The Ruptured Duck Reminisces
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People ask me all the time about how and when my business started and why I have chosen to do this both part and full time for the past 55 years. So, I thought I would share some thoughts with you regarding my background.
When I was a young adolescent, I was always thinking of ways to make money and also feed my multiple habits of collecting coins, baseball cards, comic books, marbles and, of course, militaria. I was always wheeling and dealing with neighborhood kids which made my parents shake their heads and wonder where I came from. By 1956, I had all three paper routes in my neighborhood and couldn't wait for collection day because I never knew what I was going to find in the change I got from my customers. Buffalo nickels, liberty standing quarters, Mercury dimes and that occasional Indian head penny were pretty cool.
Most of the neighbor’s kids had a dad that served in WWII and I got to swapping my other collectibles for some German or Japanese militaria over the course of the early years. Boy, those were the good old days when I never had to think about reproductions because there was really no such thing. My philosophy was if I could buy, swap or trade two items and sell one for what I paid for the two, then my personal collection was free!
Collectors and customers today will say that I was very lucky to have started at a time when WWII was only over for less than 15 years. They are absolutely right. Even better, I have continued to buy, sell and trade these items continuously right up to the present day and hope to do so for the foreseeable future. If I told you what the prices were in the late 50s and 60s, you would just shake your head in disbelief. Japanese and German bayonets were under $5 each and most German daggers were under $50 no matter if it was an army or an SA or even an SS.
I have had to swing with the times and I still believe that it's never too late to begin collecting. Sure, you are not going to find the bargains like in days of old but there are now multiple ways to research and determine if something is the real McCoy. There is a wealth of information available to you on the internet and you should do your best to take advantage of that. The good thing to remember is that when you buy an item from The Ruptured Duck, your purchase is guaranteed, for life, to be an original item. This takes a lot of pressure off you so you can sit back and enjoy the item and the hobby.
For more information on my lifetime of collecting, please pick up a copy of my book THE STORIES BEHIND THE TREASURES OF WORLD WAR II "The Making of a Collectorholic" from our website. The stories are endless!
