Stogieman

That Is the Breast Star of the Saxon Order of the Rue Crown!!

Yes, to date......... not one person in the US who has access to much "behind the scenes" discussion amongst the serious researchers of these badges, or one "old collection" type person has been able to produce a second example of the private purchase piece. I know of one in Germany. I'm sure there are more over there..... but no-one seems interested in discussing it. No example found in Berlin Museum either!!

It's a difficult load to carry, but the bank deposit box manages nicely!

It's really rather irritating actually......... I have no room for multiple machines so I am stuck buying HP "All in One" that is brand new and still does not take as nice a picture as his Epsonness.......

ahhhhhhhhhhhh, I love the smell of silver in the morning........

hmmmmmmmm

Or, do you mean closer??

You mean closer??

reverse of the pair of gunner badges:

And my favorite pair of fotos. The stamped gunner and silver gunner side by side.....

Reverse of this pair..........

Just for fun, here's a pair of stamped badges for review:

Hi David, the stamped steel (issue) pieces can be had for significantly lower amounts. Typically in the 300-400 Euro range. More if they have the issue document, or the plain packet they were handed out in. The price I quoted is for the a private-purchase badge in silver. The one exception would be a stamped-steel issue Aerial Gunner Badge by Juncker... expect to pay close to 2K for one of those, if not more. Private Purchase in silver? Forget it, think 4K+++

Hi George, welcome to the Forum....... beautiful stuff!!

Absolutely no clue, I didn't get any further than you guys...... definately a well-heeled NCO though!

Unfortunately........ the first week, someone else beat me to the punch on the medal bar and half ribbon bar...

The next week, someone (entirely different!!) beat me out of the loooooonnnnnggggg ribbon bar, but I was able to grab the double row set and the hack-job 9X one.

The second row bar remains unsold..........

Now, to me, the really interesting thing here is to look at all the ribbon bars and the medal bar and notice how each incarnation of this man's history was mounted just a little bit different! He just couldn't seem to make up his mind whether to be "Austrian" or "German"

And here's the medal bar that started the whole thing. Same man, sold with upper row of 2 rows of ribbon!

Here's a nice selection of 100% textbook marks, all attributed to Juncker. Note how the crescent, the 800, etc are consistent across the board.........

Wrong pin

Wrong Mark

Crown Mark

wrong hinge "well"

cut out cross on top

rough "cut-outs" in the insert of the crown

Absolute rubbish that sold to somebody who thinks they probably just had the deal of a lifetime. Authentic Badges will sell for $1200 and up, minimum.........

The give-aways:

Cut out cross atop the crown.

Note the crappy, rough "piercing" on the crown inserts... you could stick a pencil in there.

Badge is too "thin"/pin is too "high"........ even late war badges that used a thinner silver plate had real depth to the hinge well.

And of course....... the crown and fake Juncker stamp

That's the one nobody could put a name to............. frustrating, isn't it??

Fabulous pre-1915 style trapezoid ribbon bar to an Afrika K?mpfer who won the Prussian Order of The crown, 4. Klasse mit Schwertern and saw an awful lot of action.....

So, what are the "clues"?

A) 2 piece construction-all real ones are 3 parts

B) Cut-out cross on top

C) wrong shape to hinge "well"

D) wrong pin

E) wrong mark

Close-up of fake maker mark

Reverse of the fake: