Ship lost for more than 150 years is recovered

TORONTO – Canadian archeologists have found a ship abandoned more than 150 years ago in the quest for the fabled Northwest Passage and which was lost in the search for the doomed expedition of Sir John Franklin, the head of the team said Wednesday.

Marc-Andre Bernier, Parks Canada's head of underwater archaeology, said the HMS Investigator, abandoned in the ice in 1853, was found in shallow water in Mercy Bay along the northern coast of Banks Island in Canada's western Arctic.

"The ship is standing upright in very good condition. It's standing in about 11 meters (36 feet) of water," he said. "This is definitely of the utmost importance. This is the ship that sailed the last leg of the Northwest Passage."

The Investigator was one of many American and British ships sent out to search for the HMS Erebus and the Terror, vessels commanded by Franklin in his ill-fated search for the Northwest Passage in 1845.

Environment Minister Jim Prentice said the British government has been notified that one of their naval shipwrecks has been discovered, as well as the bodies of three sailors.

Captained by Robert McClure, the Investigator sailed in 1850. That year, McClure sailed the Investigator into the strait that now bears his name and realized that he was in the final leg of the Northwest Passage, the sea route across North America.

But before he could sail into the Beaufort Sea, the ship was blocked by pack ice and forced to winter-over in Prince of Wales Strait along the east coast of Banks Island.

The following summer, McClure tried again to sail to the end of the Passage, but was again blocked by ice. He steered the ship and crew into a large bay on the island's north coast he called the Bay of Mercy.

There they were to remain until 1853, when they were rescued by the crew of the HMS Resolute. The Investigator was abandoned.

"This is actually a human history," said Bernier. "Not only a history of the Passage, but the history of a crew of 60 men who had to overwinter three times in the Arctic not knowing if they were going to survive."

The Parks Canada team arrived at Mercy Bay on July 22. Three days later, the ice on the bay cleared enough that researchers were able to deploy side-scanning sonar from a small inflatable boat over the site where they believed the wooden ship had eventually sunk. Within 15 minutes, the Investigator was found.

"The ship had not moved too much from where it was abandoned," said Bernier.

[New Titanic expedition will create 3D map of wreck ]

The masts and rigging have long been sheared off by ice and weather. But the icy waters of the McClure Strait has preserved the vessel in remarkably good condition.

"It's incredible," said Prentice from Mercy Bay. "You're actually able to peer down into the water and see not only the outline of the ship but actually the individual timbers.

Archaeologists have also uncovered artifacts on land left behind by the stranded sailors, who unloaded everything before abandoning the Investigator.

The graves of three sailors thought to have died of scurvy have been marked off and will be left undisturbed, said Bernier.

Bernier said the next step will be to send down a remote controlled video camera to get actual pictures of the wreck. There are no plans to bring it to the surface and all legal steps will be taken to ensure the site remains protected.

Bernier also said the team will use similar technology to find the Erebus and Terror.

From Yahoo News

Great War medals prove a great investment for militaria collectors

Auctions of WWI medals have demonstrated the wealth of options in a competitive market

It's hard to believe, but July 2010 represents the 96 year anniversary of the slow build up of hostilities that came to be the First World War. With growing tensions and ultimatums on either side, July 26^th saw the Austro-Hungarian Empire reject the demands of Serbia and war soon followed.

The conflict would shape much of the twentieth century, and it is a testament to those that died that the medals relating to the conflict are some of the most valuable and sought after military collectibles of today.

The British War Medal only 110,000 were produced during the war

Following the death of Harry Patch, the last living soldier to have fought in the trenches, the demand for First World War medals has intensified even further, as collectors are beginning to look at investing in a militaria market that offers limited supply alongside high demand.

In December 2008, the medals of Captain Siegfried Sassoon, one of the most famous soldiers of the conflict, came up for sale at Sotheby's in London.

Sassoon made his name during the conflict, as a poet who wrote about the horrors of trench warfare, notably in satirical classics like "Does it Matter?" Today, his work remains the cornerstone of the war poetry genre.

The collection of medals included: the most excellent order of the British Empire, a 1914-15 Star, a British War medal and a 1918 Victory medal.

It sold for £4,375 ($6,750) to a private bidder. With the high number of war poets, engaged in the conflict there remans potential for investing in similar pieces.

Royal Air Force medals have also impressed at auction in recent years. Wellington's auctioneers offered online bidders the chance to purchase one such collection featuring the rare "Distinguished Flying Cross" from the First World War.

During the conflict, flying was considered so hazardous, that pilots were given a life expectancy of just 17.5 hours in the air.

The Mercantile Marine War Medal

The auction lot was awarded to a Lancashire pilot called Captain J C Dickson, who had flown over the Balkans and Russia during a two year stint in the air from, 1917-1919.

His collection included the Distinguished Flying Cross, a 1914-15 Star, a British War medal, Victory medal and Defence medal which were available with an estimated price of £3,750 ($5,785).

Medals from the Navy can also prove a wise investment.

In 2001, Christies in London sold a collection of medals awarded to Lewis Raphael Rickinson. The September sale featured pieces relating to his time in the Navy during the war.

The lot included a British war medal 1914-18, a rare Mercantile Marine War Medal 1914-18 and a Victory Medal 1914-1919.

Coming directly from his estate, the collection had an auction estimate of £4,000 attached, but sold for £11,163 ($16,300).

Yet the rarest and most sought after First World War medal on the market is undoubtedly the Victoria Cross.

First introduced by Queen Victoria in January 1856, the medal has since been awarded just 1,356 times.

Following the Second World War, the medal has only been awarded 13 times, with 9 to British Army soldiers and 4 to Australian.

With the Victoria Cross awarded to British and Australian soldiers who represented the commonwealth, interest in the piece is also widespread.

A Christie's auction in Melbourne in December 2009 saw the sale of a collection of medals which included an a Victoria cross awarded to Australian soldier George Mawby Ingram during the First World War trench conflict.

The military award reached £271,539 (AUD$468,000) at the auction off an estimate of £230,000.

The demand for Victoria crosses has also been heightened by the existence of wealthy private collectors. Deputy Chairman of the Conservative Party and billionaire Lord Ashcroft the most prominent collector, with a personal set of 162 different VCs.

Yet he is not alone.

In July 2006, Bonham's in Sydney saw a world record price for a Victoria Cross awarded to Captain Alfred Shout. Having been awarded the medal posthumously in 1915 after his efforts in the trenches of Gallipoli in Turkey, the auction saw the VC medal reach $1,000,000 Australian dollars (approximately £410,000 at the then exchange rates.)

The WWI Victoria Cross

The buyer was Australian media magnet and medal collector, Kerry Stokes, who donated the piece to the Australian War Memorial in Canberra.

And it was collector Lord Ashcroft who set the latest world record price, for what is one of the rarest Victoria Crosses of them all.

In November last year, he purchased the highest gallantry medal for members of the British Commonwealth and armed forces, a double Victoria Cross.

The piece was all the more unique given that it was the only one of its kind awarded during the First World War and only one of three awarded to date, in this instance going to Noel Godfrey Chavasse.

The double VC was made from the priceless metal of two Chinese made bronze cannons sorted in Woolwich and featured an extra bar, unlike standard VCs, in recognition of its double award.

It sold for nearly £1,500,000 ($2,300,000) 50% higher than the previous world record price for a medal.

Lord Ashcroft's Victoria Crosses collection currently reside in the Imperial War Museum in London.

Later this year, it will open as part of a new gallery in Ashcroft's name, which will display his collection, alongside the museum's current set of medals, which includes 50 Victoria crosses.

With institutions currently accounting for a high number of Victoria crosses on the market, there remains potential for investors and collectors to uncover rare pieces, of huge value to collectors. Furthermore, with less and less Victoria Crosses in the hands of private collectors, investing now, while there is still a chance, may reap short term rewards to any investor.

Over the course of the last twenty years, the value of medals like the Victoria Cross has increased by nearly 390%. In 1990, you could buy a VC for around £100,000 at auction, while today such a piece would sell for over £490,000.

Oliver Pepys, a medal specialist at Spink Auctions in Bloomsbury, London, is highly optimistic about investing in military medals:

"The medal market is buoyant and there are still plenty of bargains out there"

Furthermore, four years from now will see the centenary of the Great War. This event could have the potential to push prices up even further, as demand for these pieces intensifies, due to the increasingly limited amount on the market.

As time goes on, medals from the Great War may well prove to be an equally great investment.

From www.paulfrasercollectibles.com

Vietnam Vets reunite after 40 years

Vietnam War veterans Charles Faucette of York, Pa., and Larry Evans of Richmond County, were reunited Tuesday at the Rockingham VFW. They had last seen each other in Vietnam in August 1970.

Two war buddies reunited after 40 years of absence at the Rockingham VFW Tuesday to recall their time together as young men soldiering in Vietnam. They met each other with embraces that felt decades overdue.

“Your face looks the same as it did back then, but you’ve got a little bit more gray hair now,” Richmond County resident Larry Evans said to his friend Charles Faucette, his hand resting on his shoulder and their gazes fixed. “But then again, I reckon I do, too.”

“You look the same, too,” Faucette replied, immediately before the two launched into stories of Vietnam.

Since leaving Vietnam in 1970, Evans has returned there a number of times. He spoke of visiting Cuchi, where he and Faucette served together in the 57th Signal Company.

“Do you know that the tunnels are still there?” Evans asked. “You can go crawl through them.”

“I didn’t want to crawl through those tunnels then, and I don’t want to now,” Faucette joked, an airy laugh escaping from under his gray mustache.

Faucette’s wife Pat explained the two set out from York, PA., last weekend, stopping over to visit her brother in Roanoke Rapids on I-95. They’re trip Tuesday morning was about three hours.

“Oh, he’s been looking forward to this,” Pat explained. “He’s gotten all his pictures out, and has been talking about (Evans). I asked him, ‘Do you think you’ll remember him after all these years?’”

For Evans, there was little doubt he’d remember his best friend from the Army.

“We just connected again over the Internet about last fall,” Evans explained the day before the arrival of his friend. “There’s a site where all the members of the 1st Signal Brigade, which had 57 signal companies in it, can sign up to do roll call, and he was there ... It’s going to be a very emotional day for me.”

Separate Paths

After returning from Vietnam, Evans had a more difficult time adjusting to being home, while Faucette more or less settled into a middle class life.

Evans described his divorce from the mother of his two eldest daughters. Her portrait hung over his bed in a photograph from 1969.

“I was kind of rough-and-tumble when I came home, and it didn’t last too long after that. She’s still a good woman to this day.”

“It was very difficult - I don’t even want to tell you how many jobs I went through, wives I went through,” he explained Wednesday. “I’m not proud of that. I just had a lot of problems back then, and I was trying to deal with them by myself, wanting to do things my own way. I’ve found out that I wasn’t the only one. There are a lot of people out there just like me.”

Faucette remained married to Pat, the girl whose portrait hung over his bunk in the pictures from 1969. After serving in Germany in 1971, the two settled first in Maryland, then in their native Pennsylvania. He worked for 30 years for a utility company, and they raised a son.

It is only during the last “six or seven years” Evans has come to terms with the post-traumatic stress he incurred in Vietnam, with the help of Veterans Administration treatment.

The trips to Vietnam have also helped him come to terms with the past, Evans said, and boasted all three of his children have visited the Southeast Asian nation.

“This is the end of a long journey,” he commented to Faucette at one point.

“I think this is really kind of a new beginning for him,” Evans’ companion Eileen Kinsey said. “He’s come a long, long way already, but this really will be a healing time for him. It’s like he said, he thinks of this man as his brother. They’re all that way at the VFW, too. I think it really helps him.”

Mementos

Faucette was presented with a commemorative book about Cuchi and a North Vietnamese flag upon his arrival at the Rockingham VFW by Ex-Post Commander Yank Gibbon.

The pictures Faucette brought with him held the attention of the two friends for about a half an hour, though, with Evans looking down and up and Faucette explaining where they were taken and back stories.

“I’ve always thought about it, continually,” Evans remarked. “I still dream about it.”

“I don’t dream about it,” Faucette said. “I left it all there.”

“That’s what I should’ve done,” Evans said. “But I couldn’t or didn’t. When I came back to Fort Hood in Texas, I was miserable. I missed y’all so bad. When you live with somebody for a year - they become your family. You’re like brothers, even more than blood.”

“Especially in those circumstances,” Faucette agreed.

“Then, when you come back home, you don’t just forget about them,” Evans said. “You don’t know how many times I wished I was still there. I felt guilty about leaving my brothers. I wished I was back over there many times.”

“This is very interesting,” Faucette said of his trip to see his friends. “It brings back a lot of memories.”

From Richmond County Daily Journal

Stolen Valor Act: Illegal?

Judge Rules Stolen Valor Act Illegal

July 17, 2010

Associated Press

DENVER -- A law that makes it illegal to lie about being a war hero is unconstitutional because it violates free speech, a federal judge ruled Friday as he dismissed a case against a Colorado man who claimed he received two military medals.

Rick Glen Strandlof claimed he was an ex-Marine who was wounded in Iraq and received the Purple Heart and Silver Star, but the military had no record he ever served. He was charged with violating the Stolen Valor Act, which makes it a crime punishable by up to a year in jail to falsely claim to have won a military medal.

U.S. District Judge Robert Blackburn dismissed the case and said the law is unconstitutional, ruling the government did not show it has a compelling reason to restrict that type of statement.

A spokesman for the U.S. attorney in Denver said prosecutors are reviewing the decision and haven't decided whether to appeal. The spokesman said that decision would be made by the U.S. Justice Department in Washington and prosecutors in Denver.

Strandlof's lawyer, Bob Pepin, said he hadn't spoken to Strandlof since the ruling was issued. Pepin said he would advise Strandlof not to comment publicly because the case might be appealed.

"Obviously, we think this is the right decision, or we wouldn't have been making the objections to the statute to begin with," he said. Pepin said Strandlof has been living in a halfway house in Denver while his case is in the courts.

The law has also been challenged in California and in a case now before the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Denver attorney Christopher P. Beall, who filed a friend-of-the-court brief for the American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado, said the Stolen Valor Act is fatally flawed because it doesn't require prosecutors to show anyone was harmed or defamed by the lie.

"The government position was that any speech that's false is not protected by the First Amendment. That proposition is very dangerous," Beall said.

"It puts the government in a much more powerful position to prosecute people for speaking out on things they believe to be true but turn out not to be true," he said.

Beall said the ACLU was not defending the actions Strandlof is accused of, but took issue with the principle behind the law.

Rep. John Salazar, D-Colo., who sponsored the Stolen Valor Act in the House, predicted the decision will be overturned on appeal.

"This is an issue of fraud plain and simple," Salazar said in a written release. "The individuals who violate this law are those who knowingly portray themselves as pillars of the community for personal and monetary gain."

Pam Sterner, who as a college student wrote a policy analysis that became the basis of Salazar's bill, said the issue isn't free speech but misrepresentation. Sterner, a former Coloradan who now lives in Virginia, said authentic medal winners' credibility suffers when impostors are exposed because the public becomes suspicious of even true stories of heroism.

WWII Bombs in California Park?

POINT REYES NATIONAL SEASHORE, Calif.—The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said it cannot collect soil samples at a park to determine if World War II-era bombs are buried there because an American Indian tribe will not approve the project.

A corps report found the ordnance likely poses little threat to staff and visitors at Point Reyes National Seashore. But tests cannot be conducted until the Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria approves digging on tribal sites.

About 10,550 acres of the Point Reyes peninsula were used for coastal artillery and U.S. Navy dive-bombing practice.

The land became part of the federal park in 1962.

The corps wants to test soil to identify possible explosives and see if Drakes Bay Range qualifies for a federal cleanup.

However, finding and removing munitions without disturbing cultural artifacts would be difficult and expensive.

The tribe has declined to comment, noting a July 30 meeting is set with federal officials to discuss the issue.

The corps used aerial photographs and military records to get a sense of where ordnance could be located. Based on that limited information, the report indicated park employees and visitors could be exposed to chemicals such as lead, phosphorus and nitroglycerin in dust and soil.

Park officials and researchers added, however, it was highly unlikely anyone would come into contact with the buried ordnance because digging is not allowed in the park.

Military researcher Matt Cerkel said no explosives were included in the five-pound dummy bombs used during WWII for training.

"Basically, the bombs would have flour in them so the bombers could tell where they hit," Cerkel said.

From Associated Press

Medal of Honor Recipient Vernon Baker Passes Away at 90

MOUNT PLEASANT, S.C., July 14 -- The Congressional Medal of Honor Society announces that 1st Lt. Vernon Baker, Medal of Honor recipient, passed away last evening at his home in St. Maries, Idaho at age 90.

Then 2nd Lt. Baker was assigned to the segregated 370th Regiment of the 92nd Infantry Division—the first African-American unit to enter combat in World War II.

In the spring of 1945, Lt Baker, the only African-American officer in his company, was in command of a weapons platoon ordered to launch an assault against a mountain stronghold occupied by the Germans. Moving ahead of the other platoons they encountered intense fire that inflicted heavy casualties. By afternoon, his captain ordered a retreat and Baker and his six remaining men covered their retreat, killing 26 enemy soldiers, destroying six machine gun nests, two observer posts and four dugouts. The next day, Baker volunteered to lead a battalion assault. Picking their way through minefields and heavy fire they finally secured the position at the top of the mountain.

Former President William J. Clinton presented 1st Lt. Baker with the Medal of Honor—the highest award given to those who acted with uncommon, selfless courage—on Jan. 13, 1997 for his actions April 5–6, 1945 near Viareggio, Italy during World War II.

1st Lt. Baker was one of seven African-American service members to receive the Medal of Honor for their heroic actions in WWII as a result of a review of the individual records of African-American service members in the early 1990's. At the time, no African-Americans had been awarded the Medal of Honor despite their heroic exploits in WWII. 1st Lt. Baker was the only one out of the seven still alive when the Medal of Honor was awarded. His actions had had previously earned him the Distinguished Service Cross.

1st Lt. Baker was born in Cheyenne, WY on Dec. 17, 1919. He enlisted in the Army on June 26, 1941, six months prior to the U.S. entry into World War II. After completing Officer Candidate School, he was commissioned on January 11, 1943. He retired in 1968 as 1st Lieutenant after serving 27 years in the Army.

He is survived by his wife, Heidy. Funeral services are pending.

There are 89 recipients alive today.

About the Congressional Medal of Honor Society

The Congressional Medal of Honor Society was chartered by Congress in 1958 and consists exclusively of the living recipients of our nation's highest award for bravery in combat, the Medal of Honor. Those who wear this light blue ribbon and Medal around their neck are "recipients" of this prestigious award; they are not "winners." Although it is common to refer to the Medal as the Congressional Medal of Honor, it is simply named the Medal of Honor, although, as stated, the Congress did establish the Society as the Congressional Medal of Honor Society.

SOURCE Congressional Medal of Honor Foundation

Cherry Picking Thieves

You hear from time to time on different forums, chain emails, and militaria magazines about items, and even entire collections being stolen. While the article below does not deal with militaria, it does provide interesting insight into a collector's nightmare.

Thieves knew what they were taking when they broke into sports collector William Greider’s Gateway home.

Gone are baseballs autographed by Hall of Fame players Ted Williams, Joe DiMaggio and Mickey Mantle.

“They left my Otis Nixon ball,” Greider said, referring to a former outfielder who received no Hall of Fame votes.

Also gone are basketballs autographed by Larry Bird, Julius Erving and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. And footballs autographed by quarterbacks Joe Montana and Joe Namath. And more.

Greider, a 59-year-old dentist, estimated the value of Tuesday haul’s of his sports memorabilia alone at about $30,000.

Also taken in the theft were expensive non-sports items such as two woven wall tapestries valued at $10,000 each and a third worth $5,000, according to a Lee County Sheriff’s Office report.

And more. Lots more.

A $2,000 golf cart, a $3,000 Yamaha overhead projector, a $1,500 drum set and a black Yamaha surround-sound system valued at $5,000, just to name a few.
The sheriff’s report noted there “were no signs of forced entry” and there were tracks through the backyard left by a golf cart.

The report quoted a neighbor, Ken Hering, whose only description of the suspects is “one was taller and one was shorter.”

Hering, who lives in a nearby condo, said he was taking trash out to a Dumpster when he noticed a golf cart in the distance. He couldn’t even tell if it was two men, two women or one of each in the cart.

“I didn’t know what was going on,” Hering said.

The tall thief and the short thief in the cart were not out for a pre-dawn round of golf.

What they took in sports collectibles alone could be very valuable. The starting bid on eBay on Tuesday for a Mickey Mantle autographed baseball was $615.

It’s more than the money, though, that bothers Greider, a New York Yankees fan who takes his teenage sons, Sam and Alec, to Yankee Stadium every year.

Greider is dealing with the loss of a collection that took 20 years to assemble.

Gone is the Bob Feller ball. And the Pete Rose bat. A Magic Johnson basketball. A Dan Marino helmet.

“I’ve never been broken into before,” Greider said.

And Greider doesn’t know if he’ll ever see these items again.

“Who knows?” he said.

Somebody has those items. And somebody else may soon be buying them.

“They probably won’t bring them to us,” said J.P. Peery, owner of JP Sports Collectibles, which has two Lee County locations.

He believes the thieves are likely to hawk the items on eBay or Craigslist. Peery said Greider should monitor those sites for auctions of sports memorabilia.

“Maybe he can nab them that way,” Peery said.

Peery was reluctant to assess the value of Greider’s lost sports items sight unseen, but believes the estimate of $30,000 is accurate.

Some memorabilia is more painful to lose than others.

Greider believes he can replace balls autographed by living players such as Yankees reliever Mariano Rivera. Not so the balls signed by dead legends.

“You cannot replace those things,” Greider said.

He’s looking on the bright side.

“No one died,” Greider said.

“We move on.”

He can move on, at least, with his Otis Nixon baseball.

I know I'd be working on a short list of suspects immediately . . .

Originally published 7/8/10 www.news-press.com

Why investors are increasingly turning to Collectible Investments

Capgemini & Merrill Lynch report that high net worth individuals are returning to 'investments of passion'

According to the annual World Wealth Report from Capgemini and Merrill Lynch, demand for collectibles is currently rising.

As the report indicates, this rise focused primarily on two specific categories of investments: art and "other" collectibles, referring to the collectibles market which includes stamps, coins, autographs and other unique memorabilia.

The report explained that "With financial markets still in flux, some high net worth investors indicated that they also approached their passion investments as 'investor-collectors', seeking out those items perceived to have tangible long term value."

Towards the end of last year high end service providers, luxury goods makers and most importantly auction houses all reported a steady increase in demand. This year, we are also likely to see an overall increase in the demand for passion investments as wealth levels recover amongst the high net worth investor population.

A Gulf News report pointed to research conducted by Bain & Company as further indication of the market's recovery. The research discovered an overall 4% increase in market revenues over the past year.

According to the research conducted by Bain & Company, a breakdown of the core regions driving luxury industry growth indicates the dominance of Asia and China in the global market. Asia has witnessed a 10% growth in the market, while China has seen growth of 15%.

In truth this 15% increase has been motivated by a quickly developing collectibles market, which has seen world record prices within the Chinese market in the last twelve months alone. In December 2009, a Hong Kong auction witnessed a world record price for a single bottle of Château Pétrus 1982 vintage wine, which was auctioned for an impressive £62,000 ($94,000).

In January 2010, another Chinese record was smashed with the sale of one of the rare 1897 Red Revenue Stamps which sold for £470,000 ($710,600).

Then in April this year a piece of Imperial Jade relating to Qianlong of the Qing dynasty sold for a world record price of £8,005,000 ($12,200,000) , at Sotheby's, Hong Kong.

Then a month later, more world records were set as a rare Chinese snuff bottle was auctioned off for £5,800,000 ($8,750,000), to cap off a truly remarkable year in the Chinese collectibles, market.

To put these figures in perspective, we need only look at the growth figures coming from the luxury industry's traditional core market regions. In Europe, strong economic recovery has seen a 3% growth in the market. While in the United States, there has been a steady 4% increase. Only Japan has witnessed a reduction in the market value of some 3% compared with last year's figures.

The Capgemini and Merrill Lynch report explains that luxury collectibles continue to represent the main source of interest for HNWIs seeking investments of passion. Based on the HNWIs surveyed last year, luxury collectibles accounted for around 30% of passion investments undertaken globally.

In terms of collectibles, the United States led the way with the highest proportion of passion investments related to luxury collectibles at 31%. South America and Europe followed closely with around 30% of their passion investments related to the collectibles market.

With around 1 in 3 passion investments in Europe and the Americas now involving luxury collectibles, alongside a 23% global increase in jewelery, gem and watch investment, now may be the perfect time to enter the collectibles investment market.

In the Chinese market alone, world records continue to be set for rare collectibles like stamps and wine. Hong Kong hosted its annual Winexpo event in May, with 880 exhibitors from thirty two countries on show. The three day event saw 12,000 Asian visitors, with a 40% attendance increase from the previous year demonstrating the growing market in the Far East.

The next twelve months could see yet more interest and more world record prices in what is quickly becoming a global collectibles market.

- No mention of militaria, but you can definitely glean some insight. Very interesting . . .

Article from Paul Fraser Collectibles