Heads Up: Very interesting auction

[Marc van Aalderen]

Hi Bert,

I do some online bidding with several companies and normally as long as there has not yet been a bid the amount shown is the starting price and becomes the first bid after bidding. It is after all not a bid until someone has actually bid. See for example Troostwijk Auctions. I find it strange that € 500 with no previous bid becomes € 530 if you are the first bidder. In my feeling a sly way of upping the price? But different companies, different policies...

All the best with your auction.

Regards,

[rob love]

I have a different question, which I'll post on here but if no answer in a few days I'll send an email. For overseas bidders, how can we pay for any winning lots? Is there any way to pay by Mastercard or Paypal, and then have one of our MLU contacts pick up the items?

As well, with regard to the VAT, am I safe to assume that by being an overseas bidder, the VAT is not added to our final bills?

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Originally Posted by rob love

I have a different question, which I'll post on here but if no answer in a few days I'll send an email. For overseas bidders, how can we pay for any winning lots? Is there any way to pay by Mastercard or Paypal, and then have one of our MLU contacts pick up the items?

As well, with regard to the VAT, am I safe to assume that by being an overseas bidder, the VAT is not added to our final bills?

Rob,

I would not wait with your questions to BVA auctions, send them an email rather than expecting them to answer here.

Regarding payment I read: “There are two methods of paying for your lot: simply and securely with iDeal, or by personal bank transfer.”

If you send your invoice to someone local he can pick it up for you by showing the invoice. I had reserved 6 December, but pickup dates have changed to 7 and 8 December which makes it hard for me to pick up stuff as I have other appointments on those days. I will try to rearrange my schedule, or find another MLU member to pick up items. I’m confident we can come up with a solution.

All for now and happy bidding!

Hanno

[rob love]

Absolutely right Hanno. I have sent them an email, and will report the answers here.

When I do the exchange rates and add the buyers premium, I realize that whatever I pay for the item in Euros gets doubled in Cdn $$ before it even gets picked up, so for us Canadians, bid accordingly.

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Last Saturday I visited the viewing day and had the pleasure to talk to Bert den Brok himself.

The first picture sums up nicely how he got into this hobby of collecting fire brigade equipment and army trucks: it shows his father on the roof of the ex-Canadian Army 15-cwt truck plus trailer serving with the local fire brigade. (Early post-war a lot of ex-army trucks were used by essential civil services like fire brigades.) Over the years Bert did own American military vehicles, but Canadian vehicles were his true interest because the region where he lives was liberated by Canadian units in 1944.

24138875_287474981763283_158860677_o.jpg beeldbank berghem 09890.jpg
Source: http://www.beeldbank-berghem.nl/

Mr. den Brok decided to downsize his collection because of redevelopment of the site where he had it stored for the past decades. During 45 years of collecting he has amassed a great selection of military and fire brigade artefacts. Parts of his collection were already sold in the past few years, the remainder is currently under the hammer: 2,000 lots which cost him 4 months to sort, catalogue and put on display for the auction.

Bert_den_Bork_veilt_zijn_verzameling.jpg Bert den Brok_images1.persgroep.net_2.jpg

Also see:

http://brabantn.ws/7diM

https://www.bd.nl/oss/berghemse-verz...tems~a2fa79cf/

https://www.bd.nl/oss/kijkdag-berghe...ocht~acbdb491/

https://youtu.be/Npb2cnHPjsc

Bert den Brok_images1.persgroep.net.jpg

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Originally Posted by Hanno Spoelstra

The first picture sums up nicely how he got into this hobby of collecting fire brigade equipment and army trucks: it shows his father on the roof of the ex-Canadian Army 15-cwt truck plus trailer serving with the local fire brigade. (Early post-war a lot of ex-army trucks were used by essential civil services like fire brigades.)

Found a picture of a C15A painted like the one which served with the fire brigade:

18519331603_9861834b1f_o.jpg

Captioned: Berghem 'circa 1994'

Source: https://flic.kr/p/uduq5K

[Richard Hughes]

Hi all I know this is down the line a bit since the auction but does anyone know if the limbers sold in the auction ( looking at the auction site they didnt) Does anyone know if they are still available ? Thanks Richard

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Star of the show - for me - is the Ford FGT. It was restored from a wrecked chassis found in Belgium, while the body came from Portugal. Bert went over to see the famous cache in Portugal, but found the owner of the scrap yard very difficult to deal with (as did others). He managed to find another body in Portugal, and brought it home on a dual axle trailer towed by his Audi 80. The Spanish police pulled him over to check the weight of his load! It took quite a few years before the FGT was completely restored. It comes complete with limber, 25-pdr field gun plus a complete set of tools.

P1160574_resized.jpg P1160570_resized.jpg

P1160715_resized.jpg P1160637_resized.jpg

Another interesting truck is the F15A which came from a Belgian fire brigade. It ties in nicely with what sparked Bert's collecting.... It comes with a 2H1 body and would make for a nice restoration.

SAM_5333_resized.jpg

In a way, Bert is saddened by having to auction off his collection as it is the end of an era for him. Here's hoping Bert's collection is handed onwards to other collectors, possibly of the next generation so these artefacts will be preserved for many more decades.

Hope this is of interest,
Regards,
Hanno

[rob love]

I managed to pick up a half dozen items I needed for my 25 pounder. Seems like the majority of the lots did not sell, and the bulk that did were single bidder. I don't know if it's because we are too close to Christmas, or if there are better prices out there that I don't know about.

Did anybody else manage to buy stuff?

[Danny Bosma]

Congratulations Rob.

I went to the viewing day and it was nice to meet some fellow collectors there.
There was much to see and it was great to hear the stories behind some off the items.

I didn't buy anything in the end.
Maybe I should have made a bid on a few items but that is how it goes.

Cheers,

Danny