Leibermuster

Apologies for double post. Acquiring a ww2 vet's post-war service unifrom is one of my holy grails. The best I've managed so far is a 57 ribbon bar on an unissued BW uniform. I'm not entirely happy with the results, as its not authentic.

I suppose its too late to respond to this topic, its been finished for almost a year now, but I just felt compelled to add my story. On my father's side, my grandfather worked with the British colonial administration in Johor. (While Johor was one of the Unfederated Malay States, it had a British resident advisor and an administrative arm). He fought against the Japanese when they invaded and lived through the occupation (guess they never found out he fought against them). For this, he received about four British medals, including 'two stars'. I'll never find out what they were, because: a relative claimed she THREW THEM AWAY! Along with all his sporting trophies and plaques, upon his passing. I suspect she sold them, but the truth will never be known. The incident really threw me into a conniption. Didn't matter whether they were indeed sold or junked - they're gone from the rightful heir (my father) either due to stupidity or greed. I find it just so sad when someone passes on, and their legacy is so casually disposed of in however a manner. Not everyone is sentimental I guess, but it still irks me. But, without this happening, the collector's market for militaria would be quiet. I've seen medal bars and uniforms sold by grandchildren, often in return for beer money or to pay off debts. I suppose the latter is justifiable, though, but still. Luckily, his Malayan/Malaysian medals survived and I now have them in my possession. Jubilees and long service medals, five of them. Will have to post them on here.

Hello all, The trade in Malaysian medals here normally takes place between individuals, as the sale of medals and other awards to the public is prohibited by law. There are many reasons behind this, including the fact that certain awards, such as the Panglima Mangku Negara and Panglima Jasa Negara, carry with them titles (Tan Sri and Datuk respectively) and certain benefits. However, Malaysian medals and awards do make it into the market, usually when the person who earned them passes away (or goes broke and needs money). I've seen an entire bar of British medals awarded to a Malayan soldier in the 50s sold to a collector by the grandson, but usually its individual pieces that hit the market. Best place to look for these would be sunday markets (the most well-known is Amcorp Mall in Petlaing Jaya; markets are open saturday and sunday). There's individuals, traders and shops selling medals from Malaya, Malaysia and other countries in that place. I've seen colonial era medals (British, state), Malayan era (Federal, state, British awarded to Malayans), and Malaysian era on sale. Just the other weekend a lovely Sarawak set was sold (PNBS, which bears title 'Datuk Sri'), complete in presentation case. Another fellow turned up with a PMN (very high ranking Federal award which bears the title 'Tan Sri'), complete in case, which is something I'd not seen available before. However, Malaysian medals are not cheap. My fellow countrymen are rather mercenary and know that these items are scarce. For example, the prices for the two awards mentioned above were MYR1,800 and MYR2,500 respectively (about USD600 and USD850). My first post in GMIC btw!