Hello Gents,
I am the current owner of the medal/ribbon bar grouping in question. It is offered for sale at the WAF e-stand. What I'm confused about is why this bar is being evaluated here using only the front view? Additionally, I'm wondering why there's concern about ribbon bars just because they look very clean. And I don't know what is meant by "carnival bar."
I will say that I disagree with the tact of assuming something minty and clean is suspect because of its condition. It would be a more productive discussion to take the bar and analyze its construction, its awards, and its award precedence. Many items can still be found in mint condition, especially ribbon bars. They were worn less frequently than other items, and were often stored in a drawer or boxed away. Soldiers frequently had multiple bars to their name. New bars might be purchased as they gained awards, and the old ones would no longer be worn. The chances of finding an excellent to mint condition ribbon bar is higher than finding other things in the same condition that were worn and used more, or during combat situations.
I am a high condition collector. I have to go through countless dealers and meet countless collectors to find pieces like this. The fact that I have acquired so many is a testament to a dedicated and focused search. I pass on most bars I see because of condition, or more likely, because they're fake or tampered with in some way.
I am a Luftwaffe collector of officer and general rank. When I began seeking longer Luftwaffe bars for my uniforms, they were insanely difficult to source. I began ferreting out longer non branch-specific ribbon bars in the interim. Now that my Luftwaffe ribbon bar collection is healthy, I no longer need these. This is why you see many high condition, long ribbon bars for sale at once.
Jason
Claudio - thank you for taking the time to lend your expertise here. I certainly appreciate it. Jason