Lebensgefahr
Active Member
At a recent auction in the midlands a RAF 32 pattern Mae West (complete with bladder and kapocs) reached the record price of £6000. A military dealer friend of mine went armed with several thousand pounds but was blown out of the water and he wasn`t even the under bidder. While I`m not suggesting that £6000 will now become the new bench mark for 32 patterns it will inevitably raise the accepted price level. For quite some time (on the rare occasions that they do turn up) they have been changing hands in the region of £3500 plus but this will now inevitably rise judging by the price my friend was willing to pay.
On another forum they regularly quote the accepted price as £1000 to £1500 but they haven`t been that price for over a decade. Having said that this did me a large favour as the chap I bought my last one off (last year) had been quoted that price by a member of that forum.
A few years ago I had a conversation with my dealer friend about whether prices would continually rise or reach a plateau and stop, I was of the latter opinion but my friend believed the former. It`s now pretty obvious that he was right and I was spectacularly wrong.
Truly this has become a rich mans hobby and while the constant price rises are great for people with established collections it is a shame that new collectors will inevitably be priced out of the market, always assuming that they haven`t been already.
Having said that I recently got the bargain of the century when I picked up an ultra rare item which no one else seemed to pick up on which was so cheap that I`m still kicking myself. So while bargains are still out there they are much fewer and farther between.
Perseverance seems to be the key as one has to plough through an awful lot of crap in the hope of finding something good.
Happy collecting
Tally Ho
LG
On another forum they regularly quote the accepted price as £1000 to £1500 but they haven`t been that price for over a decade. Having said that this did me a large favour as the chap I bought my last one off (last year) had been quoted that price by a member of that forum.
A few years ago I had a conversation with my dealer friend about whether prices would continually rise or reach a plateau and stop, I was of the latter opinion but my friend believed the former. It`s now pretty obvious that he was right and I was spectacularly wrong.
Truly this has become a rich mans hobby and while the constant price rises are great for people with established collections it is a shame that new collectors will inevitably be priced out of the market, always assuming that they haven`t been already.
Having said that I recently got the bargain of the century when I picked up an ultra rare item which no one else seemed to pick up on which was so cheap that I`m still kicking myself. So while bargains are still out there they are much fewer and farther between.
Perseverance seems to be the key as one has to plough through an awful lot of crap in the hope of finding something good.
Happy collecting
Tally Ho
LG