All,

 

I started doing some research on militaria from Afghanistan. With the current conflict in the region I figured it might be a good conversation to have. I've seen royal afghan helmets from the region and communist medals but that is about it. Also pricing items from the region is difficult. Websites I've seen Afghan militaria from is as follows:

 

https://www.collectrussia.com/ShowCat.htm?Cat=Afghan

 

https://floydsmedals.com/

 

I know this post is ambiguous but I am relying on member feedback to help drive this conversation. What have you seen come out of the region? Are the prices on these websites accurate? Any other information would be very helpful, feel free to post! Thanks for your contribution.

 

 

Like you haven't seen much in the way of Afghan Militaria. My only two pieces are these pretty common, Afghan Special Operations patches that I picked up over on the US Militaria forum.

 

Although nothing super special they are authorized insignia used by the the Afghan Military.

 

I have dealt with Mr. Floyd and he is a great, honset guy to deal with. I think his prices are very reasonable. He has some very unique and unusual pieces.

 

I hope this interesting posts draws out some more Afghan stuff.

 

Dennis

 

 

Afghan items are really tricky, and I have seen prices all over the place. I believe since the conflict is still ongoing, many common / replicative items items such as flags, rugs, or patches are all going to be relatively cheap.

 

I have noted a few Afghan related items that have been selling at a premium :

- Afghan captured firearms (With bring back papers)

- Afghan re-issued German WWI helmets

- Afghan ANA uniforms

- Soviet, Afghan used items

- Special Forces / Commando Patches (As seen above)

- Afghan Used Plate Carriers

 

As for the dealer, I have never worked with Floyd - though I would recommend cross comparing his more common items with sold listing on eBay. Like this you can at least get an idea of his mark up.

 

I focus more on Iraqi items, but get the occasional Afghan related piece. I have had several different Afghan used helmets, flags and more. You can check me out at :

BSRmilitaria.com

 

Happy hunting!

William

I will second what William has said above.

For myself, I use Ebay, the forums, veterans, websites, and surplus shops around the military bases to build my collection. You can find anything from patches to ANA/ANP uniforms to bringback weapons to man-jams to gear. You just have to be willing to put in the time to look.

Prices are all over the place on Afghan militaria. Depends on who has it and who else wants it.

Didn't they really tighten up the rules for war souvenirs after the Gulf Wars so that US troops in Afghanistan couldn't legally send home anything?

They did tighten the rules; you just have to follow them. I brought back a crap ton of stuff from Iraq and Afghanistan.

 

I have multiple martini Henry rifles, medals, helmets, patches, knives and bayonets.

Thanks for the response! What would fall into the rare/unique category when looking for Afghan militaria?

Marked British medals; some productions/production year of Martini Henry rifles, M18 and M16 German surplus helmets with Royal Afghan Pin, martini Henry .303 conversion rifles, cavalry carbine MHs.

 

If you are looking for a martini Henry do you research first, because there is a lot of crap out there. There is a ton of stuff out there. Try to get as a complete rifle as you can or they are worth nothing.

 

If you are looking for British medals most are real silver. Look at rim of medal. There are a lot of cast fakes

 

I dont know much about about blades but there are some real nice ones still around.

 

Be warned the war has been going on a while and a lot of good pickings have been made. U need to go to small markets, not big ones a lot of soldiers go to.

 

 

Good luck

Thanks again for the detailed responses, why would there be british medals in afghanistan?