also have other members who fix their own helmets for their collections. Everything, is related to individual personality, and individual finances. The last way in which "the little guy" can save money/make money and add to his/her collection is to follow czechlegion's example..... treasure hunt amongst the masses, and find the stuff. This is the ultimate thrill...Indianna Jones!! In my 30 year experience, this is how the entire collecting universe works. B