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Bad Medals Still for Sale?


smwinter207
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All I can say about Charlie, is that I met him as a young collector in the 1980's and he was one of the BIGGEST JERKS I ever met. He wouldn't even pull items out of a case to show you if you were a young collector because his assumption was that you had NO MONEY. 

 

Kurt

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2 hours ago, manayunkman said:

Remember that white Herman Goring jacket that lay in the case for years and the Eva Braun brush with the hair still in it ?

 

Many shunned him but he was also a show promoter and those days were wild and woolly with all kinds of people doing all kinds of things none of which would be considered above board.

 

Most are gone now and a new era has begun with more transparency and a different breed of collector with a deep pool of information at their fingertips.

 

The change that’s coming is going to be from the collector and who they decide to deal with as information gets around.

 

At this point that has been my and others mantra for many years so for me nothing has changed it’s up to me to protect myself.

 

Didn’t Ed Wynn get in trouble for sticking some guy with a pile of fakes?

 

Was it the führers’ spike helmet or is that someone else?

 

As for Charlie Snyder I set up at many of his shows in the 1980s in Maryland and Connecticut and he bought tons of good stuff from me but I never bought anything from him.

 

He took advantage of me at every turn but also paid up for some good stuff and a couple of times bought me out.

 

First time I saw him was 1975 at the Valley Forge show and last time I saw him was at Renningers flea market 2011.

 

Not as crooked as some but much more crooked than most, still boils down to being a crook.

 

 

 

 

I was there when the boys came for the money back from Ed Wynn.. Lol we all laughed cause the Italian gentlemen were NOT small guys...

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1 hour ago, KASTAUFFER said:

All I can say about Charlie, is that I met him as a young collector in the 1980's and he was one of the BIGGEST JERKS I ever met. He wouldn't even pull items out of a case to show you if you were a young collector because his assumption was that you had NO MONEY. 

 

Kurt

Yup I remember that - I had Steve Donoghue with me at a CT Gun Show in the 1980's and he pulled that on me and Steve spoke up to Charlie and had him open his case for me

 

Bill

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1 hour ago, daskrieg said:

I was there when the boys came for the money back from Ed Wynn.. Lol we all laughed cause the Italian gentlemen were NOT small guys...

He got into legal trouble as well over this?

 

Who sold the hitler spike helmet, this was also in PA?

 

 

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As far as i remember he handed them 10k which is what the kid spent on junk and they left. As far as the helmet i have no clue. Thats a new story id like to hear.

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suwanneetrader

I'm 84 and I remember another old dealer who had an older big car FULL with good AND bad items ( a Lincoln Continental I think). Clyde Culver He also owned a Tourist "Museum" in Gettysburg May have been called Fort Defiance.  He would stay at a Motel which would let him have a banquet room the 1st or 2nd night of the Gun Show were he would sell alot of his bad/questionable stuff at least he would let it go cheap.  I don't know why, but maybe due to his good nature and he would refund, I can not remember anyone at a FL Gun Collectors Show really getting on him.  Maybe because in the 70's he was getting feeble (like when he forgot his car had to be in Park to start it.)

Maybe this current discussion will become just another Collector's saga .  Richard

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26 minutes ago, suwanneetrader said:

I'm 84 and I remember another old dealer who had an older big car FULL with good AND bad items ( a Lincoln Continental I think). Clyde Culver He also owned a Tourist "Museum" in Gettysburg May have been called Fort Defiance.  He would stay at a Motel which would let him have a banquet room the 1st or 2nd night of the Gun Show were he would sell alot of his bad/questionable stuff at least he would let it go cheap.  I don't know why, but maybe due to his good nature and he would refund, I can not remember anyone at a FL Gun Collectors Show really getting on him.  Maybe because in the 70's he was getting feeble (like when he forgot his car had to be in Park to start it.)

Maybe this current discussion will become just another Collector's saga .  Richard

I went to a couple of his auctions never got much because it was mostly Civil War and that wasn’t my thing.

 

First time I went to Fort Defiance was on a school trip from New York and I remember barrels full of blades.

 

Bought 2 bayonets Mauser Spanish for $12.

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  • 4 weeks later...
On 9/13/2022 at 5:53 PM, manayunkman said:

Remember that white Herman Goring jacket that lay in the case for years and the Eva Braun brush with the hair still in it ?

 

Many shunned him but he was also a show promoter and those days were wild and woolly with all kinds of people doing all kinds of things none of which would be considered above board.

 

Most are gone now and a new era has begun with more transparency and a different breed of collector with a deep pool of information at their fingertips.

 

The change that’s coming is going to be from the collector and who they decide to deal with as information gets around.

 

At this point that has been my and others mantra for many years so for me nothing has changed it’s up to me to protect myself.

 

Didn’t Ed Wynn get in trouble for sticking some guy with a pile of fakes?

 

Was it the führers’ spike helmet or is that someone else?

 

As for Charlie Snyder I set up at many of his shows in the 1980s in Maryland and Connecticut and he bought tons of good stuff from me but I never bought anything from him.

 

He took advantage of me at every turn but also paid up for some good stuff and a couple of times bought me out.

 

First time I saw him was 1975 at the Valley Forge show and last time I saw him was at Renningers flea market 2011.

 

Not as crooked as some but much more crooked than most, still boils down to being a crook.

 

 

 

 

 

“And in what business is there not humbug? “There’s cheating in all trades but ours,” is the prompt reply from the boot-maker with his brown paper soles, the grocer with his floury sugar and chicoried coffee, the butcher with his mysterious sausages and queer veal, the dry goods man with his “damaged goods wet at the great fire” and his “selling at a ruinous loss,” the stock-broker with his brazen assurance that your company is bankrupt and your stock not worth a cent (if he wants to buy it,) the horse jockey with his black arts and spavined brutes, the milkman with his tin aquaria, the land agent with his nice new maps and beautiful descriptions of distant scenery, the newspaper man with his “immense circulation,” the publisher with his “Great American Novel,” the city auctioneer with his “Pictures by the Old Masters”—all and every one protest each his own innocence, and warn you against the deceits of the rest. My inexperienced friend, take it for granted that they all tell the truth—about each other! and then transact your business to the best of your ability on your own judgment.”

PT Barnum

 

Or of course, use the judgement of the experts on USMF to help you!

 

 

 

 

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They don’t tell the truth about each either other because I’ve heard some crazy stories about me and I’m not that important.

 

 

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15 minutes ago, Sumserbrown said:

 

“And in what business is there not humbug? “There’s cheating in all trades but ours,” is the prompt reply from the boot-maker with his brown paper soles, the grocer with his floury sugar and chicoried coffee, the butcher with his mysterious sausages and queer veal, the dry goods man with his “damaged goods wet at the great fire” and his “selling at a ruinous loss,” the stock-broker with his brazen assurance that your company is bankrupt and your stock not worth a cent (if he wants to buy it,) the horse jockey with his black arts and spavined brutes, the milkman with his tin aquaria, the land agent with his nice new maps and beautiful descriptions of distant scenery, the newspaper man with his “immense circulation,” the publisher with his “Great American Novel,” the city auctioneer with his “Pictures by the Old Masters”—all and every one protest each his own innocence, and warn you against the deceits of the rest. My inexperienced friend, take it for granted that they all tell the truth—about each other! and then transact your business to the best of your ability on your own judgment.”

PT Barnum

 

Or of course, use the judgement of the experts on USMF to help you!

 

 

 

 

 

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  • 3 weeks later...
On 9/13/2022 at 10:14 AM, KASTAUFFER said:

All I can say about Charlie, is that I met him as a young collector in the 1980's and he was one of the BIGGEST JERKS I ever met. He wouldn't even pull items out of a case to show you if you were a young collector because his assumption was that you had NO MONEY. 

 

Kurt

 

I started collecting when I was 12 in the 80s and I always appreciated the dealers and old timers that did take the time to take medals out and show them and share the knowledge they had. I worked all kinds of odd jobs (shoveling snow, washing cars, delivering newspapers, selling candy....anything) to save all year for a couple shows to splurge at. Tom Koenig out of Ohio was alway nice, and he did take the time to pull items out, like the Bavarian Merit Cross IV Class with Swords, gold gilt marked (Leser made) and an Albert Order 2nd class and sold them as a pair at a great price, to a scrawny, glasses-wearing 14 year-old kid. 

 

Or the British dealer whose name escapes me to this day (but not his face) took the time to go over his Waterloo medals, which was the Holy Grail for me, so I bought the only one I could afford and a Highland Society Egypt medal as a pair. 

 

Now that I do a show or two a year, I always smile and take my time when kids come to the table, I answer all their questions and let them handle the medals, so they can get a feel of history, feel for the real thing and be confident and encouraged. I'll let a medal go at cost, or even less when I see that same wild eyed enthusiasm and excitement that I had at the same age. Perhaps this motivates one of these kids to become the next medal collector, historical author or more. Recently as I was going through a couple of boxes of memories, and I found Tom's old business card in there, and it's been sitting on my desk the past few months for some reason. Maybe it was to tell the story, or even in a way it keeps his memory alive and how small gestures like that can influence and spark passions that can last decades.

 

 

 

 

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On 9/13/2022 at 4:18 PM, daskrieg said:

As far as i remember he handed them 10k which is what the kid spent on junk and they left. As far as the helmet i have no clue. Thats a new story id like to hear.

Another dealer was involved helping a collector who Ed had swindled and there was legal trouble too.

 

The 10K was a down payment.

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On 10/27/2022 at 1:52 PM, USMCR79 said:

If you collected medals you eventually wound up dealing with Sydney Vernon!!

 

Bill

 

His blue Collector's Guide was my bible! I still use it to this day as a quick reference, it's well worn and half the pages have fallen out. Last year I finally 'upgraded' to his green version...

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