Ended auction, WWII or repro?

[Milsurp Collector]

I read the posts. My point is very simple... whom are we to PM?

Who are the holders of the " current knowledege "?

Specifically, what are the qualifications of these experts, and is there a list of experts we are supposed to PM? If I PM one "expert", will his answer coincide with another "expert"? Do all the "experts" have the same opinion of what is or is not a fake?

Again, in my previous post, I answered that:

If you spend enough time in the various gun collector forums you learn who is good at spotting fakes. For example, for K98s I run things past some of the guys on the gunboards.com K98 forum using email and private messages.

Within the K98 community there are even specialists. There is one guy who the guy to go to for G33/40 questions. Another guy is the late-war K98 expert. If I have a question about Garand cartouches, Rick borecky is my go to guy. For M1 Carbine questions BQ97/BrianQ (Brian Quick) is authoritative.

But you don't have to use the people I choose to trust, you can choose your own panel of experts, or none at all if none of them meet your lofty standards.

Is there some kind of American Board of Gun Collecting that certifies "experts" with credentials and certificates suitable for framing? No. But if you spend enough time on this board and others, and read what people write, and see pictures of items in their collections, you develop a sense about who to trust and who knows what they are talking about. I'm just glad that they are willing to share their expertise and that the Internet makes it so easy and convenient for them to do so. But people who approach them with a "what makes you such an expert" attitude they probably don't get much help. No one is forced to consult with these "experts" before making purchases, they can spend their money any way they want, at their own risk.

While there are rare controversies that can make for interesting reading, one thing I have noticed about these resources/experts/gurus call them what you will is how often they do agree on items.

Some of the Internet "experts" have published articles in the Carbine Club newsletter, GCA Journal, and some are working on books. Again, no one is forced to consult with them.

And thank you so much for pointing out that you corrected my typo, I really appreciate it, it adds so much to the discussion. Sometimes, if I quote someone and I noticed there is a typo or *horrors* a misspelled word in the quote I will correct it for clarity, but I would never point it out. That would be tacky, don't you think?