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surplus store marked items, opinions?


WW2JAKE
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I know there are a TON of surplus gear from all eras that has seen its day in a surplus store or thrift shop, and those unfamiliar with these items can be sure that sometime during collecting you will run into the price written directly on the item, very common among ww1-ww2 items or on more modern items you'll run into DRMO (Defense Reutilization and Marketing office) written or stamped across the front of something because it was turned in and went through the system to be sold by the government as surplus... but some people say these markings reduce value while others say it doesnt matter. i want to get some opinions on these types of marked items and what the markings do to value in your opinion

and also if anyone has any of these they'd like to show as examples...

post-125364-0-96983600-1418867647.jpgpost-125364-0-08674600-1418867650.jpgpost-125364-0-07024700-1418867651.jpgpost-125364-0-43222700-1418867652.jpg

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Not too long ago I saw a pair of absolutely mint M1967 ammo pouches--the nylon 20 rd ones--in a local army/navy store.

 

Both had a huge "$15.00" marked in black Sharpie across the front.

 

I don't understand that.

 

I didn't buy them so for me they held no value.

 

I'm sure others would not be bothered by the markings but they weren't for me.

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I would say it would reduce the collectablity, value? well that's what's written on it, it's already has been vauled, by the store, but chances are, because he did this, writing a price on it, it might be hard sell it,one has to feel they can remove the offending markings, which generally can not be removed to any great satisfaction, if so there it will sit.

 

Now those DRMO stamped stuff, that would depend I guess, like if it was marked were it couldn't be seen, maybe even then it would be unpalatable. But this DRMO seem's to be on more contemporary gear, correct?

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I used to go to DRMO sales at Ft. Knox and Ft. Campbell with a buddy of mine who would bid on lots of items. As a modern collector, many times I would cringe at how the surplus items had that gigantic DRMO stamp on them. I understand it had to be done in order to release the items to the public, but I've seen some expensive and rare SF items that were ruined with the stamp (collector wise).

 

I personally don't buy items that have the DRMO stamp. If you have a mannequin display, the DRMO marked pouches don't look right on a piece of gear.

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I used to go to DRMO sales at Ft. Knox and Ft. Campbell with a buddy of mine who would bid on lots of items. As a modern collector, many times I would cringe at how the surplus items had that gigantic DRMO stamp on them. I understand it had to be done in order to release the items to the public, but I've seen some expensive and rare SF items that were ruined with the stamp (collector wise).

 

I personally don't buy items that have the DRMO stamp. If you have a mannequin display, the DRMO marked pouches don't look right on a piece of gear.

nkomo, how far back does these items with the DRMO stamp go, 60s stuff?

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You know I,ve seen this in the past, some stores insist on stamping all items with their store marking, one such place was the old Trader surplus store on Canal Street here in NYC, here a small pineapple grenade with The Trader over it and Canal St NYC under it was stamped on so many original items, Leggings, Jackets, Labels of Caps etc, you name it, it was to say the least very infuriating, I once commented on this to the owner, JERK he was indeed, just didn,t get it, a little Grenade stamp on the very clean White label of an unissued M44 Field cap, right on the nomenclature as to make the date unreadable .

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You know I,ve seen this in the past, some stores insist on stamping all items with their store marking, one such place was the old Trader surplus store on Canal Street here in NYC, here a small pineapple grenade with The Trader over it and Canal St NYC under it was stamped on so many original items, Leggings, Jackets, Labels of Caps etc, you name it, it was to say the least very infuriating, I once commented on this to the owner, JERK he was indeed, just didn,t get it, a little Grenade stamp on the very clean White label of an unissued M44 Field cap, right on the nomenclature as to make the date unreadable .

 

i hate when they block out dates! went to a small hole in the wall surplusish store while out of town and they had metal canteens and mess kits and youd think "oh how great!" and they would scratch off the dates! thats worse than a stamp!

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Mack-the-Finger

Hi. I think that basically a DRMO stamping doesn't reduce the value of an item, as long as it doesn't affect the inherent characteristics of the item. After all demilling has gone through an official process handled by a gov't office and it's way better than the gross result of some Edward-scissor-hands personal initiative wasting a useful, historical or just plane appreciable piece of gear/garment; due distinctions made, to me the DRMO bear the same value as the regular US stamping; obviously it can't be of any value for the collector interested in the object as it's been used on the field or as it's intended to be. For me it's just another (minor) branch in the collectable range, the "once for the military, now for the civilian" one.

When it comes to modifications, it can be of a certain interest to me, although I do know that it's decisively on the "freak" side of the thing rather than the historical and practical side; demilling usually brings to reduce the functionality of the item rather than improve it; an example being the ALICE collapsible canteen cover I've bought sometime ago:

post-105204-0-28642300-1418915562.jpg post-105204-0-28406400-1418915611.jpg

 

I did never saw one alike and I was puzzled by it (in the italian surplus USGI market it was very unlikely to find a DRMO item), I didn't really thought it was a super-rare one-of-the-kind ultra-secret SF prototype, I was just curious about the nature of the two-snaps modification; who and for which purpose could have possibly have made? I posted here a topic and quickly went the answer.

I still like it, even now that I know it has no value under military/historical POV -nearly no value at all; I'm afraid I'm more on the 'fashion victim' side with this one.

And I couldn't be more agree with the above statements regarding the barbaric waste of valuable items which are pre-DRMO era, at least simply because the anachronistic factor.

As for the hand-written prices, there are no words… it's utter ignorance; fortunately, it's a practice I've rarely seen, though it happens. Like any other careless mistreatment made even by competent people: I once bought an austrian medal at a numismatic shop, a late WWI item in perfect shape. The retailer, he was no sandwich peddler, took it and kindly put it in a softly lined jewelry case and, without forewarn… pinned it with a needle, causing a eye-visible white mark in the otherwise perfectly preserved original red ribbon, making me grinch …that thing has come unscathed from 1918 to nowadays just to be altered by a careless gesture. Obviously his only concern was for the numismatic value of the medal, he didn't care at all for the ribbon...

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a seller at the Antique Faire always marks old bayonets, canteens,inert ordnance, brass items etc with a black marker, and it messes up the patina if you try to remove the black markings

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nkomo, how far back does these items with the DRMO stamp go, 60s stuff?

 

DLA changed the name of the Defense Property Disposal Office to the Defense Reutilization and Marketing Service in 1985. The local Dermo's (DRMO) were established at the same time. Anyone in the Army before '85 is probably more familiar with the term PDO, but it's the same thing as the DRMO.

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DLA changed the name of the Defense Property Disposal Office to the Defense Reutilization and Marketing Service in 1985. The local Dermo's (DRMO) were established at the same time. Anyone in the Army before '85 is probably more familiar with the term PDO, but it's the same thing as the DRMO.

PDO = P-U :lol:

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DLA changed the name of the Defense Property Disposal Office to the Defense Reutilization and Marketing Service in 1985. The local Dermo's (DRMO) were established at the same time. Anyone in the Army before '85 is probably more familiar with the term PDO, but it's the same thing as the DRMO.

Makes sense because I started collecting in the 80s and have only seen the DRMO stamps on items I encountered.

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