Auction report from kiwi land

[RJW NZ]

We just had our annual Militaria Auction in Wellington. I didn't get to attend being far north of really really windy welly but as there was a bunch of enfield related items I did put in a couple of postal bids. Overall there was something like 1600 items, about a third of which was guns, a third in parts and the rest in books, daggars, uniforms etc.

There was what I thought was a really good range of enfields, from military to target rifles, at my a guess about 25-30 rifles.
In the end I might have the top bid on two of my items of interest, one of which I hope is a long long sought after copy of James Sweets 1954 book, with stiff cardboard cover no less, for ... $85. lol, but I've wanted that for at least 5 years, so the price was worth it.

(On that note btw, regarding the name saving I've been doing on enfieldresource.com to encourage the Sweet family to reprint that book, I have been able to pass 100 names of folks who'd like a copy of that book. I haven't spoken with them recently but I hope thats a lot of incentive for a reprint)

Something I've noticed at this auction, and also the other auction where all the army no8 enfields were put up for sale, is that prices for the items I was after were all at about real world retail level, with very very few items looking like bargains pricewise. There's no doubt that simply having access to these neat things has a value of its own these days, and I think is whats making auctions no longer the haven of wholesale prices or sub wholesale bargains for enfields and other classic militaria.

For those interested their website is Page Title


At last, my very own 1954 Sweets book, awesome!

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[5thBatt]

We just had our annual Militaria Auction in Wellington. I didn't get to attend being far north of really really windy welly but as there was a bunch of enfield related items I did put in a couple of postal bids. Overall there was something like 1600 items, about a third of which was guns, a third in parts and the rest in books, daggars, uniforms etc.

There was what I thought was a really good range of enfields, from military to target rifles, at my a guess about 25-30 rifles.
In the end I might have the top bid on two of my items of interest, one of which I hope is a long long sought after copy of James Sweets 1954 book, with stiff cardboard cover no less, for ... $85. lol, but I've wanted that for at least 5 years, so the price was worth it.

(On that note btw, regarding the name saving I've been doing on enfieldresource.com to encourage the Sweet family to reprint that book, I have been able to pass 100 names of folks who'd like a copy of that book. I haven't spoken with them recently but I hope thats a lot of incentive for a reprint)

Something I've noticed at this auction, and also the other auction where all the army no8 enfields were put up for sale, is that prices for the items I was after were all at about real world retail level, with very very few items looking like bargains pricewise. There's no doubt that simply having access to these neat things has a value of its own these days, and I think is whats making auctions no longer the haven of wholesale prices or sub wholesale bargains for enfields and other classic militaria.

For those interested their website is Page Title


At last, my very own 1954 Sweets book, awesome!

I was at the auction & there were many bargains to be had, my haul of Enfield stuff i would value at about NZ$1500 under normal circumstances, but with only about 1/3 to half the normal bidders present, i paid NZ$640
The higher price of the No8s earlier this year was due to some Australian bidders being at the auction.

[Edward Horton]

RJW NZ

Report from Pennsylvania

Your over five years behind the times, where were you when I scanned it and then Badger got the "nasty gram" from Jim Sweets daughter. The "new" books have been on sale for over a year in Oz.



P.S. Eat your heart out, I got this one from New Zealand and scanned it over five years ago and paid less. (New Zealand really went down hill after the "Hobbits" took over the country.

[RJW NZ]

I was at the auction & there were many bargains to be had, my haul of Enfield stuff i would value at about NZ$1500 under normal circumstances, but with only about 1/3 to half the normal bidders present, i paid NZ$640
The higher price of the No8s earlier this year was due to some Australian bidders being at the auction.

Ah, thats good to know.
I actually put in postal bids on 30 or more items on enfield parts and extras, no rifles , and on most of those I chose to go way higher than my usual, just about to ebay prices, and I still lost all but two.
You've encouraged me to go the distance and get to the next one.

Considering how flat prices are on trademe I'd agree with you that auction prices should be down.