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Everything posted by Stogieman
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Close-up of the eagle/target. Target is not a perfect match, nor is the bird... but a quick look, or crappy photos will fool the uninitiated buyer. I must now advise anyone looking to add this (exceedingly) rare badge to their collections to excersise extreme caution when considering a purchase of one of these badges. flame
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Hi Don, best bet is to deal with very trusted sellers. The other for-sure original out there that few people know about was made by Juncker. Unmarked, but typical pin/hinge assembly as in their early WW2 Auxiliary Cruiser Badges. Hold one of these puppies in-hand and you'll instantly know. One of my serious recommendations to folks is long before you buy something like this, try and visit friends, dealers and shows. handle as many badges as you can. In-person, the real stuff sticks out like a sore thumb as compared to the dodgy pieces.
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They have cheesy enamel. They are (usually) uniface, with blank, or "stippled" backs. Quality is just awful. These pop up on US eBay and people bid them up. (Heavy Sigh) If half the people out there who spent money on this rubbish spent HALF on books and learning, they would be so much better off! (Sorry, personal axe to grind here. I HATE fakers) :violent-smiley-017:
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The cheesy, "tuna-can" metal ones with paint are the actual issued awards, as came with the document. The enameled ones are all "private-purchase" pieces as upgraded by the Germans. I have a document to a WW1 flyer, later S/A general Fritz Vielstich. One of the 2 guys you saw fly over the dunes and kick Ole' Lawrence of Arabia's butt back across the Sinai. The story of these german aviation units from this front are amazing. They lost, but the fighting they did with limited resources was pretty amazing. Vielstich was bumped up 2 full ranks for his bravery in action. An unusual occurance to say the least! Here's another "issue" badge [attachmentid=12501] [attachmentid=12502]
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Very nice to see so many examples of these crosses boxed. One of the pieces that whilst hard to find, with a little "snooping" can be had! I love the ones that looked like they just walked off the jeweler's shelf.... complete with LDO "Quality Assurance" paper tag! Cheers!
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Luftwaffe Glider badge
Stogieman replied to François SAEZ's topic in Germany: Third Reich: Wehrmacht Medals, Decorations & Awards
despite the small image, looks like a classic Juncker in Tombak. One of my favorite Luftwaffe Badges of all time. -
Hey Marcus! I never really gave this a whole lot of thought until recently. I would clean pieces with a "dry brush" (soft bristle)... but never used polish on them. I wasn't opposed to the concept, just never seemed to have the time. Then I bought back a cased Prussian Pilot Badge from a customer. He had the badge about a year. When he offered to sell it back, I thought "Great!".... he even re-sent me my original photos from when I had sold it to him. When the badge arrived, it had been buffed/polished severly with silver polish and looked like some trinket one would buy at the local car-boot on Saturday.... I could have died. 90 years of history/patina erased in a heartbeat. flame Cleaning, sure, makes sense. Stripping the age-patina..... well, not for me.
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I think the nicest thing about the Hamburg HK is they are numerous, including the boxes. There's two distinct boxes, both bearing the "crest" of Hamburg on the lid in gilt. I had one of these once that was as the day it left the jeweler. Small format box, 4 different sized ribbons (Ribbon Bar, Miniature/lapel, 2 different medal bar sizes), the cross and a black safety pin. Every component neatly packaged in little envelopes. An amazing find. Will try to resurrect the photos.
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A superb little cross, in real silver, with real gold centers. Last one actually awarded ~ca. 1901 for China. Swords were an "after the fact" authorization and the recipient had to go out and private purchase his swords, if he desired. After 1905, the design was officially changed to the commonly seen non-enameled versions for "other ranks". These included: Third Class, in copper plate Second Class, in silver plate First Class, in gold plate Awarded for "military merit" on the statute ribbon as shown above between 1905 and 1913. This version is difficult to find (no swords). A crown suspension indicated subsequent award/higher degree of the same class. From 1913 on, with the advent of WW2, military bravery awards were signified by the addition of (official) swords on the suspension fillagre. Again, crowns were utilized to show a higher degree/subsequent award of the same class. The statutes stated that only one class could be worn. Bavaria was somewhat of a stickler regarding this.... they required a return of the prior award before they would release the subsequent one! I believe RR actually has one of these "demand" documents in his collection. Despite these rules, during the "anything goes" 1920's... bars can be found with 2 versions of the same class mounted. I would advise caution when presented with this as it seems there's quite a few bad ones floating about. Cheers!