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Kassel Spring Show Report 2018

Hi Gents,

this year was my first time on the spring Kassel show 12.04. – 14.04.2018.

The way in !

Like the last year my part or my work at the show was behind the sales counter of the company Trave-Militaria from Lübeck. My main Job is still lieutenant commander in the German Navy, but for Trave-Militaria I work as a consulter and during the big shows I take care of the international collectors.

This time we started of very early and arrived in Kassel on Tuesday 10th of April at about 14:00 o`clock. There were lot of activity in the big building number 1. For the smaller April fair only one hall was open for the dealers.

Wednesday on Fair

Everybody was working on their sales both, bringing lots of military item in and try to put their nicest stuff in a good position.

We put our sales area together and also had some time to look around. We met Mr. Helmut Weitze from Weitze Militaria and his crew and lots of old collector friends.

Wednesday II on Fair

We catched the hottest news and lots of rumors about the big things going on like the estates of “Schulz” and “Bäke”. Everybody knew something and information’s (good and bad) circled the dealer corners. During that talking we checked the medals and badges of the other dealers and bought some little pieces.

At the end of Tuesday, we went back to the hotel for a shower and some dinner, one or two beer made the evening even better.

Nice Medal Bar 1

On Wednesday morning more and more dealers came to building one and started their set up. Also some collectors with dealer cards stopped by for a chat and started to hunt the fair for the best deals. I met Mr. Christian von Eicke from Militaria Berlin and Skip also. We had some good talks during lunch time and always some jokes to tell and….funny time !

My workspace at Trave Militaria

Also Mr. Frank Scholz from Militaria Scholz was there and we talked about high end Luftwaffen badges and the ongoing up and down of the prices (what a mystery).

For my one of the highlights was the first personal meeting with Mr. Philippe de Bock, owner of the German Combat Awards Forum and Book Author of the Panzer Assault Book…and I mean THE PAB Book. We had good conversation’s as suddenly Mr. Giel Van Wassenhove from Giels Militaria showed up and it was also a pleasure to meet him in Person. That’s always the best part on military shows, meet the guys live and not via Whats App or Email.

All were hunting for high end stuff and some guys were lucky…..I heard from a buy of three Iron Crosse 2n class 1939 marked 21……extremely hard to get. Also a nice Legion Condor Tank grouping was sold and a few very nice Luftwaffe estates.

Somebody told me about a SS Generals Tunic which was sold from somebody to somebody but I did not get further information’s nor did I see it. Bad luck!

Thursday III on fair

The Wednesday ended with some long drinks at the hotel bar and as always with lots of collector story’s and fairy tales about high end military which were found somewhere…..

On Thursday again the day started early and we arrived at the show about 08:30. Enough time to go around and check the late dealers which came in the morning to build up the sales booth.

Hermann Historica Bäke Grouping
Bought on the show by Trave Militaria
Bought on the show by Trave Militaria

At 10:00 the gates opened and a flood of collectors came in. Hunting for iron crosses WW 1 and WW 2 marker marked, lot of tank estate collectors asked for paperwork and U-boat estate collectors for rare documents. Combat Badges where in the focus as always, but here also it had to be a rare maker or mint condition. The European collectors bought lot of small things for a resell in their country. Time passes by and I met a lot of collectors from all over the world, that was really fun and always good to get an inside view how a collector brain works 😉

At about 15:00 my shift was over and I had to get back home. We were released by Peggy and Christian and from that time on their job was to help the boss.

Took me about 6 hours to get home and see my family again.

Bottom line for me, this fair was smaller than the Autumn Show from last year and less collectors and dealers were there. But the networking was great and as always I learned a lot.

I am looking forward to the next Kassel Show in November 2018 and I hope to see you guys there.

All the best

Sascha

 

 

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Kassel Show Autumn 2017

Hello Collector Friends,

After a week on the Kassel Military Show autumn (name in German is `Waffenbörse Kassel / WBK`) I have a lot to tell you. For those guys who missed it: You really missed something!

For those guys who have been there: Yeah….you were at the right time at the right place. Mr. Wolf Rüdiger Krey from the Company Expo Management Kiel who manages the whole Kassel Show gave me some numbers about Dealers and Visitors, so you get an idea how big it was.

About 282 Dealers on the show and 18245 Visitors !!

Mese Kassel all in 2017

For me a really good event where I met old friends and found new friends. But let’s start at the beginning. This year was my first year on the other side of the table! That means, I was there with the team of Trave Militaria and responsible for buying and selling military, public relations, networking, meetings, English speaking customers, building new connections and finally present the company in all areas. That’s the way you get in the fair hall early during that time where all dealers unpack their stuff and design their sales booth. We arrived on Wednesday at 11.00 O´clock and started unloading our transport car. It took us about two hours until our sales “corner” was build up the way we liked it. During that time you saw dealers with “dealer cards” around their neck and collectors with “dealer cards” around their neck!!!! Almost everyone was hunting for nice badges or high end estates for good prices. So that way some things were sold on Wednesday before the fair even started (start for all others is Thursday).

I had not that much time to go around and look for good stuff and old friends, but most people knew where I was and stopped by for a little military chat and we had interesting conversations.

Later that day I met Mr. Christian von Eicke from the company Militaria-Berlin and Mr. Frank Scholz from Militaria-Scholz. Sadly they had no sales booth on that fair but enough time for an exchange of the latest news, information about the hottest badges and best deals of the day. Really good guys and they know “who is who in the Zoo!”

Finally I met old collector comrades like Thomas K., Gerd S., Marco S., Frank H. face to face which was almost time. Sure we write via Email more than once, but that way on the show in Kassel is much better.

Also I met some guys from around Europe and Russia….First time eye to eye after we made good deals the last years. There where Hubert from Poland, Ivan from Russia and Stefano from Italy. Felt good to finally shake hands, always a good fundament for further business. After a long day we hit the Hotel Bar for a few Beer as a little reward.

On Thursday I went over the fair to see some of the German Dealers and Owners of some Auction Houses. I talked to them about the development in the collector area and why the prices went up (or down).

Auktionshaus Andreas Thies Area

I met Mr. Andreas Thies for the company Auktionshaus Andreas Thies EK, who had a really nice sales booth build up with high class medals and badges and also a Generals tunic on display. Mr. Thies is a real old school gentleman who knows the game and it was a short but very interesting conversation.

 

Hermann Historica Area

Later on I went to Hermann Historica and met Mr. Sascha Zimmerman. Very friendly person who is also responsible for customers who sell and buy high class military objects from all over the world. Nice talking there and a professional for sure in his field. Here I found also high end weapons and military of different decades from all over the world.

That was enough for the first day when the fair was open for anybody. Lot of collectors in the hall, but also some pick pockets who stole about 50 wallets and two money boxes from dealers. That’s really bad and I hope the loss was not that high for the people who lost their wallet.

On Friday there were less people there and I had the chance to walk around again and see what the other dealers do. I talk to Andy, a military dealer from Austrian and his friend Mel who was from Belgium.

Running around I saw good things and bad things on the tables. Some estates extremely overpriced and also repaired or damaged badges in bad condition. I found copies which were offered as originals and really bad reproductions. Fantasy items and reenactor stuff……Lots of guns and rifles from all epochs and ammunition…so much you can start world war III.

Carsten Baldes Sales booth

Later on I went to see Mr. Carsten Baldes from Militaria Archiv Carsten Baldes e.K. With the principle less is more he had not so much but very nice badges and medals on Display. He told me that most of his new Military Items are sold fast and that way there is not so much left for a big sales booth in Kassel.  All medals and badges as always with a good sense of price finding. A real polite and pleasant dealer with a good reputation. Always a good place to buy from and to talk to.

 

Ratisbon Area

An hour later I stopped at the booth from Ratisbon to take a picture and check the “hardware”. Nice stuff which are in the online auctions and only for Kassel on display. They were really busy with customers and I decided to try it again later. Finally I had some things for the next ratisbon auction and then I had the opportunity to talk to Andreas and Michael. Nice guys, very friendly and they offered good conditions for the military items I brought. So looks to me like a professional Team with a good reputation and an inherent part of our military collector’s world.

Helmut Weitze 100 about a third of the whole sales area

We had our sales area from Trave-Militaria close to the company of Helmut Weitze, and I had the chance to talk to most of his employees who worked in special fields of Mr. Weitzes Company. I think I met Mr. Weitze about three times and we had good talks about military items and also about my active navy time and Mr. Weitzes navy time on destroyer’s years ago. Real hanseatic salesman and gentleman with a professional team and the biggest sales area in the fair hall of Kassel.

 

Well, know you want to know what I bought in Kassel…….not that much. Only an infantry assault badge, cut out, hollow in good condition and for my cuff title collection a Panzer Afrikakorps cuff title which is always hard to get.

Under the stroke we had 4 hard days of work, but when you love what you do it is not work….it is fun. After the fair hall closes on 18:00 we went to our Hotel close by and relaxed by good dinner and some long drinks….not too much long drinks because the next day is also a long day. And again collectors will need some advice and maybe a good hint not to buy this or better buy that.

Part of the Trave Militaria Team: left to right: Myself, Peggy, Dennis, Jonas, Christian

Thanks to Mr. Dennis Suitner as the Head from Trave Military for such a good time in Kassel and hopefully we will meet you all there in 2018.

 

Good hunting!

Best

Sascha