France, Paris - Militaria Dealers?

[doughboy]

Hello altogether,

I'm on vacation next week in France and I wondered if anyone of you knows militaria dealers or antique shops in Paris.Thanks in advance.

 

doughboy

[Johan Willaert]

I went to these two last April

 

 

Le Poilu: Rue Emile Duclaux 20 - 75015 Paris

 

Overlord: Rue de la Folie Mericourt 96 - 75011 Paris

 

Just check their websites for opening hours and nearest metro station

 

http://lepoilu-paris.com/gb/

 

http://www.overlord.fr metro= republique

[doughboy]

Thanks for your reply.I think I will also take a look in their store.

 

 

doughboy

[Darktide]

When I was in Paris 3 years ago I went to the Le Marche Aux Puces, Porte de Clignancourt. Took the subway to get there, walked a bit and asked directions to the shops selling militaria from some French Police that were walking around that spoke english. This is a large flea market, and you can find almost anything here. When I say almost "anything" I mean furniture, clothes, decor, militaria. I went to at least 3 militaria shops and was able to make some interesting purchases. If you go on a weekend it pays to simply walk around. You will see vendors that don't have shops/ stores. Their items for sale are displayed on pieces of cloth spread out on the ground. If you look closely you will see that among the items are military badges/ insignia, pins, patches, etc... These are usually sold cheap and it's OK to haggle with these sellers. Bought some stuff off those guys as well. Even some shops that don't really sell militaria may have a few items, so it pays to look. Lots and lots of antiques. Some shops sell old costumes. You may want to check those out as some looked like old French uniforms. Lots of old postcards with military/ war scenes.

 

Don't forget to check out the Musee de l'Armee (Invalides) in Paris. It's a great museum. That's where Napoleon is. The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier is on the floor of the Arch de Triomphe, in the middle.

 

If you get to go around France it's worth checking out the flea markets in towns/ villages. Another of the flea markets I went to was in Nyon (I think it was a once-a-month thing). Lots of sellers with military items. At even another flea market I got a German WW2 canteen for 5 euro.

[jguy1986]

You might want to try the flea market at Porte de Vanves. Occasionally there's some militaria but it's more of an antique / collectibles oriented market than some of the others, so you never know what will show up.

[Rakkasan187]

Not sure if this will help, but when my father and I went to Paris 2 years ago we noticed a lot of book vendors along the Seine river near Notre Dame. I noticed that some of the book vendors had some old German WW2 books, Luftwaffe, Kriegsmarine and other Third Reich books. I also saw some of the street vendors had some small insignia, French Foreign Legion badges and other items.

 

Hope you have fun

 

Leigh

[usaaf93]

Hello

 

I live 2 miles away from Paris so here is my opinion.

 

The militaria shops are pretty expensive in my opinion. I get better deals on ebay every week. Then it is just my opinion.

 

The "Invalides" are a must to go place for anyone who likes militaria. This is the national museum so there are pretty nice things. It goes from the middle age to the end of ww2. It's near the Champs Elysées so your wife can go shopping and you can enjoy a good war museum !

 

Here is the website :

 

http://www.musee-armee.fr/en/english-version.html

 

If you like ww1, a new museum opened two years ago. It is about 40 miles away from Paris but I think it is the biggest ww1 museum in France so it is worth driving 45 minutes.

Here is the website :

 

http://www.museedelagrandeguerre.eu/en

 

Hope you enjoy your trip

 

Julien

[bsgt78]

Hello

paris is not a good place to get militaria stuff. It is over expensive, the items are aiways the same and common. Of course you can see Le Poilu (militaria), Overloard (militaria) or Soldat d Antan (insignias and badges) for fun, and may be you can see something different, but if you are a collector in the States, the stores in Paris will be not interesting. Muchmore, they will see you with a big Credit Card on your head and they will kill you (with the prices of course) = that's true in Puces of Clignancourt, Vanves and St Ouen. Don't believe that you are just a tourist, you are a "wallet"!

The last options to go are the flea markets in the countryside on Sunday morning. But the season is over.

Good luck anyway.

Thanks

Laurent