Fonix militaria shop in budapest... A warning to potential victims

[customstocker]

Recently i sold one of my flintlock pistols on the gunstar website , the guy told me that he was on his way to Budapest to meet "a freind" there with a big collection of "original" antique muzzleloaders . there is only 1 person in Budapest with such a collection . this guy is called Gabor , he is known locally as "NAZI GABOR" due to his love of 3rd reich memorabilia. during my first trip to Budapest I came across his shop (as many do because of the location) & went inside with my ex wife who is Hungarian . amazingly the owner had an SS honour ring for sale for just slightly under the market price , I listened to his lengthy story of how this ring was dug up & how the soldier got killed & buried behind the castle area of the city . I bought the ring & it took me another 2 years before i showed it to an expert who told me that it was fake . The next time I visited Budapest I decided to pay a visit to the FONIX shop & try & get my money back . I can still remember the look of terror on the owners face as i walked into his shop . He apologised & told me that he had found out himself that the guy who had supposedly dug the ring up had tricked him ....he was very convincing . I felt a bit sorry for him & instead of a refund tokk 3 items which i liked from his shop. great. about a week later me & the ex were walking around a back street area of Budapest , when we found another place with a serious collector of 3rd reich militaria . I dont want to give his name as he was really helpful . we went back to his place a couple of days later where I showed him the 3 items I had traded against the phoney SS ring . He told my ex , (as he only speaks Hungarian) that all 3 were fakes , in addition he told us the name of the workshop that produces these outside of the city . the items in question were Hungarian enamelled paratrooper badges ww1 era . he also told us that the old guy sitting on a chair in the corner of the FONIX shop was originally a costume maker who worked in the theatre . who, makes copies of 3rd reich uniforms for NAZI GABOR from a huge pile of similar type fabrics which ive seen with my own eyes upstairs in his shop , these are copied from originals in NAZI GABOR'S collection & then sold to his victims as ww2 originals .he has spent a while in prison for fraud & deception because of the fact that he has in the past ripped off alot of little old ladies who bring grandads swords etc. in to sell . The old trick of "Il sell it for you & give you a percentage ....& then he hides it under the counter or in the back & tells the old lady that nobody is interested , in the end they give up & he kindly agrees to buy it for peanuts , then the next thing you know ....its in the twice yearly military auction in the BEKE hotel ...where it sells for a small fortune . I went back to the FONIX shop armed with this information & told him that these items were also fake & that i wasnt leaving his shop until i got a cash refund . he called me a "merges majom" which i understood as "angry monkey" at this point I lost my cool & threatened him at which point he buckled & told me angry monkey was just a Hungarian expression .... end of the story was that I walked out of his shop with the cash , but , others havent been so lucky . if anyone out there has been sold a uniform, muzzle loader or anything basically ...as i would guess at least 75% of all the "too good to be true" items are exactly that ...too good to be true . I know a good solicitoer in Budapest who is reasonably priced & speaks good English , her office is a 10 minute walk from NAZI GABORS establishment . with his track record & the time in jail I would think it an easy thing to get a refund . He also has a huge collection of original 3rd reich stuff which is housed in the basement of number 7 Vamhaz korut ...1 minute from the FONIX shop in the Kalvin ter metro area .
this guy is very convincing , Id forgotten all about him before the buyer of my flintlock reminded me , that & the brilliant " A nice day out in Gloucester" thread that ive just seen on this site . If anyone needs help with Nazi Gabor in the future , it would be my pleasure to help them .