militalian@mclink.it

Ultimi arrivi ....

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As...

....the vast majority of collectors who started in this hobby around thirty years ago , I commenced by gathering WWII German pieces , especially due to the fact that in those days it is was still relatively easy to find interesting pieces at affordable prices .

This was the main focus for the first two years but during my serches and thanks to the fortune of being resident in Rome ( wherte the vast majority of ministries and military commands were located ) , it became easier to build good contacts and obtain fine italian pieces .

In terms of supporting written material for this fascinating hobby , in those days , there was quite a good bibliography on German pieces but nothing more than a small booklet on the italian fighting helmet and an old book on medals from the days of  Kingdom .

Slowly slowly through , for the reason outlined above and despite the relative lack of written materials to support me and guide me in this hobby , I started concentrating more and more on collecting italian pieces and less and less on German ones .

One of the main differences that I believe are still true today between the collecting and cataloguing of German and Italian pieces is that German items have been very well reserched by a number of authors especially in the US ( see Lt. Johnson , Tom Wittman , Brian Angolia to name but a few ) , whilst probably only 70% of the italian production of military and militaria related items produced between the beginning of WWI and the end of WWII have been properly catalogued and documented in Italy despite a monumental effort in this direction in the last few years .

The plethora of italian items is mainly due to the fact that it was possible ( contrary to what happen in Germany ) , for even small units in the armed forces to produce their own personalised unofficial medals , badges , postcards etc. . In a similar manner also the various associations and even cities , village and in general small countries were able to create personalised items to honour and commemorate events and celebrate theis activities . 

The above creates an enormous challenge for the collecting of Italian pieces but is a tribute not only to the creativity of the " Italian " but also affords the serious collector a unique opportunity to specialise and find an almost endless variety of pieces to collect .

Another element that introduces variety in the collecting of Italian pieces is considerable improvement in quality of the pieces between the beginning of WWI and the end of WWII but even more markedly so during the fascist period , when masterly production of some companies such as Johnson in Milan have turned into veritable works of art .

All of the above on a scale that goes from the few pieces privately produced by a company or batallion of the Blackshirts all the way to the thousand of pieces resulting in a stunning variety with the common denominators of the exquisiteness of the artistic work and the accurate detail of the production .

This website contains some specific items from my collection from wich I have decided to separate , if you are interested in any of them please feel free to write , I will be delighted to make your acquaintance and eventually discuss a purchase .

Thanks you in advance and best wishes for a happy and fulfilling collecting experience.

Come ....

...la maggior parte dei collezionisti della mia epoca , ho iniziato a collezionare militaria cercando di raccogliere materiale tedesco della seconda guerra mondiale , ma abitando a Roma quello che riuscivo a trovare era poco o niente .

 Cercavo materiale tedesco e riuscivo a trovare solo materiale italiano , piu' mi impegnavo a cercare materiale tedesco e piu' saltavano fuori cose italiane .

 Emblematico fu quel giorno nei primi anni settanta quando andando a casa di una signora per prendere un distintivo e un coltello a gravita' da para' tedesco tornai a casa anche con delle uniformi , dei distintivi e parecchie foto dei Moschettieri del Duce !! .

 Piano piano ho iniziato a comprendere la bellezza , la ricchezza , la qualita' e la varieta'  della militaria italiana che si contrapponeva alla schematica ripetizione di quella tedesca fino al giorno in cui decisi di dare via  tutto quello che avevo raccolto sino a quel momento e dedicarmi esclusivamente al materiale italiano .

In questo sito ho inserito alcune cose che fanno parte della mia collezione che intendo cedere , se sei interessato scrivimi e sara' per me un piacere scambiare un'email con un nuovo amico.