Stogieman

Heiko, there have not been miniatures on any auction house on-line in the past year or longer............. other than one Venezuala bar from Nordwind on Militariaweb for 350- Euro.

The Afrika Bars are an entirely different animal from the China Bars. Rick has a bar that has two bars, of two different sizes on it. We'll do a comparison next week. Rick has even promised to lick the bars.

We shall see. My point is, if these are fakes, why are we not seeing them on a weekly basis as is with all the other fakes we know about. In the past 5 years I have seen exactly three examples of any ribbon bar with any clasp. Never mind the deluge one would expect with a faked item. Rick research will examine the clasps next week and make proper scans. Until then, we shall all just have to wait. In the meantime, I'd like to see every example of an authentic and fake Afrika clasp posted. Obviously, some must exist somewhere. I think when you are dealing with an extremely rare object, one should put much more effort into documenting a position one way or another via multiple examples to reinforce the contention as opposed to just saying "sorry, I don't like it so it must not be real". Rick R. has several bars with known/real bars from this era, as opposed to China, which we will compare with next week. In the interim, Happy New Year! This reminds me of the full-sized Afrika bar Heiko posted that he did not think was real......... since that time, not a single example of one of those bars has appeared..... so we have someone who has put forth substantial effort and expense to fake a bar, but is willing to only sell one bar every year to recoup his investment? A patient crook? I find that very difficult to accept.

Your final clue:

Reverse of suspect bar:

I don't think this bar is real....... who can tell me why?

Good Morning Heiko, why don't you show us all the fake clasps for ribbon bars? Thanks!!

Maybe green is better....... Kermit certainly thinks so!

OK, OK........ Now go away, or I shall taunt you a second time.....

ooooooooooooooo. I'm thinking Heiko will be as green as my trademark backdrop when he sees these!

Hi Don, no, the award wasn't upgraded upon a bump in rank, but he could earn a second one....... Long-serving NCO's will pop up with some really odd pieces like a Saxon Honor Cross, or sometimes the odd Saxon War Merit Cross. However, the War Merit Cross would have to be returned if he won any other war decoration from Saxony...

Hi David, I don't have the numbers, snagged these photos awhile back. The badges are not offered by any one individual..... they show up in both the US, the UK and Europe from a multitude of sellers. Beware of ones with the pins snapped off....... look very closely, a snapped pin and there's a high probability it's one of these.

FAM in Bronze was Gefreiter, not Unteroffizier, Nicht wehr? If UFZ, shouldn't it be a silber FAM?? Irrespective, a wonderful little Saxon Bar!!

Pretty spectacular group Rick

These little gems have been cast from originals. Under magnification, the casting pock marks become glaringly obvious. In addition, they're about slightly shorter than an original badge. Width is almost perfect. In addition to Pilot & Observer; a similar design/constructed Prussian Aerial Gunner Badge bearing fake Meybauer maker marks has been observed. The design follows Meybauer badges correctly with respects to correct style of crown and ribbon on the front. reverse bears 3 fake rivet impressions to give the illusion that the bird is riveted together a la Juncker.............. Use Caution!!!!!!

An odd side shot:

Reverse of Observer

The Prussian Observer fake:

Notice how very close they are in many, many respects. Detail of maker mark:

Reverse of pilot:

Some additional photos of the latest batches of fake Prussian & bavarian Badges on the market.

Greetings Matthias! Wonderful!

Well, I will say that yet again, we find validation & vindication of the "No Crown Mark" theory....... for the rest of you Philistines, send all your fake badges without the crown mark to me for proper disposal!

Well, there's just something about mounted groups........ Now, if you just had his ribbon bar....

I thought this might excite a couple of you guys........