Sick of it (20-12-23)
SICK OF IT
You get sick of that intermediary (broker, agent, broker, middle man, dealer or whatever) from the Far East. Let me call him/her X. No good pigeon can be mentioned or X responds with 'Pedigree please?' Then, on the basis of what is written on that piece of paper, it is determined whether the pigeon is interesting or not. And also the value.
OTHERWISE
Who you can take an example from in every branch of sport are the champions. The champions in pigeon sport are no different.
Because of their fantastic performance, Leideman pigeons are hot right now. It didn't come naturally to them either. Andre was once still at my place after 10.00 am when he came back 'from the south' to do some shopping. Then he still had to finish that terrible trip.
All that effort was rewarded though.
For example, his 'Good Grey' is already a legend during his lifetime. Did he pay a lot of money for that Belgian? Not at all.
"Give me a round," he had said to Carl. There was no question about strain, family, pedigree, breed or pedigree. Among that round was Good Grey. Would it have cost more than 150 €?
A youngster was recently auctioned for around 100,000 !!
A fellow countryman of Carl is also super at sprint. There, too, more than 30 were bought, and, as one could read, among them another super and a 'half'. 'One super only out of over 30?'
Andre: 'That is mission accomplished'. Pedigrees or race were not asked. What was there? Trust. That 'super' from that 'sprint man' won a 1st of 600 km by the way. Race pigeons long distance of fanciers who rarely go further than 100 km.? The W Daniels method seems to be.
MURPHY
It's been a while since W de Bruijn asked me if I knew of an interesting address in Belgium to visit. Plenty, I said. Maybe G? I once went there with an American. G lives far away and doesn't have a name. "I don't give a damn," said William. "As long as he has good ones."
So we went to Gilbert. He looked ok and in the basket of youngsters that were loaded turned out to be a real super: 'De Gilbert'. Flew tremendously, bred even better.
The origin was never asked. Gilbert didn't have a computer, but he was able to track down the parents. He would send to Willem, who nodded absently. He hardly cared. Shortly before that, by the way, a drama for the dentist. He lost his best in a disastrous flight from Munich. Finished? I gave him some from Sissi and one from Ace Four, brother Home Alone.
Willem didn't pay attention to the pedigrees and hardly paid attention to the pigeons.
Trust was what counted.
Who doesn't know Murphy's Law? He stems mainly from 'Gilbert' and that pigeon of mine. Admittedly, quite far, but without 'Gilbert' and my 'Son Ace Four', Murphy's Law would never have existed. Without confidence and with pedigree madness either.
ANOTHER
There are plenty of such examples. Like Elton D from USA and John W from England. I pointed them to Janssen's pigeons. Watch out: Gust. Never heard of him but they bought. Later, they wanted more of Janssens. Do not misunderstand: The 'Gust Jansens' I mean.
What is this handsome fellow looking for?