Gerd Becker

Paul, i have to agree with Les. Better safe than sorry. best, Gerd

Sally, make sure, you bring some or all of them to Germany next year. Maybe i can translate a few for you. I am sure, they must be most interesting. Gerd

Absolutely fantastic I guess, some collectors would kill for this star. Do you know his other awards? Has it been researched? regards, Gerd

Yes, also like the enamel ribbon bar very much Nice assortment of ribbons in this thread Christophe, to answer your question, these are not common, to say at least. Especially on mini-groups i haven?t seen them too often. Gerd

Man, if i would have known that earlier. I had a beautiful trifold-EK 2 not long ago, which i sold to an EK-collector. But you have one now, thats important. And a nice one

Wow, thats a nice 1st type Thanks for sharing, Wild Card

Holy Cow, Jacques. Thats the half of the Legion Condor

Amazing information, Andreas Ricky and you are a the masters of interesting and informative posts

Thanks, Micha. Its the same here. I really like the construction, but the medaillon is indeed strange. Lets see, what the RAO-Experts say.... best, Gerd

Micha, the painting on the medaillon is a little sloppy, isn?t it? Or were the 4th classes not paintet as carefully as a 2nd class, for example? Gerd

Hi Antti, i can?t tell you the maker, but i am quite sure, its a last Model, 1854-1918. As it has the stippeled armes, i guess, its a later piece, maybe 1900. I hope, Andreas will solve the riddle. Gerd

I know one Seriously, i would not engrave the pieces. What if you make up a very nice display with everything behind glass and make the history of the group and your efforts to research it visible somehow, maybe with an inscripted plate. So, if someone is intended to sell one or more pieces, he will definately be aware, what he is doing there and hopefully will think about it twice. Gerd

He sells them officially as Reproductions, but several sellers on geman ebay sell the medals as originals. The orders are too obviously Repros to be fooled. Here is the Screwback ORB, they sell, for example. Gerd

Hi Marcus, i know it, but thanks for the warning. With a little knowledge their orders are quite easy to identify, but their medals are scary. best, Gerd

Oh, boy, how i love to read comments from Rick to this topic The high prices will destroy the hobby, because there will be noone left, who collects because of these insane prices and the fakes on the market. I agree, Imperial may be underappreciated, but definately not anymore underpriced. That may seem so to someone, who is used to deal with TR-Collectibles prices, but like Wild Card pointed out, they increased dramatically in the last 5 years. I also collect for the joy of handling and looking and researching a medal and not about the Dollars, its worth. For my taste there are too much "Investment"-Collectors out there, but they will be surprised, when in 30 years noone wants to spend money on that crap, because there are not many collectors left, who could explain him, what exactly the difference between a real one and a fake is. With soviet-awards i have chosen a collecting field, where i will never have ALL orders and medals, even if i win the lottery. So i am happy with the more common stuff. Of course i don?t mind to own a high soviet order, but its not a must. I am happy about every tiny bit and also about every information surrounding my awards. Also, collecting Imperial and Soviet has tought me more things than seeing the difference between a 3rd and a 4th class Red-Eagle-Order, but much more. Due to communicating with other collectors i have made friends (and i MEAN friends) all over the world. My english is much better than it was in the beginning. I have learned so much about german and russian history and military in general. all the best, Gerd

Kim, thats an awesome Website, thanks a million for the link. Rick, I would love to see more docs, if you have. best, Gerd

I have these two in my database: 133.595 19.10.1944 142.920? 24.01.1945 so mine is, like you said it, from November 44. Nevertheless, i will let it research, but not yet. Gerd

"ONLY" have 14 Red-Banners I have only 4 so far. Here is the latest addition, i thought, you might like to see it. Its nice with PERFECT (really!!!) enamel and a nice patina. Serialnumber is 136.023. Now, that i can compare a Type 3 to my Type 4?s, i can definately see, they are different. Gerd

This one, Christophe :

Rick, thanks for bringing up this points. You are right, you have to be careful with the spread information. How many Red-Banners do you have? best, Gerd

Thanks, Andreas. So mine are obviously one T4V2 and the other is a T4V3, procuded at different mints. Can i use that for my website? Thanks again Gerd

Thats a very pretty award, Kim. And obviously very rare too I love the red enamel

Wild Card, you are right, of course, they are for sure a significant factor for the price increase and they have bought pieces before for crazy prices, but that can?t justify these insanity. My comment wasn?t only directed at you, but to many others, who said similar things lately. Of course, there are several other factors, who lead to the prices increase. Its only a matter of time(even if it takes decades), that the market will break down, as only a handful of collectors will be able to afford something at all. I am happy with common stuff, but i wouldn?t mind to add some rarer Orders to my collection. I am only a small-budget collector and the most collectors don?t have that much money available for their hobby. best, Gerd

Nice bar, Chris. I would agree, its probably a Typ 2 Spange, but still

Excellent explanation, thanks, Rick. That Red-Banner with workers mark is most interesting You have some real nice Variations, my friend