WW II Correspondence (Letters)

[weetalibah]

Does anyone else collect correspondence between people in the armed forces and the homefront. I have been trying to buy complete collections to preserve them intact. There are some sellers who buy large lots and then sell them off piecemeal, thereby destroying the integrity of the archive. If you do collect letters, perhaps you can share some ideas about storage.

[der_adler1]

My wife's uncle was in the 13th Bomb Squadron or the 3rd Bomb Group and wrote home to his brother or his mother almost every day. He joined right after Pearl Harbor and was deployed to Australia and New Guinea in early 1942. I have read his letters and have been able to share information with the webmaster of 3rd Bomb Group and within 3 days of sending the initial request for help, we were talking to somone from the 13th Bomb Squadron who remembered my wife's uncle. By the way, he was killed on June 13, 1943. His plane was last seen heading off to its station and it never returned. The plane and the crew was listed as missing for over a year before the remains were found. -- Der Adler Militaria Bryan Best-Owner

[pricehit]

Collection of 50 of ONE SOLDIERS PERSONAL postcards WWI > I have > been trying to buy complete collections to preserve > them intact. Hello, I recently aquired a very interesting militia set of 50 post cards of a german soldier. He wrote to his family all through out the war. 1914-1918 I would like to knwo what they may be worth. The postcards depict actual photos of him and his company, gravesites and other historical acounts of the cities his company visited during the German invasions. I plan to post this on ebay in a few days. It will be listed as: WWI SOLDIERS PERSONAL POSTCARD COLLECTION Any takes on how much this set can be worth? Another note of interest is that I have done research and contacted the family who were kind enough to give me some other infor about him such as his profession and Birth day and Death dates. This extra info can be used to do more research about the man via the german war archive service in Berlin. Thanks for any help you can offer. Eric

[knifefan0]

Over the years I have bought and sold single and small groups of picture post cards from WWI and WWII. How much they went for depended mostly on the picture, more than what was written on them. The ones with military related pics and/or war scenes always brought the most. The ones with men in uniform with weapons and pics of equipment and tanks/artillery pieces always brought the highest price. High price being $5 to $10 . I have also had the travel type fold-ups and booklet postcards of foreign publication that showed war damage or battlefields with destruction, that when annotated by the sender, brought interest. I currently have a group of travel booklets and photos, some with comments, that were bought and saved by a vet that was part of the occupying army in 1945-46 in Europe. I recently showed then to a dealer at a show, but he wasn't to interested in them. I think this area of collecting has a small following that may be best found on ebay. Good Luck, knifefan0

[der_adler1]

Some of the highest prices I have gotten for postcards were for an Army Corporal who bought almost 50 hand colored postcards in Tunisia during the invasion of N. Africa. They were beautiful. They ended up going for almost $10 a card. -- Der Adler Militaria Bryan Best-Owner

[knifefan0]

Very interesting. I have a couple of hand colored cards in the group I have now. I hadn't thought of them as being worth that much, although they are quite attractive. Just goes to show you can't know about everything. While on the subject of hand colored, I have a couple of other pieces that are unique. I bought a grouping of WAC nurses items at an estate sale some time back. Amongst the paper items was a hand colored invitation and menu for a 1945 Christmas Party at an occupation base/officers club in Germany.

[der_adler1]

Subject matter has a lot to do with value of hand colored cards. -- Der Adler Militaria Bryan Best-Owner