Went to the War and Peace Show at Beltring yesterday as usual to check out the militaria dealers and their wares. Firstly, for the opening public day it was eerily quiet with many dealers worrying already over the lower numbers coming in. Quietest day is normally Thursday picking up for the weekend apart from Sunday when many sellers are already packing up. What I also noticed was a decline in the number of UK sellers, many Europeans especailly from Germany and it appeard there was even more Third Reich stuff selling this year. There were as usual a number of original A-2's, some with artwork, mostly small sizes and prices seemed to reflect the current eBay prices realised. Cheapest original was on a small stall hanging outside, £250 but needed alot of work: knits, lining etc. One seller who is a regular always has some nice groupings and jackets, he doesn't have a website unfortunately. he had an interesting 353FG ace Lt. Col. English-made Ike style jacket with insignia and lovely silk red lining, £450. One stall appeared to be a Japanese seller who had a couple of nice A-2's and B-15, B-10 and G-1's, all with no prices displayed and stall was busy so I didn't get to ask. Couldn't find Gary (ELC) but I may have missed his stall as as one progressed towards the camping areas the neat rows of stalls collapsed into a mess of stalls all over the place, easy to get lost and miss some. This year there were no good Irvins and little nice RAF stuff at all, the best Irvin I saw was on a German's stall but very expensive alongside his Luftwaffe uniforms...could it have been a 'captured' example?
So I came home empty handed as nothing tempted me, I was glad I don't pay to get in and my friend who sells there said this may indeed be his last show. Maybe there will be some bargain deals to be had come the weekend.
So I came home empty handed as nothing tempted me, I was glad I don't pay to get in and my friend who sells there said this may indeed be his last show. Maybe there will be some bargain deals to be had come the weekend.
