Stogieman

And the maker's mark:

And another view:

Additional view:

And therein lies much of the problem Mike. The best and first thing you can do is only buy the badge from someone you know and trust to know what the heck they are doing. Whomever they are, make sure they offer an iron-clad return policy on authenticity. You can't buy these from photographs unless you relly know what you're doing and even then there's a very large margin for error..... Let's look at another clever offering:

Page 5 & 6

page 3 & 4

Now the speculation is................ why such a low Number and who received the first 3? Was this an "importance" issue? Seniority? Some other condition as to who received which badge? A rare little gem in a book that I couldn't read for anything.

Photo of the recipient....... tiny, tiny picture.......

Badge & Booklet together

Battushig # C 05 Mongolian Partisan Badge #4 with Original Issue Booklet.

mravery ( 285) US $1,200.00 Dec-27-05 15:40:04 PST cnw1981 ( 230) US $1,200.00 Dec-28-05 10:42:23 PST

yet.......... a number of our fellow forumites have bid on this bar.

OK, there's other issues here as well........ No Long Service No Jubilee Medal (unmarked HHOwX? really?)

Hi Vic, welcome aboard! Nice little group to your Oberst!

Because they do not know any better.........

I wish all of you the very best of the New Year and I invite each and every one of you to post the one BEST item you brought home for your collection. For my part, I offer up this 1870/1866 Non-Combattant Bar. To me, the one absolute best piece I bought in 2005!

And, an additional example courtesy of Niemann?, Hamburg

That is only because you have not watched him lick them........... eeewwweeeee yuck!

Now, having said all this...... the other thing I find very difficult to accept is that this bar was made prior to 1897 and shows absolutely no indication of any type of age at all. It looks like it was made yesterday..... I have handled a decent number of pre-1890 bars and no matter how crisp, how clean...... they do not look like this at all...

And the reverse: (sorry for the size, but the detail is important!)

Additional proper scans of an MEZ I once owned.

Reverse of same........ note the difference in patina and appearance. This cross was STRIPPED off a complete bar that was awarded to a Prussian during the 1866 era and included a pre 1870 Turkish Medjiji Order....... It was an amazing bar, now destroyed forever except in the memory of those of us who will not forget these people who do this.......

Here's an undisputable original, also awarded in 1866:

DING DING DING!!!!!!! First try is absolutely correct. The MEZ has a more "ball-shaped" ?se and the one shown here is way too thin to be correct. Close, but not quite the right shape. Even for a piece that the seller claims was awarded in 1866. In addition, the seller told me that "Please, note that the medal is marked "AW" in the medallion rim for the jeweler Anton Werner." Whoops, major problem there as these were only made by Wagner.....

I don't know, you have to watch him very carefully....... he will lick anything you bring over to scan...... kind of like my kid who licks her leftover slice of pizza so no one else can eat it....... maybe Rick licks everything so no one else can have it?