Stogieman

I will be the first to admit I know zip about Japanese items. but I have a friend who is a serious student of their swords and I thought it would make a nifty gift. Exactly what is this and what would the approximate value be? Thanks much!! Rick

here's a link to this seller. I'm sure y'all will enjoy reviewing these items! ;>)

http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZutimig15QQhtZ-1

OK, where exactly is the gap... ??

Ask me sometime what happens to the (truly) Evil Twin? when I show him big ribbon bars with solid, foreign ribbons on the end..... heh, heh, heh.

Oh yeah, He also used some colorful and interesting terms of endearment to describe this person.. I believe they had something to do with Hamsters 7 Eldarberries....

Fetchez la Vache!

As an aside, Rick research did say that this fellow's 'work" had been criticized in another thread, but I couldn't find it. Maybe we should make a "Steer Clear of The Clowns" thread. I can't possibly be the only newbie, can I?

Same thing The (truly) Evil Twin said. He noticed the nut right off. The star and engraving look so correct to my untrained eye. I've seen bits and pieces of bad items as I have wandered through with curiosity on Soviet stuff. But this fellow seems to take the cake.... I have never seen this many broken, altered, doctored and generally fake pieces in one place before. They're all so realisticly done and it's pretty scary.

Beautiful bar WildCard! I'm trying very hard to think of any other bar with both medals that I have seen and I just keep coming up blank. Very nice indeed!

Hi Mike, I agree. There's been a big surge in interest in the Model '57 type badges. The problem is finding an actual '57 by Assmann, as opposed to the crap '57 being pushed out strictly for the "collector" market. Once upon a time I had hundreds of packets for these '57 pieces. I believe Marcus Hatton (fellow member) has the bulk of them now. The interest in these is especially heavy in the higher grade awards.

Hi Mike, the seller states it to be a Juncker and therein lies a major issue. it's actually in a correct Juncker issue case. Case is real for sure, but the badge sure doesn't match up with juncker dies. So now comes the big question! Did Juncker use the same die for both types of badges?

I cannot think of any plausible reasons why they would not. For example, the issue Aerial Gunner Badge used the same die to stamp out the bird/target piece whether stamped steel, or stamped silver. The slight variances that occur can be completely attributed to the two different materials, of two very different thicknesses, used to make the pieces. Now, when I initially saw this piece and discussed it with the seller, my feelings were right case, possibly right badge, just mismatched. But the more I study the badge, the less I am happy with it. Here's another boomerrang! There are REAL stamped silver badges for the pilot/observer in real silver. Cliche badge, but silver, instead of silver tin and they bear an almost identical 800 stamp in the pin as this tank badge. So, initially, my quick look and snatch of the photo was that the badge probably came from this same (still unidentified) maker... Differences on the wreath, skull, logs, shell bursts and background I can accept. The lack of the T?tenkopf on the front is what I am currently having a serious issue with. Interesting, n'est-ce pas?

I had always felt that the bar/mount itself was probably real. But probably missing the Military=Ehrenzeichen 2. Klasse. Now that's not a problem in and of itself to fix... but the MEZ1 looked very real, but I could not get bigger/clearer photos to really see what was what and ending up having to pass for safety's sake. If the MEZ1 was real, I would have ended up with a nice bar to fix and an exceedingly rare loose piece.... sigh....

I'll add this one in with a caveat. it is certainly a "big-little", but I have never been real keen on whether it was right or not.... The price to simply evaluate it was too high.

Hi Chris! Very nice examples of each, including the two harder to find ones!! Nice little set there!

Nice one with the ribbon sewn together and the button! Very nice.

This is a good place to add the perrennial statement: loose EK2's with NC ribbon should command no premium. The ribbon is still available by the roll in Germany!! Mint and period no less. But a mounted one in any configuration.... now that's something special and something to be proud of!!

Nice one Claudio! Did it come with anything else, or just the solo? Bob's is actually a small grouping...

Hi Don. I think this one is OK, just falls into the "Ugly" Category. You have a nice, double-furled "South-German" style mount that has dried out and shrunk a bit, that's all.

this OPW1 is being sold by a guy who currently has about every rare/scarce Soviet piece known to exist up for auction in Germany. His only problem is the bulk of his stuff is bogus. Now here's the thing. My theory has (and will) always be that even thieves make mistakes and a knowledgeable collector will always profit from these mistakes. I like this OPW1. Looks consistent with many I have seen here and in groups belonging to others. What am I missing. Thanks for helping the newbie.

Rick! Technology progresses at the Research Institute! Congratulations!

I was wondering if you'd remember your SBM Bob!

Hi Mike, if it mated properly to the wreath I'd feel better about it. These have only been seen the last few months. Not a warm feeling from that. The other thing about these that really gave me pause is the 'spider-web" type patina, most often found on (really bad) 1970's forward repro silver badges. I see that web of patina and I usually run away very fast. Even 'silvered" steel will not age/accrue patina in a web pattern.

Well, the only problem with these is that yes, the style/material & workmanship is consistent with 1957 forward manufacturing... the problem becomes how far past '57 were they made. Currently, there's a "Model '57" decoration for almost all Imperial Prussian pieces. They are marked and sold as such, but IMO, they were made like last year....

Hi Jens, I agree with Bob. There's just something about solo NC EK2's that is really appealing. I've even had it as a frack, if you can imagine a "solo" frack!

Hi Mike, this one's not mine. I "liberated" the photo for sake of discussion. There's many things I like about the badge, but as I keep coming back, I notice things I don't care for at all, like the shape of the Death's head on the nose of this tank......

Hi Mike, I ditched my Chalif Years back. At the point where I came to understand that the bulk of the badges I was interested in and were portrayed in the book were reproductions, it no longer was of any use to me. Now, having said that, is there valuable, usable stuff in there? Absolutely. Is there some illustrations and details not found elsewhere? Again, yes. But there were also a substantial number of badges that were bogus. At the point where I found myself having people cite it back to me as "iron-clad" proof of authenticity on badges that were bad...... well, not much use then/there to me. So, do I regret selling it. Yes. But that has not stopped me from moving beyond its' scope.

Fabulous....... I think Bob has its' little brother!