Dear visitors,

There have been some IT issues last week regarding registration on mobile devices (only), we're sorry for this inconvenience!

Those issues have been solved now.

registration can be done here: https://en.bva-auctions.com/v2/en/register

you'll receive then a confirmation e-mail with a link to confirm your registration (check the spam folder if not received)

if you are still can't register you can send an e-mail to: klantenservice@bva-auctions.com

Bert den Brok - BVA Auctions

Good morning all.

Just registered and made a bid to see what would be the charges.
I bid on an item without any previous bid and a starting price/bid of € 500.
The system will NOT accept the starting price as a first bid! You will get a message that your bid is too low. Very strange if you are the first bidder that the system wants you to bid higher than the starting bid.
Charges then were 17% auction cost with 21% VAT over the 17%.
So my €500 bid had to be raised to € 530 to be accepted by the system and added were € 90,10 auction cost plus € 18,92 VAT. Total amount € 639,02.
Before confirming my bid I declined the final step....


Can the seller (he is on here) please explain why the starting price/bid is not accepted as a first bid?

Regards,

Hi Marc,

The price mentioned is the opening bid, that is how it works with online auctions. Also is mentioned Minimum next bid

example here: https://en.bva-auctions.com/auction/lot/28725/9900655

Opening bid € 500,-
Minimum next bid € 530,-

Please note! some lots have 0% VAT as the case in example above

It's also very normal on all online auction websites the additional costs of auction fee and VAT. That is different from trading companies (or fixed prices) but the start prices in online auctions are therefor lower than in other cases.

If you have any further questions please send us an email at: info@bva-auctions.com

Kind regards,

BVA Auctions

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,

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

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.

The story behind the auction (part 1)
 

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.

Attachment 95977 Attachment 95978
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.

Attachment 95979 Attachment 95982

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

Attachment 95981

The story behind the auction part 2
 

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.

Attachment 95983 Attachment 95984

Attachment 95985 Attachment 95986

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.

Attachment 95987

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

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?

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

I sure wish the stuff was closer to me....I certainly would have bought more.

In the end, once I managed to register (the auction site did not like gmail accounts for an email address) the bidding was quite good. You could open up all the tabs of stuff you wanted to bid on, sort them as to their closing time, and then work on each one by one until it closed. Any bids in the last 5 minutes would lengthen the auction, so there was no real sniping like on ebay.

I still have a more items I will need to complete my 25pr, but this puts me 6 items closer.

Hi Rob,
I was at the viewing day too, just like my friends (see posts before .. :))
Won a couple of items, so have to pick them up.
If I can assist with your purchases, let me know.
regards, Egbert

Hi Rob; good to hear you have won some of the good 25pdr bits!
I managed to win some engine parts to aid in the rebuild of my Chev engine. Our moderator spied for me on the viewing day, so the pickup will be my first look at the actual parts.

Alex

I had been looking at the set of 4 track grip tires. I see no bids were placed online. My issue was going to be getting them home to Canada.

Another MLUer was looking at those tires, but someone who viewed them told him they were not worthy of shipping to Canada, so he declined on them.

I think I have managed to pay the company through something called transferwise. Hopefully the appropriate amount makes it to their account, I should know by end of work day tomorrow. What a world when we can sit at the keyboard..view, bid and pay for something on the other side of the world, and not miss dinner at home.

Egbert: Thanks for your offer of assistance. Hanno has offered to help out, so hopefully all goes well.

All dressed up and nowhere to go....
 

Well like Rob, I was quite surprised at the lack of bids or attendance today for this auction. Mine went in 2 hours before closing and again ....quite surprised to see the vacancies! Anyhow, managed to pick up a couple of camo nets for the trucks. Will be shipping them to Vancouver by sea if any one needs a hand. Thanks Hanno for all you help in this matter. Cheers :cheers:.....Robert

Thought I won the LOTTERY????
 

WELL....went to pay my invoice tonight and when I clicked on the appropriate note....well damn, up pops a photo of the Ford FGT with a total amount of 204.96 Euros and a note that says NOT PAID. Well let me say....had to take another heart pill for something I didn't even bid on!! After going through the procedures, I finally got it straightened out and it just came down to the the 2 camo nets I purchased. Hell of an INVOICE!!

For the overseas buyers. just to let you know that on a 170.00 Euro bid, I was charged 34.96 Euros as the fee (20.57%).
AND if you pay by credit card, you will be charged a 1% fee, pay pal is free and God Help You if you pay by American Express.....4% on the top!

Good luck on the next round....Robert :cheers:

...and you did not click on PAY directly?!? That would have been quite a buy! :D

All kidding aside, I will be making an appointment with Bert to pick up the "MLU batch of lots". Make sure to gets your payments in, mail me your invoice (needed for the pickup) and we'll take it from there.

Cheers,
Hanno

I just made an appointment to pick up my lots on Saturday 9 December.

If not already done so, process your payments and mail me your invoice as I need it for the pickup. After that we will get further shipment sorted.

Hanno

If anyone is interested in any of the remaining lots, please contact Bert den Brok directly via email to see if you can come to a deal. Please note Bert wants to sell whole lots only, as far as I know he is not going to split them up.

Again, I will be picking up the "MLU batch of lots" this Saturday. If you want me to pick up your lots, e-mail me your invoice so I have proof of payment.

Contact me if you want to make arrangements, other than those listed above.

Hope this helps,
Regards,
Hanno

I've tried to contact Bert Hanno but have had no response.

Same for me.

I picked my parts up last wednesday.
Spoke to Bert, and he told me there will be a 're-auction' for all the items which are not sold.
Listing before Christmas and the auction itself half January.
Keep you posted

I just heard form him today, and he is going to sell me the items I asked for at the prices that the first bid would have been.

Will be interesting to see how auction no2 does. I have to say this one seemed pretty quiet overall.

Just a short update: last Saturday all lots were collected by me and Alex van de Wetering. We had a nice chat with Bert about our mutual hobby.

Bert is indeed going to run a second auction for the remaining lots. I will keep you up to date on the details.

All lots bought by fellow overseas MLU members have been packaged and sent out to the UK, those going to Canada will follow shortly while shipping is being arranged. I was happy to be able to return some of the favours done to me. It is great to see MLU is such an international community which builds on mutual trust and assistance to further this magnificent hobby!

Cheers,
Hanno

I just noticed on the website of BVA, that the new auction starts today!

It's worth noting that starting prices on most of the items have been lowered.

https://www.bva-auctions.com/auction/index/30445

https://www.bva-auctions.com/auction/index/30446

Alex

Today was the viewing day of the auction. Lots of visitors had questions about the additional costs which comes with the auction. The auction costs are reduced. This screenshot will give an example.

For more information about the auction check:

https://www.bva-auctions.com/auction/index/30445

https://www.bva-auctions.com/auction/index/30446

Guys, last few hours before the auction closes, get your bids in! :thup2:

Anyone who is in need of picking up lots, contact me by email to see if I can help out.

HTH,
Hanno

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

Attachment 98394

Captioned: Berghem 'circa 1994'

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