Stogieman

Huh, never would have taken that for being German...... go figure!

So, you think the little "X" in the lower left corner means he's dead?

I have always felt that the law for these marks was interpreted differently, company by company... Juncker DID use a crown mark, but only on its' larger pieces, nothing small like medals, badges, broaches.... but it shows up on helmets of all things!!

Hey!!! I just noticed, this guy in germany has stolen my backdrop for fotos!

Anybody sitting on a 1895-1898 Saxon Rangliste, Bitte? Here's the full foto:

Yep, that's a Bavarian with three (3) Finnish awards ca. 1935....

So then, you guys should be able to ID this fellow right???

What, no challenged people out there?????? Anybody recognize this guy?

The usual Hamburg connections have had a few black ones lately. Sad thing is there's so many fakes of these kicking around in the US and Europe that prices are depressed IMO......

Some kid having a good time would be my guess. That "conversion" piece is too crude compared to ones i've seen that were 100% period efforts......

I think there's a 1917/18 saxon Rangliste out there, but I don't remember what (if any) awards it would have listed. probably not anything war-time....... Funny too, it actually belonged to Immelmann's Commanding officer. There was only one and he had neatly signed the cover of the book!

An excellent question Christian..... I think not so much made special for someone, lapel chains & buttoniers, barettes, etc. date back to the Napoleonic eras..... but it sure would be interesting if there was anyway to delineate exactly what era this piece was from!

I would agree with Andreas on this. It seems curious that a lot of the newer reference books seem to simp;y cite/perpetuate the errors of their predecessors....... There seems to be very little "new" research going on except amongst a small circle of guys & gals. Exceptions of course abound, notably Mssrs. Pandis, Previterra, L?ndtrom. etc. are constantly searching for new details and information. I know there are many more, but few of them get published which is just a darn shame.

Hi Daniel, PETN, C4, SEMTEX.......... what's a little explosives between friends & cousins??? How do I remember this old story??? The same way I remember all the medals, ribbons and especially the badges....... it's a curse, it truly is. I think some people call it "photographic memory"...... I don't know what it's called, but trust me, it's a curse.........

Love the IR14 Nazi-era "tinnie"... have not seen very many of those around!

Hi Chris, you should probably print those lists out and save them... then you can comb through them too!

Hi Colin, never seen one in 900 silver before. Usually, these were crudely made aboard the boat for the crew. They are among some of the most heavily faked pieces from WW2. Desire and a foolish buying public creates a demand for the pieces with many buyers seeming to not care whether the item is real, or not. Gordon............

I tried to snip that ugly silver thing off his bar, but he watches me closely when I visit...... it looks like it was made from an old tuna fish can. Sometimes, I think he spends all winter weaving replacement ribbons from old cat hair...... I will snip off some of those to show you as well!

The overlapped/multiple ribbons can be found on ribbon bars and lapel bows. I believe they were made as a matter of convenience more than anything else. This practice continued in WW2 again, in most cases it was the "common" combinations of medals that can be found. Take a peek in the Central Powers Awards Forum for an example of Austrian style 3 in 1 ribbon...

The only good thing you can say about the guy is he was pretty consistent in what he did/made. They're pretty easy to spot if you know what to look for. When he started, he used primarily original devices and the prices were low enough that they were worth grabbing for parts.... not anymore though. These bogus bars command ever higher prices by wishful thinkers........

Excellent history, background and details gentlemen!

My guess would have been Brit or French

Yep, we've seen a few mini bars, but the first "double" that's floated through here on a ribbon bar. I actually have some mint unissued mini-repeat bars that are mounted on the studs for miniature swords... very cool parts!!

Hi Kevin, welcome to the club!!

Now that's a bizarre little group!