Stogieman

next piece

Here's yet another example. The following set was auctioned in Germany in 2006. As you can see, the seller had all of these individual pieces, had no clue as to what went where. Just sold them as "objects". I was able to purchase all the pieces shown.

... and for my part, I will try and send these back where they started from. A sad statement of how these things go and a sad statement on our hobby that a group would be busted.

Kind of scary to watch these prices climb and climb.... when will this market implode? I stepped in & out of Mongolian just as I watched the prices explode. It was very discouraging as a collector with limited resources. I thought I had found something "doable".... the illusion didn't last very long.

Here's another numbered one, 43762. It would be great if we could get some sort of time line going. Unfortunately, this one has no booklet either.

I shall rant no more and allow SPM to fill in his end of the story.... Unfortunately, if it's the same bar; he has at best purchased an original bar and an original document.... but a set? Not a chance....

Actually the real clue here should have been the out of place Austrian award on a war ribbon smack in the middle of the group.

Yep... look closely.... same two ribbon bars as the original set.... hmmmmmmmmmm

Now, after staring at the picture for a bit... it occurs to me that one of the very last things I bought before I gave up my full-time dealings in militaria was this set of two ribbon bars offered by a dealer in Hamburg. He didn't have anything else, he only had the 2 bars and they're actually still in his shipping envelope...... Now I don't forget much so after looking at the original image the little bell goes "ding" and I pull up the scan of the 2 ribbon bars and sure enough.... same damn pair of bars except now the swords have been turned back the right way.....

Today, I was contacted by SPM..... he has now purchased the bar and it has had a document ADDED and the bits and bobs REMOVED...... Someone, somewhere, has screwed with a group. Now, when I buy off eBay, I always ask the seller if there's anything else and those of you who know me well can attest to my obsessiveness in completing, not breaking groups. So... off I go to comb the archives to see if I actually had such a group and I can confirm when I owned it... no document and as shown.

Now, without digging through boxes in my attic, I can assure you at some point in time, I sold the entire group, as shown, to someone else. If I dug, I could actually tell you the date of the sale and who bought it, provided it occurred in the last seven years....... I cannot stress enough, it left here as shown.

Scans of the SBM.

Once upon a time, this magnificent Silver Bravery Medal Bar lived with me. The group was purchased as shown off eBay Germany, if memory serves.

The badge is interesting and a closer match to period badges. But I am really put-off by the pin and clasp.

Looks quite authentic to me. But the prices these awards fetch now for what literally amounts to a campaign medal are astounding.

Couple more images. Long-gone I'm afraid... in retrospect, if I had only known what it was...

Long ago and far away... this came here briefly. Long enough that no-one had a clue what it was! Sorry for the old, small images. But it was the first Communist piece I ever purchased.

And here's one I think came from eBay Germany back in 1999, if memory serves... Over all these years I can count on one hand the number of cased ones that popped up!

Here's one I bought off of Manion's all the way back when they sold real stuff... ;>)

This issue is quite a bit harder to find... I've only had 3 over the years. Here's some older photos of this order, just for fun!

OK, some crawling the web tells us the following interesting facts: On Saturday April 28, 1945; at the Piazzale Loreto in Milan, Italy; Benito Mussolini and his mistress Clara Petacci were shot and hanged. But I have been unable to glean anything off the web that relates directly to Bulgaria for April 28, 1945 or 1955 ???

Closer details... what a beauty! http://cgi.ebay.de/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewIt...bayphotohosting

I'm not a big fan of flogging eBay. But every once in awhile I real gem does get in there. I don't know, maybe to an Austrian, Maybe to a Saxon.... but I can count on one hand the number of times I've seen this Order presented on a ribbon like this.

Sooooo, after all that and you still cannot ID that guy?

I didn't even catch that... you're correct. Three all on 4/28/55. What happened that would have resulted in multiple awards... I wonder, I wonder! If the numbers really are sequential we're talking 3000+ awards on one day?!