Nice illustrations. And the story lived up to the title.

I'd choose cult guy over this guy any day.

 

Looking forward to reading the story but what if he’s an OF member

 

Another engaging read. Thank you.

So this older fellow decorated his entranceway with a flag of the Third Reich, alongside the Schutzstaffel and Totenkopf. These symbols remain ugly reminders of humans’ capacity for abject cruelty, and the logical, terrifying extreme of the herd mentality.

Yet, ‘He was quick to insist he wasn’t a Nazi sympathizer or racist…’.

I believe him as much as I do those who insisted ‘they had no idea what was going on…’.

To quote Lou Reed: “you can’t rely on the goodly-hearted; the goodly-hearted made lampshades and soap…”.

 

Every so often I come across something, or someone, that reminds me why I am a collector at heart, fundamentally of watches it's true, but of other items as well, from exotic and unique Aussie Digger memorabilia, Donald Campbell iconography, table lighters... to early 60s Coca-Cola yoyos. This story reminds me of just this, all those times I have walked into uninviting, unforgiving even dangerous environments to pick up that so called "grail". Being overseas has been the most daunting, but the months before the end of the Cold War saw some great vintage pieces beginning to see the light of day if you were crazy enough to trust and travel with someone you just met over a beer. Thankfully, more often than not over the many decades, the greater majority of people (famous and infamous) I have met collecting watches have positively added to rich tapestry of my collecting experiences. Yes there are some weird people with unbending and honestly crazy views who claim context for their bizarre motivations but on being pressed for that context fall far short of a sound and mentally healthy explanation. Who knows, I might be one of them. I hope not.

I loved this narrative because it was written by someone who is a collector at heart, is able to engage that trepidation and excitement we all have for the hunt, is in touch with his sense of experience but is smart enough to clearly draw a line under what he will and will not morally compromise over. Interesting that the old guy never really explained the context of that photo of the child, the gun and himself as a youth. I see no difference in that to the many atrocious photos that came out of Kampuchea (as it was) imperious men with guns - a sense of lawlessness law in PNG at the time as Australia was still trying to get traction on the ground. I also suspect this is because the context was a supercilious vanity and he had no intention of exposing his own ugliness along with the obscene power he held over the mother through the child. His symbols were all of power (he even used his father a power symbol of their families once great authority) and I bet he had no interest in wanting to part with those ugly symbols of power, especially the nazi stuff - ..oh...I'm not a nazi, I am just a collector - well, just like food, as my mum would say, you are what you eat. Here you are what you collect.

It did remind me of the Roald Dahl story "The Man From the South" and I was just waiting for him to put the bet on the table - your finger for his Connie.

Thanks, Ash, just a great story.

 

When someone starts their speech with a qualification

"I am not a racist......"
"I am not a busybody......"
"I am not trying to be rude......"

They are usually that thing they claim not to be

 

Eesh, this is the creepiest one so far.

 

Ick.

 

"I suppose this is what happens when a man remains a bachelor his entire life."
Wait, that can make you a scumbag who idolizes Nazis?!?! Who knew? (Though I do suspect the character of someone who has such a collection might lead to him being a bachelor, or one would hope at least...)

That line made me laugh as I did presume you meant the over-display of a collection and have a few friends who are committed bachelors with large Sports, Marvel and or Star Wars collections on display. Ones no wife would ever allow.

"Having said that, a normal person doesn't just put stuff like that in the entryway of their home unless they are genuinely proud of it and want others to notice it."
Yup
Stories like these are one of the reasons I still like the anonymity of ebay & OF purchases. I'll skip a bargain to avoid this or the cult leader! I'll leave these for you and Janice&Fred

These are fun reads, thanks, a good addition to the platform.

I really, really hope not...

 

Ash, this perfectly describes what Hannah Arendt referred to as the ‘Banality of Evil’.

It never ceases to amaze - and horrify - me how easily people are willing to ‘pull the legs off spiders’ if given a green light. Except these aren’t thoughtless children playing with insects, of course: they’re humans abusing fellow humans (viewed casually as ‘vermin’, in National Socialist parlance). We’ve seen this recently in Bucha, Ukraine, and we’ll see it again. And again.

Hahaha, very funny watching people shit out their guts. A real comedy act. The mind boggles.

The upside here is you rescued a fine watch from the clutches of a devil.

 

Which reminds me, I am still looking for the best Bulova 666 Devil Diver in the world.

 

Yes, there is always a very fine line between Human extremes..... Good or Evil, Love or Hate ( ask divorce lawyers about that line...) , Religion springs to Mind , Electro shock experiments , where " Authorities " demand the Shock giver to act under pressure to administer a deadly voltage to a stranger ..... The list is long. And Human Kind does not seem to learn from previous Generations cruelties. And odd twists; like the big Collectors of German 3. Reich stuff are in Israel. Hitler won the average German over, in giving them back their Pride after the lost WW1. Like Putin is doing now in Russia. Russians are mostly great People with a big Heart, but the average Russian wants the Glory and Respect for the former Soviet Union on the World Stage , back. To make up for their own poverty.....

 

A fascinating read, wasn’t sure where it would lead…

Cult leaders, Nazi creeps, whatever next?

 

Very good story, and I’m more interested in ever in what’s going on with the illustrations. No offense intended if I’m wrong, but is there any AI involved? The hallway illustration is downright uncanny—I was morbidly curious to see what those photos on the wall were supposed to depict, but zooming in just makes them even more mysterious and alienating.

 

Maybe the creepiness was just an intricate negotiation tactic? I bet you didn't even think about haggling

 

An interesting read. I never even knew there was an Omega Stories section!

On the subject of collecting such morbid memorabilia, I personally think it odd but one of my favourite musicians Lemmy of the band Motorhead had a huge collection of Nazi stuff!

 

We've been watching more art videos lately that talk about using AI to create one. Today someone made "Darth Vader at a picnic with a bunny rabbit" ... and it certainly did not disappoint.

You've seemingly got the tuning down as the AI-generated pictures fit exactly with the theme and story.