First, let us say "Thank You!" to everyone who made Catalog 91 and the Independence Day Sale Catalog a great success. We truly appreciate your business.

Here's the latest news from AGM:
 
  • We are pleased to add another member to the team roster. Chris Armold has joined Anna and Lou as an AGM photographer. You may remember Chris as the author of the very well-respected "Steel Pots" references on 20th Century US military helmets.
  • I spent a good part of the summer touring with Antiques Roadshow, filming militaria in Eugene, El Paso, Atlanta, and Pittsburgh. We got a lot of interesting items on camera, which you will be able to see when season 16 starts airing in February 2012. The cast and crew are among the nicest people I have ever had the pleasure to be around. Better yet, it provides a glimpse of just how much incredible militaria regular folks have tucked away in their closets. We often hear our fellow dealers and collectors say "it's all dried up - there is nothing left out 'in the woodwork'." Well, perhaps that is true for the antique shops, but not for the closets and attics across America!

  • Our big east coast buying trip was productive, but not without a few challenges.  We found great stuff, filled the truck, spent all of the $$ that was available.. but couldn't quite seem to get home.  The AGM truck sputtered out and died on the Pennsylvania Turnpike.  After a tow to nearby Bedford, PA, the next day the Ford dealership informed me that it would be a month before a mechanic would have time to get to our vehicle.  (!?!)  Somehow we convinced them to at least check the easy stuff, which they did (perhaps the Jedi mind trick really works), and that got the truck as far as Ohio where it then quit for good.  After a much more thorough repair and about $4,000 later, the AGM truck is now once again officially ready for duty.  Yikes.
  • Speaking of the box truck, in spite of the recent expensive hiccup, having that kind of cargo space often comes in handy. When we were out in Los Angeles earlier this year, two of our best friends gave us a lead on a collection for sale in the neighborhood. The gentleman was a veteran who served just after WWII, and had been hunting souvenirs and equipment ever since. His collection was largely purchased at antique fairs, flea markets, etc. in the greater Los Angeles area over the past 60 years. When we spoke, he emphasized several times "I didn't buy junk - only quality stuff." We have heard that many times before, from people who have a strange view of the difference between "junk" and "quality stuff", so I was not exactly holding my breath.

    When we arrived at the gentleman's house, we found that his collection took up a good portion of the garage, and was stored in footlockers (not unusual), and big garbage cans (rather unusual.) Just a quick note - if you plan on marketing your collection as "good quality stuff and no junk", storing it in giant garbage cans doesn't paint a particularly encouraging picture in the prospective buyer's eye. Not encouraging at all! However, we didn't turn around and run screaming off into the night. The cans had been purchased new just to store the stuff.  When the lids came off, our friend Jeff (different Jeff; drafted for this exercise) and I were pleasantly surprised.  The garbage cans were filled to bursting with things such as: an M1 carbine paratrooper scabbard, black porcelain and limited issue ethocel plastic canteens, an AAF 'crusher' cap, M41 field jackets, early war dated rifle cartridge belts, M1917A1 helmets, etc., etc.  No hidden gold mines, no fallschirmjager helmets.. but all good quality basic US WWII field gear, which you will see on Catalog 92.
  • There will be some particularly good stuff in the 'Emancipated Militaria' section of Catalog 92.  We have been gullible softies for many years, allowing people to reserve items and then disappear for months, ignoring emails and messages.. without even leaving a deposit.  Some will reserve items, make no deposit, ignore email reminders for weeks, and then by some miracle suddenly spring to life and pay for their past due items just before the new catalog comes out, so they will feel free to order more stuff and repeat the exercise.  Others just disappear completely never to be heard from again.  For several years now we have been putting items back out for sale in the 'Emancipated' section after giving up the chase, but there will probably be more in there in the future, since we have decided to quit chasing altogether.  Items that remain unpaid after the automatic reminders are sent -and ignored- will simply go back out for sale.  The (fortunately very few) customers who do not honor their obligations may find that their future catalog orders end up in the same digital black hole where they were storing their invoice reminders.  Shocking and scandalous, I know.  Their loss is your gain, though.  Keep your eye on the Emancipated section for items going back out for sale.

    Also - don't let this dissuade you from asking to put an item on Lay-Away.  If you want an expensive item and can't swing the whole amount right at the moment, we completely understand.  As long as you will make a deposit on the Lay-Away and keep up with the payment plan, everything is A-OK. 
 
  • GOOD NEWS!  The summer shipping slow-down is OVER!  Our regular customers have become used to the idea that it will take 1-2 weeks after a catalog opens for their order to ship.  This is not an oversight, anomaly or accident; it is simply how long it takes us to ship the orders.  If we were selling indestructible junk of a relatively uniform shape and size, that would be different.  However, you can't hire just anybody to wrap and ship antiques.  To ensure careful and proper shipping with the absolute minimum possible amount of damage and mistakes, we insist that things be done carefully and correctly.  To be sure, we still make a mistake here and there, but we try very hard not to do so.

    Unfortunately, during the summer we have only one person handing this end of the business, and the work load can really pile up.  If you are shipping carefully, you can get through about 15-20 packages in a day.  With 350+ waiting in line after every catalog.. well, you can do the math for yourself.  Fortunately, Laura is back from her summer adventures, and we will now be able to double the amount of packages that are sent per day. 
  • The AGM Insider project that you may have heard mentioned before is finally nearing completion.  We spent the entire month of June working closely with our web guys on this.  Work has slowed a bit since we are back in catalog and show mode, but hopefully we will have it all wrapped up by the time the snow flies.  I will elaborate more on the various features of Insider as we get closer to a release date.  Our designer Josh has come up with some cool features that never even occurred to me.  You're going to like this!
That's all for now.  I have been told that a number of our friends and customers enjoy reading these rambling notes, but didn't want to clog up the new catalog announcement with all of this stuff, so thought a separate page here might be a good place for this.  There's lots of cool stuff in the pipeline - I will keep you updated!

Jeff