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Where Are These Guys When I'm Selling!!


GLM
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  • 3 weeks later...
teufelhunde.ret

Sadly.... how true. This forum can be a source for reliable knowledge and pricing as it relates to what we would be willing to give for a particular emblem, however, when these buyers are unwilling to access the information here, develop some basic knowledge and continue to buy on emotion, we will continue to see these uncalled for "high" prices or characteristically "over the top" bidding. These scenarios rarely foretell of a satisfactory outcome as these buyers continue to outlay excessive monies... nor for those who unwittingly follow their lead. In the end, should this pattern continue it will not have a positive outcome... for any of us.

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  • 1 month later...

Actually, I'm not so sure this emblem didn't start life as a dress emblem. The dress emblems of this maker and pattern tend to really tarnish black over time (I've polished a few myself!) and my guess is she just polished the tarnish off, not a service finish. That looks like tarnish inside the globe, not service finish. If a service finish was completely cleaned off, it was an extremely efficient job and you'd think there would still be some in the deep recesses to the reverse or rope? The photos are poor, but the continents and anchor appear to have that very light gold finish these H&H and Imperial emblems usually have. It might be worth taking a chance on this one, if it doesn't go too high. H&H-Imperial dress emblems don't come along all that often, especially with the H's outside the eagle on the logo, right Bob?

 

s/f, Gary

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jeremiahcable

I was wondering that myself Gary. It does look like most of the gold plating on the land masses is gone though. Still, someone may get a bargin.

 

Jeremiah

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Jeremiah,

 

After looking at it closer, I noticed it doesn't have the little "thingamajiggers" (fletchings??) between the latitude lines, which would suggest a service emblem. I do have a dress H&H "squatter" emblem that has had the <<gold wash, not rolled gold or gold plate>> completely polished off and those later H&H dress emblems don't have the fletchings either. Maybe it is a service emblem that has been stripped of it's finish, but I'd like Bob G. to post a photo of his H&H-Imperial dress emblem with H's outside of the eagle to make sure. If it's a stripped service, a good gunsmith could reapply or dip the finish right back on it. Ah heck! It's going to go for $300-$400 anyway, so no reason to think one might get it for a reasonable price.

 

s/f, Gary

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teufelhunde.ret

Hard to say which emblem it started life as. Either way its been messed with, I suppose someone who needed a service cap emblem would benefit. In its present state, cleaned and details buffered away it has little value... even refinished. It will be interesting to see what it goes for.

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  • 4 weeks later...
Greg Robinson

Marine emblems are not my specialty but I believe that's nothing more than an enlisted quality 1918 vintage service cover eagle globe and anchor. I bought one off ebay, missing the original screwback but nicer condition, six or seven years ago for $35. I've recently seen similar examples for sale on dealer's lists for about $100.

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I actually had this auction bookmarked and was going to throw a $125 bid on it. To me it looks like a nice variation, but for the life of me, I can't tell if it's the pattern from late 1918 or 1930. It has traits from both periods, so I thought a nice solid $125 emblem? I also had several other nice SSI auctions from this seller bookmarked and as of yesterday morning, he yanked them, so I was wondering what's up with this seller. I thought he might be one of those sellers who is too impatient to wait for the final snipers and yanks his auctions if they don't have realized prices he can live with a couple of days before auction ends. I give up on sellers like this and dont bother to look at their auctions later on, so didn't watch the finish.

 

IMHO, the $600 bid on this one was like many of the other EGA bidders on eBay...more money than common sense...or second highest bidder was a shill?

 

s/f, Gary

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teufelhunde.ret

Gary,... quite agree, there is more to the story here, I think we've had a PM exchange about the high bidder. The awkward angle of the front precluded me from knowing for sure... my gut says its a early 30's. Sure would have wanted to see it think.gif

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  • 4 months later...

FYI - This WWII vintage 3-piece Hilborn-Hamburger 10K & Sterling Dress set of EGAs made $880. today from the 'millionaire' collection sold by 'rfc'. Nice set - Verrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrry nice price! But hey, the man paid $700 for them 20 years ago. Semper Fi......Bobgee

 

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teufelhunde.ret

Good matched sets are hard to come by, but, in today's market... its hard to get my hands around that price.

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KASTAUFFER
FYI - This WWII vintage 3-piece Hilborn-Hamburger 10K & Sterling Dress set of EGAs made $880. today from the 'millionaire' collection sold by 'rfc'. Nice set - Verrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrry nice price! But hey, the man paid $700 for them 20 years ago. Semper Fi......Bobgee

 

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I love to to see the " I paid this price 20 years ago " stickers on the lots. It shows how crazy some of the prices he paid back then are . Most of the prices I am commenting about have to do with the medals he bought. He paid some crazy prices back then.

 

Kurt

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teufelhunde.ret
He paid some crazy prices back then.

Kurt

If in fact he did think.gif Stickers and such are easly moved about or applied. The hype around this collection ought to be enough to make any reasonable person wonder?

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teufelhunde.ret

From a recen ebay auction. A 1926 pattern... late in the production period for this Gemsco design. A whopping $865. What on earth was this guy thinking of :blink:

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88thcollector

Hi,

 

I never get the big bucks. My EGA just sold for $3.25.

 

item 110251394069

 

Is that all it is worth? I know I am lazy with my descriptions but I thought I would do better than 3 bucks. As the years go by I am more and more convinced that the big dollars come as a result of shill bidding.

 

Steve

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usmcaviator

Steve,

 

Your EGA is WW2 to late 1950's vintage and was massed produced probably by the hundreds of thousands. While it could be worth about $8-$15, to a collector, it is very, very common. The Gemsco Officer EGA that sold was probably made in the late 1920's to early 1930's when Marine officers were few and far between. It's markings make it scarce. I believe it is worth easily in the $600-800 range with those markings. I do not share the opinion of some on here, that believe that the price was outrageous. No one else has posted a photo of one like it on here, it isn't a common piece. There were 3 bidders that all put on $800 or more. They were all advanced collectors, there was no shill bidding on that piece.

 

Mike

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Bob Hudson

So true Mike - and even with a shill you still need one bidder willing to spend lots of money. I've had someone offer - and pay me - $3,000 for a pair of EGA's someone else had told me might be worth $600-700. There was no shill involved there and the buyer knew exactly what they were getting. As noted by Mike, "scarce" is the key element (he does not like the word "rare"). Probably no other piece of US military insignia has gone through so many variations over the decades as has the EGA (and that's even accounting for the fact that they finally became very standardized in the 1950's). With so many variations and the fact that the pre-WWII and especially pre-WWI Marine Corps was a very small outfit, some types of EGA's were produced in very, very small quantities and some of the ones produced by jewelers for officers may be darn near one-of-a-kind.

 

Despite the high prices for the more scarce pieces you can still put together a nice sampling of older pieces for not a lot of money. For example here's several WWII-era officers EGA's I just sold for about $29 each (but you can find similar pieces on ebay for a lot less than that). While these are all from the same basic era they have some nice differences:

 

ega1.jpg ega2.jpg ega6.jpg

 

ega5.jpg ega4.jpg ega3.jpg

 

 

 

And here's a pre-WWII (circa 1927-1930) droop wing piece that went for just under $60. A matched pair of these could go for $150-300 and one for the enlisted dress cap could go for $1,000 (if you can even find one), so $60 to have an example of these unusual birds is not too bad (and again on a good day you might find one for less).

 

egadroop.jpg

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teufelhunde.ret

Steve, the positions offered by forum support and Mike are both valid. The emblem in question is not seen often at auction simply because those who have them in their collections are simply not going to let them go in this market or in the ebay venue... at this time. But I hasten to add there are other market forces at work here, beyond the simple collector interests. We are now beginning to see the "market creation" at work. GLM (whom stated this thread) and I shared a good many PM's about this gray of collecting last year. There are some who feel there is more pressure than ever to create a sort of blue ocean strategy in order to enhance perceived EGA values vice what are or what is relative worth of emblems. This area is still in its infancy, as is this forum. The only two publications (or reference works) on EGA's are filled with loop holes, some inconstancies and to some useless. There was word on the street a new work was forthcoming, I have heard recently the project has died.

 

To some extent this forum is responsible for the tulip bubble that we saw last summer as some wacko prices were paid... this thread is full of them. Nonetheless and as I suspect across the Militaria collecting arena, the prices realized is dropping in proportion to the general economy and housing prices... which is a perfect example. Allot of folks sitting in houses that are not even close in value to what they paid 5-10 years ago. And so it is with the globe & anchor, allot of hype about what is scarce (remember marketing 101... demand must exceed availability) or rare (as in one of a kind). My two cents. s/f Darrell

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robert60446
I do not share the opinion of some on here, that believe that the price was outrageous. No one else has posted a photo of one like it on here, it isn't a common piece. There were 3 bidders that all put on $800 or more. They were all advanced collectors, there was no shill bidding on that piece.

 

Mike

Mike,

I have learned on my own skin to wait. As you know, EBay is good but not the only place where you can find good items. Think about it 1 of those 3 guys got it. Only 2 left now with readiness to spend more than $800…sooner or later they will feed their hunger.

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