Getting the Best Deal on Militaria
The collecting of military antiques, like any antique collecting, can be an expensive hobby. It takes time and expertise to learn how to get the best possible value for your money. Plenty of dealers out there would like to sell you an inauthentic or over-valued piece. Here is some information you should know when purchasing militaria.
Avoiding Trends
An article at the War Times Journal entitled "Collecting Militaria" helps explain why the pricing of militaria can sometimes seem odd. It is very contingent on trends in the market. For instance, when the film "Saving Private Ryan" came out, every collector wanted a camouflage helmet with the particular pattern that indicated it had belonged to an American serviceman who stormed the beach at Normandy. This trend toward "Normandy helmets" drove up the price of helmets with this pattern and caused a few unscrupulous dealers to paint a less valuable helmet with the desired colors and sell it at a premium. If you concentrate on building a solid collection that will stand the test of time, rather than responding to the collecting trends of the moment, you will avoid overpaying for hot items.
Things to Look Out For
This article also cautions collectors to deal only with those sellers who offer a window in which the item can be returned, if the buyer decides it is not authentic or not what they were looking for. Sellers who just want to unload the items and be done with you, rather than building a business relationship for the future, are more often than not just looking for a quick ripoff.
Being able to identify a fake or reproduced item takes practice. Read the article "Identifying Military Antique Fakes and Reproductions" on MilitaryItems.com to learn how. When you are buying World War II militaria, make sure you are not purchasing something that came from a Hollywood prop department, on a production like "Saving Private Ryan" or "Band of Brothers". You may also be a collector of movie memorabilia, but anyone selling this should advertise it as such, and not try to palm it off for the high prices that genuine World War II equipment can fetch.
According to this guide, you should examine the items you are planning to purchase by looking at them under a magnifying glass or black light. An unscrupulous dealer can make a recently manufactured shirt as dirty as they want, but the materials that would have been used in a given historical period cannot be faked.
Another guide to avoiding shoddy militaria is available (for free!) on eBay.