Just watched the first one, to be honest it was fairly nothingy, the RAF group was cracking, after he had bought it he seemed oddly surprised with what the group included which makes you wonder why he was willing to spend about £26,000 buying it in the first place, still at least they avoided some of the crap from other shows - Combat Dealers would have had them shooting the duelling pistol at a Ford Escort and multiple angles of it going up in a fireball. I'll probably still watch the rest of the series while gently shaking my head and tutting
Have, to be honest, I have enjoyed the three programmes shown to date on "Yesterday" (UK) and as has been shown everyone has overheads to meet and keeping stock moving would seem to be the name of the game. (Can't help but think the present situation will hit them hard, purely online sellers might fare a bit better.).
I think you are right, it will be difficult getting new stock during this period. I've now seen the first two on catch up, so am looking forward to something more Army based/ Having said that the 3 Waterloo medals were rather special.
I find it hard to weep copious tears for a dealer fretting that buying something will disrupt their cash flow. What I'd like to see are the outtakes/behind the scenes of the punter who turned up in the shop, looked at far more than what made the screen - and bought none of it. The voiceover at times sounds like The Janet and John Book of Military History; I know not all viewers are as well versed as we are here, but even so. What sticks on my craw is this dragging around museums. "Hello, we want you to tell us this is worth a bucketload more than we paid for it and use you as provenance for it". If you or I tried that, it would be a quick trip to the exit. And all that guff about "we're as much a museum as a shop". Please. Still, they are nowhere near as enervating as Crompton, gayly destroying the hobby that feeds his Aquascutum habit with the stupid prices he encourages.
I was chatting to a fellow member about this - in this weeks episode offering £6000 for 1500 medals, so £4 each, and being shocked when it was knocked back - also considering the interesting stuff they seem to have on the website its amazing the managed to build most of the episode around a Sam Browne belt that they sold for £105 (and next weeks seems to in part revolve around a nice but not particularly rare Firemans helmet), not exactly high end and not really worth sending 2 members of staff a hundred miles or so to a museum (as Phil mentioned) to not really learn anything solid about the original owner or the cost of having all 4 members of staff out buying it in the first place. Last weeks buying 3 Waterloo medals that they took to the National Army Museum to find more details about the men is another of the unrealistic day out aspects of the show, surely you just take 5 minutes and go on Ancestry to check the Waterloo Medal Roll. I'll still watch though
I quite enjoy the programmes although the content can be underwhelming at times. I can definitely understand the nature of handling these items, as I collect myself and it is a really special moment when you first open up a parcel with medallic goodies inside. I must say though, that the two main players are not exactly endearing to the audience at times. Still, better than Eastenders!!
Opening a parcel is the highlight, but I'm sure before you buy you have done some research (although with more after it arrives) on what your buying - in the programme it seems to come across as them buying stuff then try to work out its story
Definitely Alistair in terms of research. I have a major headache coming up this month, with both the DNW and Spink auctions. Apart from 5 or 6 interesting items, there is a lot with family connections and a possible reunite of a soldiers WW1 British War Medal, of whom I possess the Victory medal. And all this at a time when I am supposed to be thinning out my collection. I have already decided, that if I fail to secure the WW1 war medal, then I will offer the person who does the other medal. They need to be together one way or another.
How will you get in touch with the winner if you miss out (fingers crossed you manage to get it) - will you ask the seller to pass on a message? I'm not trying to thin out my collection but I am trying to slow my spending as my redundancy money is getting low and its not a good time to be in the job market but nice things keep turning up
Yes, the Auction houses are pretty good in this regard. They will send an email to the winning party with the offer and leave it at that. I've had two such emails before myself. One was clearly bogus and the other resulted in me sending two WW1 medals back to the original family. I think you are right re: spending just now, almost everyone will be vulnerable to redundancies and job loss if this virus continues much longer. But as you say, it is at times such as these that nice things turn up.
I just noticed tonight that Dix Noonan Webb auction house are donating some of their buyer's premium to the NHS Charities Together: DIX NOONAN WEBB DONATING 5% OF BUYERS PREMIUM TO HELP THE NHS | Dix Noonan Webb
This is a UKTV original production, so in house. Latest epsiode was interesting story on the fireman's helmet from the war, 'stamped' 32 and the name 'Clark' National Fires Service, their production in Sheffield as well as an unusual Crimean war pistol that was owned by a doctor. Will look out for the other episodes.
DNW have raised just under £9000 for the NHS charities. A good effort and on going, but of course totally overshadowed by Captain Tom!! However, every little helps.