Stogieman

Hi David, thanks for all the details and typing!

Hi Paul, interesting family lot and nice with the added bio details!

And from CICentre.com: John Anthony 'Tony' Colson/Intelligence Analyst -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- John Anthony "Tony" Colson, 61, retired senior intelligence analyst for the Defense Intelligence Agency, died Nov. 11 at Virginia Hospital Center in Arlington after cancer surgery in July. Mr. Colson, an Alexandria resident, worked at DIA from 1978 to 2004. His areas of expertise included the Middle East and Latin America. He was born in Los Angeles and raised in Rome and Brighton, Mass. After Army service, he graduated from Boston College, from which he also received a master's degree in Russian and East European history. He received master's degrees in international relations from Tufts University's Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy and in romance languages from the University of Georgia. He was fluent in Italian, Spanish, French and German, and he occasionally served as an interpreter for foreign delegations. He was a member of the Orders and Medals Society of America, a nonprofit group dedicated to the collection and preservation of military and civilian decorations. Survivors include his wife of 31 years, Lorraine Snow Colson of Alexandria; three sisters; and a half brother.

From Boston.com: Of Alexandria, VA, age 61, formerly a resident of Brighton and Brookline, "Tony" died on Friday, November 11, 2005. He is survived by his wife, Lorraine, and sisters Patricia Ross, Kathleen Godden-Kent and Mary Colson (of Natick). He was born in Los Angeles, grew up in Rome, Italy, and lived in the Boston area from (1962 to 1974) where he graduated from Boston College and the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts. He spent the last 27 years in Alexandria, VA where he was an analyst with the Defense Intelligence Agency. He retired in January 2004. Services will be held at Ft. Myer Chapel on Thursday, December 29, 2005 at 10:45 a.m. with interment at Arlington National Cemetery. In lieu of flowers contributions may be made in his name to Boston College Night School or to a charity of choice. Arrangements by Everly-Wheatly Funeral Home, ALEXANDRIA, VA. Published in the Boston Globe on 11/16/2005.

Welcome Haynau! Nice early case, I have only seen a few of this style.

Yeah, I'll bet that piece was kept under lock & key. Not real advisable to advertise SS membership either!

Interesting thread guys. Based on appearance, there's several I would have thought to be 1870ish but are bearing obviously much later awards!!

Good question and good eyes Tom. Anything else come in with this? I can offer no clue on the swords, first time I've ever seen this medal with this type of presentation.

Hi Steve, these are my archive photos so no closer ones available. I've had about ~6 of these in the packet. Once had an FAK1 in the same style of packet. This one was the best though, as mint as can be in the tissue wrap inside!

Hi Chris, I can understand and respect that, but since we had a ton of leftover pieces from WW2, I would have thought that WW1 made pieces were still available to be purchased from old stock right though the late 1950's. ???

Well isn't that interesting. How does the width of the side-hooks compare to the pin? Are they all made from the same material?

27 bids in a private auction with crap photos on one of the rarest pieces around? Who are these people who bid on this stuff??

Hi Jaques, superb piece. Every bit as nice as the cased one CB had a few years back. This makes only 2 I've seen. Excellent!

I'm glad some of you folks can authenticate these. I thought the front/wool all looked really good, but tthat back stamp always gives me pause as that's used so extensively on the re-pops. With so much bad stuff floating around these days I tend to probably miss some good pieces on a regular basis.... I guess I just err to caution. Kinda sad. It's a nice piece Tom and has "the look" of righteousness about it.

Hi Brian, has anyone tried to date the usage of the different styles? Just curious as it would be pretty spiffy to be able to add that to what we know about Gebr. Godet u.S?hn.... While I have had several nice pieces with their mark on minis, there was not anything that I could accurately pinpoint dates beyond an era.

No fair David, we want to see your Baden Goodies please! The suspense is horrible!! Show Us! Show Us! Show Us!

Hi Daniel, super bar and one to be proud of. The Statute ribbon for the BMVO/K is pretty hard to find on ribbon bars!!

Pretty weird that they made Imperial stuff post-57....... I mean, couldn't they just buy a real one??

ahhhh yes, West Looe, one of the best kept secrets of Her Majesty's Gubmnt!

Hi Claudio, wasn't the number of WGBM under 100 for WW1?? I'm drawing a blank here.........

Here's a photo of the back. Reasonably certain the owner is not in a trading mood! I've had these as 1's & 2's.... the rare bar with 3 or 4. The thing to me that was so special about this bar is the Verdun Cross. It's pretty hard to find and usually commands a premium over the others. There's a pretty high demand for this series in Germany right now. The documents are pretty special as well!

Fabulous! Does anybody else have any examples of these enameled EK2's??

Speaking of those enameled Battle Crosses, here's a bar I sold this year with three!

Hi Chet, now that's nifty...... an EK2 & 7 Vet Medals!!

Hi Ed, that's pretty funny!!