Hesse hessen bravery medal - be CAREFULL!

[Christian L]

surfing the internet i found this ugly medal on ebay!

and now, tell me who is the seller ... yes, the famous rarit?tensammlerclub!

i would say, that this medal is a cast copy - because the seller states it as a silver example with 835 mark in the ring.

please let me know what you think!

[Bob Hunter]

I'd be willing to bet the devil is in the details or rather the lack of them. One of the reasons I like Imperial is quality of work and the crispness of the detail. It may be the photo but the details look soft as if it were a casting.

[Christian L]

yes, its some kind of soft like you said - especially the letters near the ring are :speechless-smiley-004:

[David Gregory]

And just to make sure that you don't miss what else he always has on offer, his permanent site is at http://www.ordensammler.com/

If nothing else, it is a good showcase of what to avoid.

/David

[Deruelle]

The ribbon and medal seems to be manufacture yesterday. That's my opinion

Christophe

[Tony]

I think he could now trading under this name raritaetensammler20 but am not sure.

Tony

[David Gregory]

And cetra2003 is either a previous victim unloading some his nasty fakes or it is another one of his pseudonyms:

http://cgi.ebay.de/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewIt...AMEWA%3AIT&rd=1

http://cgi.ebay.de/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewIt...ssPageName=WDVW

http://cgi.ebay.de/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewIt...ssPageName=WDVW

http://cgi.ebay.de/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewIt...ssPageName=WDVW

[dond]

I have one that is silver hallmarked on the back.

Don

[David Gregory]

Don,

I cannot comment on the hallmark, but the general details of your medal and that offered by raritaetensammlerclub are worlds apart.

/David

[Bob Hunter]

Ain't no substitute for craftsmanship!

[David Gregory]

As far as I am concerned, Cetra2003 is definitely one of the outlets for raritaetensammlerclub's offerings.

Take a look at the following auctions, all of which features bad items offered by our favourite Imperial faker on German eBay:

http://cgi.ebay.de/Eisernes-Kreuz-1-Klasse...1QQcmdZViewItem

http://cgi.ebay.de/Erinnerungskreuz-Treuen...1QQcmdZViewItem

http://cgi.ebay.de/Verwundetenabz-1914-in-...1QQcmdZViewItem

http://cgi.ebay.de/Jubilaeumsspange-25-zum...1QQcmdZViewItem

http://cgi.ebay.de/Dienstauszeichnung-Bade...1QQcmdZViewItem

http://cgi.ebay.de/Verwundetenabz-der-Mari...1QQcmdZViewItem

http://cgi.ebay.de/Verdienstkreuz-Kriegshi...1QQcmdZViewItem

http://cgi.ebay.de/Erinnerungskreuz-Koenig...1QQcmdZViewItem

Caveat emptor!

Edited September 13, 2005 by David Gregory

[Gerd Becker]

David,

the links above are not working.

Gerd

[Blitz]

It seems that the high number of these hessian bravery medalls awarded during ww1 led to a continued drop in it's silver content. To an extent that by 1917 it had dropped by 25% from the prewar levels and continued to drop untill 1918, when a version was awarded that was made out of silver covered "kriegsmetall". So I guess that hallmark could give a clue as to when Dons medall was made and awarded.

[David Gregory]

Unfortunately, the links I posted above seem to work fine in preview mode, but are chewed beyond recognition when the post is submitted.

To make things easier, and so that you can track this seller's auctions in future, the name of the seller is cetra2003. The link below may work:

http://search.ebay.de/_W0QQfgtpZ1QQfrppZ25QQsassZcetra2003

The auctions currently running are:

#6207165435

#6207178557

#6207181834

#6207187922

#6207193440

#6207201959

#6207207411

#6207211479

Take a look as the images will soon be gone.

/David

[Guest Brian von Etzel]

You need not look much further than this to see the quality of these auctions.

[Christian L]

the bad thing is, that they will fool new collectors and flood the marked with ######!

christian

[Troy Tempest]

Here is mine, I think it may be late war Kriegsmetal, either that or I should get some silver polish out

[Troy Tempest]

[rujab]

And Here is one of Mine with Case

[rujab]

and more

[M Hunter]

and more

Now that's a rare ribbon device, a first for me anyway. Do you have the matching medal bar?

Best wishes

Matt

[rujab]

Hi Matt

Unfortunately no.

Rudi

[rujab]

noch einer

[Lee Enfield]

thanks for the info, I have just started collecting and the difference between the original and the "more recent example" as shown in this article are worlds apart.

I will certainly be more cautious on ebay and research more thoroughly before bidding.

Edited April 29, 2012 by Lee Enfield