23rd Fighter Group A-2

[doyler]

Stumbled across this A-2 jacket that sold back in April on epay and saved the pictures.A stunning jacket from the 23rd FG.I knew it would be a high sale but didnt realize it would garner $12,500.

 

 

 

[doyler]

 

[doyler]

 

\(all photos courtesey of ebay vendor freshfound)

[Sabrejet]

Wow! It's certainly all-singing/all-dancing...but $12.5K?! That's a serious wedge of cash which would fund my collecting for years!! Obviously a high-speed collector.

 

Sabrejet :w00t:

[Airgunner]

Very nice if real... Looks good...

[HBT]

That A2 has everything going for it. It is beautiful! Thanks for the pics Ron.

 

---Chris

[JGC]

Wow, what can you say, I wish it was sitting in my collection. A real one looker. Jon

[Cobrahistorian]

Heck of a jacket, but at that price??? I could buy 4 9th AF P-47 pilot jackets for that much! (wishful thinkning!)

 

 

Great to see such an incredible piece!

 

Jon

[JDK]

I was watching that one. It only got that high because that was the reserve, and one guy bid up to meet it. Actual bidding stalled out at a little over 5K. Closer to the actual value in my opinion. The real shame was that there were uniforms and other items from this pilot that were sold in a different auction, and then his 23rd FG DUI's in another auction. Scattered to the wind.

 

JD

[DKNYC71]

I was watching that one. It only got that high because that was the reserve, and one guy bid up to meet it. Actual bidding stalled out at a little over 5K. Closer to the actual value in my opinion. The real shame was that there were uniforms and other items from this pilot that were sold in a different auction, and then his 23rd FG DUI's in another auction. Scattered to the wind.

 

JD

I agree this jacket is worth probably around 5K. The individual who purchased it obviously is a closet type who is oblivious to the militaria market. The real funny aspect, is that the seller 'freshfound" who peddled this jacket on e-bay, purchased it himslef off e-bay a few weeks prior for a couple or three thousand dollars, i can not recall the exact dollar amount now. The reason being is that it was listed in vintage clothing instead of militaria, certainly a "fresh find" :-).

[JDK]

I agree this jacket is worth probably around 5K. The individual who purchased it obviously is a closet type who is oblivious to the militaria market. The real funny aspect, is that the seller 'freshfound" who peddled this jacket on e-bay, purchased it himslef off e-bay a few weeks prior for a couple or three thousand dollars, i can not recall the exact dollar amount now. The reason being is that it was listed in vintage clothing instead of militaria, certainly a "fresh find" :-).

 

Hahaha, you caught that too! :thumbsup: I was going to mention it, but didn't in case they were a member here.

It was poorly listed as you mentioned. As for the price, it was sold the 1st time around for around $3,200. A nice profit in only 2 weeks time!

 

I found it just after it had finished the 1st time around. That same seller also had alot of other items from the

same pilot that went to another bidder. I was dissapointed to have missed it, but then, it reappears by a new

seller and sells for $12,500!

[DKNYC71]

Hahaha, you caught that too! :thumbsup: I was going to mention it, but didn't in case they were a member here.

It was poorly listed as you mentioned. As for the price, it was sold the 1st time around for around $3,200. A nice profit in only 2 weeks time!

 

I found it just after it had finished the 1st time around. That same seller also had alot of other items from the

same pilot that went to another bidder. I was dissapointed to have missed it, but then, it reappears by a new

seller and sells for $12,500!

Yes indeed, nice profit. But in all actuality the individual who paid the 12.5K cheated himself big time, perhaps he will be able to recoup his investment in 20-30years or so. A-2 jackets have been going down in price since early to mid-90s. There was a time when a collector from Japan might have paid this price, but this was about 20 years ago when they had more money than brains circulating. Since then, the economy for the "noveou-riche" in Japan collapsed and there bying A-2 fiasco along with it. Actualy there was a famous A-2 delaer in California who probably single-handedly jacked the price of the A-2 on the market by selling to the Japanese. He was bying the jackets and groupings straight from the veterans for next to nothing and selling them to the Japanese for thousands of dollars, he was advertizing in every concievable veteran publication around.

 

The fact is that A-2 jackets and groupings are not rare what so ever. Even the most outstanding jackets, with eleborate paintings and documentation, are not rare. There are thousands of nice jackets and groupings out there. I know of 3 collectors who each have over 100 jackets all gorgeous! Wait untill one of the big collections comes on the market, see what happens to even the current prices, it will go way down. Exactly what happened with Civil War Union uniforms. Today one can purchase a Union colonel's frock coat, 100% original, for around 6K, 10-15 years ago, the same frock coat would have easily fetched 10K+ Ther reason for this was 3 big collections that have hit the market in the past 5 years, and there will be more to come. The age of the average serious Civil War collector is around 65-70, in the coiming decade there will be many great items hitting the market. The same with all serious WWII collections, most of the big time collectors are 60+ in age, in the next decade most of these items will be available on the market. All one has to do today, is refrain from the big purchases and save money, even within 5 years there will be more material available on the market than buyers for it.

 

Just my humble opinion.

[MAA]

I was stunned when I saw what this jacket ended up selling at ~ much more than I would ever thought the market would bear. Its unquestionably rare and real. I think I would have gone $3 to $4000 max on it. A great piece though!

[Johnny Signor]

Probably what also decided the price is the fact that he was with another unit also, the P-51 patch with the lightning bolts is the emblem for the WW-2 118th Tactical Recon squadron that was with the 66th Tac Recon Group, just my two cents worth.

[MAW]

Beware....

 

Mr. "freshfound" makes his living breaking up groups; with no attempt to keep things together.

 

He is a vulture who I would greatly prefer to never deal with.