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bargain of the century m1917 German egg grenade

dano1917

dano1917

RIP
My wife Teresa and I went antiquing a few weeks back. We were going through our 3rd antique mall and I was about done in (fed up) as it seems most of these malls have the same old overpriced crap in them all. Well from about 3 stalls down this WW1 German m1917 egg grenade catches my eye. Nothing special, no base markings and a transit plug with no fuze. I look at the tag and it says "old oval weight $10.00" (about 6 quid). Well needless to say I scarfed on this egg faster than one could imagine. My wifes comment was don't you already have a bunch of those, maybe you'll find a better grenade cheaper. After she blurted that out, I felt compelled to go to the toilet and clean my shorts. It's not much, but that is the cheapest WW1 grenade i've ever bought in my life...Dano
 

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Good score Dano. I bought a US MK1 body locally, for about the same thing or less a couple years ago. Thank goodness, for ignorant antique dealers, and fleamarketeers! I always scan the pottery shelves, for any stray Japanese Type 4s'. No luck. Yet.
 
Good find!!!! I do hate antique shops, it aways seems that they never have what I'm looking for.:tinysmile_grin_t:
 
Yard sales

I also never pass up yard sales, because anything and everything can show up there (I think you call them bootie sales in UK). My best finds at yard sales were a US WW1 Brodie helmet with liner for 6.00, and a WW1 US Enfield bayonet with no scabbard for 3.00, and an 1917 dated WW1 German 5.9 inch shell casing for 7.00. You just never know what you're going to find...Dano
 
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gijunkman said:
Good find!!!! I do hate antique shops, it aways seems that they never have what I'm looking for.:tinysmile_grin_t:
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I know what you mean gij. I've been in the antique/junk business for many years. The problem is, most dealers have allowed themselves to be ripped-off, by purchasing a "Velvet Elvis" India sword, as Civil War, or a Spanish Cetme bayonet, as WWII. Then, instead of doing a little research, they never buy another thing. I've heard countless horror stories, from dealers returning from auctions. The tell of the old military rifle, swords, or old gray uniforms, that nobody would bid on!:tinysmile_cry_t3: The same is true of most gun dealers. They won't touch a military weapon, cuz they don't know what they're worth. And refuse to learn!
 
Trenchwarfare said:
I know what you mean gij. I've been in the antique/junk business for many years. The problem is, most dealers have allowed themselves to be ripped-off, by purchasing a "Velvet Elvis" India sword, as Civil War, or a Spanish Cetme bayonet, as WWII. Then, instead of doing a little research, they never buy another thing. I've heard countless horror stories, from dealers returning from auctions. The tell of the old military rifle, swords, or old gray uniforms, that nobody would bid on!:tinysmile_cry_t3: The same is true of most gun dealers. They won't touch a military weapon, cuz they don't know what they're worth. And refuse to learn!
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I know exactly, a general antique dealer is generally afraid of anything militaria because of their ignorance as to the value of said items, they just don't have the knowledge to estimate the value of most items military. This can be a plus or a minus depending on how you look at it. If militaria shows up at a general antique auction and there are not alot of military guys there sometimes some true bargains can be had, but this gets rarer and rarer as time goes on because the antique dealers are educating themselves more and more. The great deals come when an antique dealer has a nice military item with no idea as to what exactly he has (such was the case with the '17 egg), but that is a rarity these days. It is nice to occasionally "steal" a piece because the dealer is ignorant of what he has. I'm happy enough just to get an item I want for what I consider to be a "fair" price. Hell, here in the US finding ordnance of any kind is getting rare unless you hit a big show, then you need to bring 2 swiss bankers and a rolex watch!! Dano
 
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Nice buy Dano

I don't know much about the US market but prices have been rising fast in Europe. This summer I did manage a bargain with German Eggs though. I bought 6 in good condition with transit plugs for 70 euros which equals about 9.60 at the time. At present they sit in an egg box, which stops them rolling around the place. I've not bought one at 6 for a very long time. So well done you!

John
 
Just to add to that a friend told me the other day he was doing selling at an antiques market on his own the other day when a dealer came up and showed him a Mills 36 cutaway with all the right bits that he had just bought for 5 on another stall. Now that was a bargain!

John
 
Congrats dano! Nice one for a great price! The best bargain I made with them was 5 for 25 Euros, so 5 Euros each and one of them was a practice one still with red paint. It was in the early days of eGun some years ago... ;)
 
Good Deals

Well John and Jens, just goes to show that genuine bargains can still be had, rare as they might be. As far as the m1917 egg grenade goes, the going rate here was 50.00us with a common fuze or transit plug. When you look around now they seem to have gone up, and that Mills cutaway was just plain and simple a steal. Patience can go a long way in this as well as most hobbies. I swear the minute I "overpay" for something a bargain of the same piece always seems to turn up a short time later. I don't need any more eggs, but I want them because they are my favorite of all time. I had 25 of them in my collection at one time but that was before I came close to selling out in 08. I spent the better part of 30 years searching for the m1916 percussion igniter. the one I bought I looked at for over a year, and satisfied that one was niot coming cheap, I bit the proverbial bullet and had to pay some serious stones for it. I justified it in my mind that not only was I getting the rarest German WW1 igniter, but also it completed my set of all known igniters for WW1 German egg/kugel grenades and all for the low price of which i'd rather not say. Oh, and it did come on an m1915 kugel (big woop) but I like the grenade better than my other '15 kugel (benefit 3).....Dano
 
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""Devils advocate""

But hey ya'll,isnt it wrong to allow someone sell you something you know is worth much more than the asking price? Thats like walking away from a transaction having been givin the wrong change,or when the bank makes a mistake and you end up with more in your account than should be? Does everyone think its ok to let or assist someone in being "ignorant" or "uninformed" ??
 
Ideal world Lou, but real life isn't like that. If someone enters any market as a seller and they are unaware of the value of what they are selling, that is their sole responsibility. If I find someone selling a grenade I know is worth say 50 for 10, I'm not going to say to them; " Look old chap, that's far too cheap at 10, let me give you another 40 on top". People do realise their mistakes and wise up. They learn by their mistakes and become better at what they do.

John
 
I have to agree with Lou, in some cases, as am example, a few years ago, a friend sold me a German M1915 gas mask for $100 (a good price for me at the time) and when I go home and looked at it, it was an Austrian mask (what I was looking for anyway) The next time I saw him, I told him that the mask was not German and I thought there should be an adjustment in the price, and he asked "how much of an adjustment?" When I told him I thought the price should be adjusted by $50, he gulped and said that he could not do that, but he would refund my money, then I told him that I was adjusting the price up, not down. He turned down my offer, but I got even later by offering $50 more than was reasonable for another item. He took the money, and we both had a good laugh when I told him what I had done.
It is acceptable to pay a low price if the seller sets the price, but to offer a lower price, while telling the seller his item is no good is bad form.
Gus
 
Great replies guys.

I guess Im all for a bargin too.The good lord knows Ive had my share.In the case of an item that I already have multiples of,Im inclined to inform the seller,educate him or her and hopfully make a new "friend".

But to be honest with you guys,if and when I run into something major,something inside me wont let me take advantage of a situation.I find it really hard to take something,no matter how great or rare or neet or whatever the case may be and put it on my shelf for display,knowing that I just took someone.Id much rather have an empty spot on my shelf than a dark empty spot on my soul.

But Dans grenade? Id would have taken that deal,guilt free.Great find Dan,those dont come along very often.
 
Lou, a lesson from the other side of the table, I once sold a "no trap" butt plate for an M1 Garand at a show for $5. The buyer was very happy to point out my ignorance after he gave me the $5. So when I found my only Mk2 frag body at a flea market for $10 I didn't feel bad for giving the person what they were asking for it. But I was kind enough not to gloat about his loss to his face by telling him it was worth more than he asked for it. Also another thought on "value", Dosn't the collector set the value of an item by what he is willing to pay for it?:wink:
 
ok

I think it is okay to take a bargain especially if there is a marked price. Bending the truth to get a good piece cheap is just wrong in my opinion. Buy the marked item, take it, for christs sake don't tell the seller that he let it go too cheap and have a nice day..Dano
 
gijunkman said:
Lou, a lesson from the other side of the table, I once sold a "no trap" butt plate for an M1 Garand at a show for $5. The buyer was very happy to point out my ignorance after he gave me the $5. So when I found my only Mk2 frag body at a flea market for $10 I didn't feel bad for giving the person what they were asking for it. But I was kind enough not to gloat about his loss to his face by telling him it was worth more than he asked for it. Also another thought on "value", Dosn't the collector set the value of an item by what he is willing to pay for it?:wink:
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Absolutly true.The buyer sets his price and the market "should" follow.I cant tell you how many items Ive seen on web sites,at antique malls,sit there year after year,unsold,due to a sometimes outragous price.
And also true,things tend to even out in the end.That would be the Karma part of it.
 
buying and selling Karma

I know some dealers that aways over price items in the hope that they will find a person with more money than sence, and you do tend to see them have the same stuff show after show. The problem with that and internet auctions is that people see an item that is over priced(or a true rare item that is fairly priced) and assume that their similar item is worth that much also to the point that the market becomes stagnent. You really see this more with guns than ordinance stuff, but it only takes the "heard" a few second to find grandpa's big shell case for sale on somebody's internet site for $9500000.00 and instanty they see $$$$ and want to get rich off a fairly common item. Man am I glad I only do this as a hobby.:xd: And as for Karma, my old man always said, "What goes around, comes around.":tinysmile_hmm_t:

Sorry for hijacking your thread Dano, again, good find!!
 
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Hey, we did not hijack Dano's thread, it was about bargins, and part of a bargin is how cheap you can get it, I have sold things cheap, but I go the price I was asking, I even had a very rare part for a 1939 GMC pick up that I could have gotten high dollers for, but it was worthless to me, so I gave it to a stranger, and the change in his out look on life was priceless (he had been having a very bad day).
And Yes Feldgrau, I do know what German M15 and M16 masks are selling for, and the Austrian M15 makes them look cheap.
This really is a great hobby with many great people, and a lot of great dealers too, I know of a dealer who will send an item and tell the buyer to send what he thinks it is worth (the seller knows better than any of us) if he get a low price for it, he may not have any bargins for the buyer in the future, but usually he gets more than he would have asked:)
Best wishes
Gus
 
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