So sad...

[Bob]

Let's not forget that sometimes it's the family itself which is the cause of this.

I have a very, very large group belonging to a Mongolian General (Jamyan) - many items not even posted here. And despite my desire to keep it all complete as a group, many items were not bought by me:
- for financial reasons (limits to collecting funds)
- for practical reasons (I collect medals and their documents... in case of Jamyan the amount of documents was huge, and then I also bought a sculpture related to him, vases, shoulder boards, photographs, but there came a limit when uniforms etc also were offered... I have space limitations)

In this specific case the family invited multiple dealers to come and bid on pieces. And they did this on separate occasions as they over time felt more comfortable 'letting go' of items. As a result, I've had to scramble (with a lot of help from others - especially in UB -who kept their eyes open and know I am trying to maintain as much as possible of the Jamyan group) over past years to buy Jamyan items in the 'aftermarket'. I had a medal and various documents just arrive a few weeks ago despite buying the original group 5+ years ago.

http://soviet-awards.com/forum/sovie...16-2007-a.html

Another example I also often run into is that families want to sell the awards but not the documents.

Etc.

Maybe there'd be a 'market' for group reunification - just like the current serial nr database? I am 100% certain that I have some items which belong with items held by other collectors on this forum as well as on GMIC. In some cases that then becomes a case of "which of the two collectors should give the right of way to the other one to consolidate the group"? Does owning a document 'outrank' owning the related award?

[USSR]

Great news!!! I persuaded the seller to give it at least a chance to sell it as a group! There are other personal items there as well! Please give me a PM if you are interested in buying/looking at this group for I am not allowed to put a e*** link in this reply.

[Al-muell]

In general, I can't say I don't understand people who are selling groups item by item - it is true that they get more money for that - and partially because of people who try to keep the groups intact. I have personnally overpaid for a few items in order to save a group from splitting. Without that few of the buyers interested in single items would have paid significantly less.

However, what those sellers usually fail to see is when selling to pieces, they usually end up with a few items that noone wants to buy (for example all the awards and their docs were sold one-by one, but the seller keeps offering guy's driver licence, which would have been an interesting part of a group, but is worthless as an individual item.

On the other hand - sometimes you have to pass and let the group split. For example, I have some parts of the group after a Polish general (quite a well known one) with hopes of buying more in the predictible future. But if the guy who currently has his uniforms and most of the awards (mounted together) decided to sell it, I know that I would not be able to afford to pay the money he would want for that. If that ever happens, I will just have to accept the fact that the group gets split.

On the other hand - sometimes groups get reunited. I have recently aquired one award document (very rare one) that I failed to buy some 8 or more years ago when the award group was offered on a series of individual auctions, thus making one step towards reuniting that group.
So, never give up hope.