Auction off a one-of-a-kind collection of vintage German leather coats

[regius]

Dear forum members

I have the good luck and privilege to have the opportunity to manage a vast collection of WWII and post-war German leather coat, a collection second to none, according to the collector, my friend in New York, who comes from a military family.

There are about 300 pieces of near-mint horsehide and cowhide trench coat style jackets/coats. They have all been professionally cleaned and stored since they landed in the US and have been in private storage ever since. They are all of similar style, like the ones worn by German officers.

While I am not personally an expert of German leather coats, my friend, who used to own a jacket manufacturing and restoration business in downtown NYC back in the 70s, highly treasures this collection and would not sell them if not for his desperate need for financial support.

I shall soon post some pictures of the collection, but in the meantime, any advice on how to best exchange them for money that they deserve would be appreciated. These are, by any standard, museum-worthy pieces.

Thank you!

 

[Strapped-4-Cache]

My initial thought regarding the ability to get the biggest financial return out of the items is to locate a forum or group of WW2 re-enactors, or possibly costumers. Others may be willing to pay top dollar, but if these are truly museum quality pieces I'd think there are probably some groups like the 501st Legion, whose members pride themselves on having perfect-quality outfits to wear and display, and they tend to spend big to get themselves outfitted.

I'm no expert, but figured I'd throw my $0.02 out there.

 

[Metatron]

That sounds interesting.
Just out of curiosity, are they all long double breasted trench coats, or are there any shorter, single breasted and/or zipper jackets in the collection?

 

[Novos]

I'm very interested if there are some post war biker jackets/aviator style (ala Haelson) in the collection. The only problem is that some of them aren't worth that much. I outgrew about 5-6 that I sold over the past year on ebay, all from around the early 60s, and could only get $75-150 a pop. Was a real pity. Of course, the low $$$ is only for the post war stuff.

 

[regius]

Thanks for the feedbacks gentlemen. I doublechecked with my friend again, the truth is most of them are post war, East West Germany, although there are pre-war and WW2 ones. I don't think there is any short ones, for some reason he and his dad only collected trench coats! all 300 plus of them!

Novos, Haelson, let me ask. I haven't had a chance to go down there to see them yet.

 

[Tomasso]

Sounds interesting. Can't wait to see some photos.

 

[regius]

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