Well, the dice have been cast...I went with the trade and cash.
I was all set to go with the cash, it went up to $9K.
However, the buyer tried something rather naughty and underhanded. Let me try to explain what happened.A collector/dealer contacted me and offered me $2.5K. We called each other and talked over the phone for quite a bit and he asked if I'd had other offers made - I told him yes. Within hours of the telephone conversation he offered $7K.
However, I was getting inundated with e-mails from collectors, dealers and collector/dealers wanting to make offers but they wanted to know how much the highest offer I had was. Since this was not intended to be an auction, and I didn't want a bidding war, the wife and I decided to send a general e-mail to those who contacted me about purchasing the helmet. It basically told the the helmet was hovering around $7.5K (which it was) and in order to keep this from becoming a bidding war all offers, and those who made them, would be confidential. We also set last Friday as the last day to send me their last, best, offer.
About two hours after this e-mail went out I got an e-mail from someone offering $8050, saying the $50 was for expedited overnight shipping. I sent an e-mail acknowledging the e-mail and thanked the person. I also asked who he was and where he was located since the address didn't appear on the list I of people who contacted me or I had contacted.
A few hours latter I got another e-mail, from the same guy, this time for $8500. I sent another e-mail acknowledging it and thanking him. I also asked who he was and how he found out about the helmet. All he said was that a 'friend' sent it to him.
At this point I was beginning to go "Hmmm.....".
Thursday morning I got another e-mail from him with an offer of $9K. Again I sent out the acknowledgment and asked who he was.
When Friday got here, and no other offers higher than his had come in, I contacted him to let him know I had decided to go with his offer and to give me his contact information.
After that he sent an e-mail asking me what, specifically, I wanted. I said name, address, phone so we could start the process of shipping. After that he sent an e-mail stating that he wanted to know who all the people who made offers were and what they had offered. I reminded him, polity, that all offers, and identities, were confidential. They guy went ballistic! He just started sending e-mail after e-mail DEMANDING that I tell him the names. I re-sent the reply declining to do so. Keep in mind, he had not yet told me who he was or where he was located.
He then sent another e-mail wanting to know why I was being so secretive. I told him I had made the confidentiality promise and intended to keep it. I then re-sent the original e-mail pointing out the confidentiality part and flat out asked him if he intended to honor his offer.
I then got an e-mail stating that he was going to get a cashier's check for the full amount on Monday if I told him who the second highest offer came from and how much it was. He also stated that he was beginning to get the felling this was all a sham.
That really pissed me off. I told the wife I didn't care if he offered $15K - there was no way in hell he was going to get it!! So, I sent him another e-mail and, very polity, told him that since he was insisting on information that went against the original agreement I was releasing him from his offer and going with the next best offer.
This sent the guy over the edge. He replied with some very graphic language and said "good luck selling it - it isn't even worth $2K". Hmmm...that's odd he would say that since he offered $9K.
Now - the important thing is the part about the 'next best offer'. In that e-mail I sent out I said that if the person making the best offer were to pull out for some reason, or the deal would fall through, the helmet would go to the next best offer.
At first I thought it was the friend of the guy who was wanting to make a trade + cash, but it wasn't.
Since the guy would not supply me any contact information, his name, or even his location, I took matters into my own hand. BTW, before I continue, let me add that I started this action after the second e-mail I sent requesting this information. Anyway, I decided to do a search and find out who owns the IP address the e-mails were coming from and who the e-mail address belonged to.
Guess what... Remember the guy that made the $2.5K and $7K offer? His company owned the other IP address and he owned the actual e-mail address.
So, even before Friday came around, I had figured out who he was. We also figured he was being so insistent on knowing who the second best offer was from, thinking it was himself under the other e-mail address, so that if it was himself he could withdraw his offer and get it for $2K less!!!
What really sucks is that he owns a sideline business selling militaria. I wonder how many other people he has done this with?
Anyway, the joke was on him- he wasn't the second highest offer - the guy wanting to make the trade was. I made sure this guy was #2. I knew the value of some of the items he was wanting to trade, but some of the other items tended to fluctuated. When I originally tallied up what he offered I low-balled, but the second time I went mid-price range. It also helped that he threw a couple more items onto the pile - this really tipped the scale.
So, all-n-all, this is what I'll be getting for the helmet, all items are WWI:
Three Pickelhauben in excellent condition, Baden, Bayern and Prussian; all are leather EM helmets with unit markings and dates as well as original liners and chinstraps;
Three Stahlhelme in good condition, an M16, M17 and M18; all three are cammos and have most of their linings and two have the chinstraps and the M18 has the remains of a fabric chinstrap, some have names and units written in them;
One set of German 08 Fernglass binoculars, with case and strap, in great shape made by Spindler & Hoyer;
A German Hebel 1894 flare pistol made by Fritz Lagenhahn and still in working order (did you know you can buy fireworks flares for these?!);
A Granatenwerfer 16 made by Maschinenfabrik Alfred Wolff that is also in working order -and yes - there are places where you can get dummy grenades and launch them with this;
One U.S. M1917 trench knife, with leather scabbard, made by LF&C with the six pyramids on the metal knuckle guard;
plus $2K to top it off.
Not bad, IMHO, for what I paid.
