LGB in the Box

[dmar836]

Not sure if the box and wing were always together but got these back in '95 or so at the great Liverpool(Syracuse) VFW show. Man I wish I could go back in time. I was in college and had no money but got these that weekend. If I could go back I would also not have any money!

 

Dave

 

[pfrost]

I had the same issue when I started collecting.  I was a grad student and would take a 20$ bill to the Rose Bowl flea market.  5$ to get in, left 15$ to play with.  I had a dealer friend that would buy little items from me, so the first pass was to go through and buy things like airline lapel pins, employee service pins or other sterling silver nick-nacks for a couple dollars each and then take them to her and double my money.  Over the course of a day, I would eventually parlay my 15$ (less if I got a hot dog or soda) into 40-50$.  Then when I found a WWII wing, I would beg and plead the price down to what I could afford.

 

One day, I found an Amcraft glider wing for 75$  At that time, an unheard of expenditure!  I had to hustle the Rose Bowl like a Bedowin camel trader to raise the funds.  Found a Boeing 5 year pin for 5 dolllars, ran to my friend and sold it to her for 10$.  Bought 2 sterling jump wings for the 10$ and bumped up my stash to 20$.  Found a gold USN submariner badge for 15, sold it for 40$... all day, I was working the crowds, until I had 4 nice 20$ bills in my wallet.  Eventually got the wing for 60$ (from an initial investment of 15$), and had enough change to buy gas for my Nissan to get home!

 

Because I was focused on WWII USAAF wings, I moved along a fair number of (probably) more valuable items, like the submariner badge (pin back and hallmarked LBG).  But it was either that or starve and not pay my rent.  LOL.  Also taught me lots of good lessons about patience.  Finally, because buying something more expensive than about 40$ represented a huge risk, I became pretty savvy about avoiding many of the pitfalls of fakes and reproductions. 

 

I had a blast building up my collection in the early days, but I think I rather have the higher budget available today!

[dmar836]

LOL. Great story! I guess I was never that motivated, afraid to risk what money I did have, or hadn't enough knowledge of the items I wasn't into. That's really crafty.

BTW, pfrost, your blog link was broken (maybe from this thread? somewhere here) but I stumbled upon it today. Great stuff!

Dave