03-16-2003, 04:40 AM
Luckily my biggest mistake didn't involve a lot of money although it included a lot of lessons that have helped through today.
When I was a graduate student, I went to St. Petersburg and had just caught the collecting bug. There are two weasels on Nevsky Prospect near the Art Market (on the right hand side of the road if you are walking towards the Winter Palace). I forget their names but one of them wears a leather pilots helmets and they are still there today. Anyway, I asked about Soviet medals and he invited me back to his apartment (in the alley from the market). In case you are wondering, this is mistake number one, but since I was young and dumb, it sounded like an OK idea (this is a good way to die for those who still do not get it). To make a long story short, he had an Order of Glory 1st Class for $150. Being an idiot and never having seen a real Order of Glory 1st Class I jumped all over it. STUPID!!!!! I think that real one were going for $800 at the time in the US. I thought that I was getting a deal but it was a gold plated third class.
To add insult to injury, I met anouther "dealer" who said that he had a Nakhimov medal for sale for $50 because he needed the money for medical reasons (stop laughing at my stupidity!). Needless to say after meeting him at a metro station at 1 AM (another great way to die) I bought the medal and found out later that it was fake.
The point of all this is that the same mistakes are made today by alot of collectors. Although they may not be in Russia meeting people in the middle of the night, I see too many people shopping for "price" rather then "reputation." There are no more cheap deals out there. Please buy from someone that you know and trust. It might seem like it costs more in the short term, but it will save you money, heart ache and dissapointment in the long run.
Learn from my mistakes,
Ed Maier
When I was a graduate student, I went to St. Petersburg and had just caught the collecting bug. There are two weasels on Nevsky Prospect near the Art Market (on the right hand side of the road if you are walking towards the Winter Palace). I forget their names but one of them wears a leather pilots helmets and they are still there today. Anyway, I asked about Soviet medals and he invited me back to his apartment (in the alley from the market). In case you are wondering, this is mistake number one, but since I was young and dumb, it sounded like an OK idea (this is a good way to die for those who still do not get it). To make a long story short, he had an Order of Glory 1st Class for $150. Being an idiot and never having seen a real Order of Glory 1st Class I jumped all over it. STUPID!!!!! I think that real one were going for $800 at the time in the US. I thought that I was getting a deal but it was a gold plated third class.
To add insult to injury, I met anouther "dealer" who said that he had a Nakhimov medal for sale for $50 because he needed the money for medical reasons (stop laughing at my stupidity!). Needless to say after meeting him at a metro station at 1 AM (another great way to die) I bought the medal and found out later that it was fake.
The point of all this is that the same mistakes are made today by alot of collectors. Although they may not be in Russia meeting people in the middle of the night, I see too many people shopping for "price" rather then "reputation." There are no more cheap deals out there. Please buy from someone that you know and trust. It might seem like it costs more in the short term, but it will save you money, heart ache and dissapointment in the long run.
Learn from my mistakes,
Ed Maier
