Ulsterman

Oh please- the Dail takes forever to do things like proclaim its the official day of recognition for some deserving species of finch; they'd take years before outlawing transfer of Eire medals...if ever. No, the press could shame this jerk into keeping it together or maybe even depositing it with the National Museum. It makes a good story-tales of greed and the dissipations of modern wealth are popular topics. Here it would maybe do some good-we are talking about the destruction of history after all (and all the entails).

It's very nice-the patina is awesome-early type? -Next time I'll go with you-perhaps even Stogierick will appear, enticed by illegal south American tidbits within the hampers?

Can anyone in Eire call the Irish Times and tell them about this? The angle of British antique dealer destroys Irish history would go down well-the piece practically writes itself really. Maybe we can stop this twit from destroying this groups integrity? I'm sure the people I know in Parnell Square would also be outraged.

who is the seller? I'd like to avoid him and his wares in the future.

can you magnify the shoulder board of the 2nd chap on the left please?

Not uncommon at all- I have one almost exactly like it-much worn and given to me by a petty officer machinist who served mostly in Boston in WW2 and worked in sight of his home in Charlestown.. However, he did earn himself an air medal by being aboard a number of antisubmarine flights in 1942 as a signaler.

First time screening of Live and let Die? By the clothing-1976-1980 or thereabouts. I wonder how many were still alive in 1999?

...and of course the cloth versions..... weren't there also private purchase versions of the duck?

How big is too big? Yeah I know it's a German vets' bar, but I assumed he'd gone to Austria by the Ww1 commem. placement. I guess I should have mentioned that I also doubted it being a second row bar. I have rarely seen a double row of medal bars in photos-except for royalty and higher officers. This guy was an NCO, so how many more could he have had to warrant another top row: (EK2/Hamburg/ another state/Silesia/HKx? For the size I'd have reckoned he'd have shoved them all on one bar, as that one does see in photos. Note that most bars seem to max out at 10/12 medals-which is what this guy would have had-at most. Perhaps someone who had an accident in 1913 and went south? Still, if there are photos out there of double row be medaled old NCOs I'd love to see them.

It's so odd I think it's probably original because as Rick said above, it's got a post Anschluss precedence and the story makes sort of sense (retired navy guy-no front line service in WW1 almost makes one think mail boat or accident victim). Lots of Austrians never applied for the HKx (vets only had about a year to apply for them and many did not) and one thing I have noticed is that most fakers have tells-much like con men everywhere (or bombers for that matter). I was taught many years ago how to I.d. some hard forensic evidence from crime scenes. One pattern common to almost all humans is "SOP"-that is "Standard operating procedure. People who do things tend to do them in patterns-the same way, almost always. Thus in analyzing bomb fragments one always looked for a twisty tie to be wrapped a certain way, or a particular type of plastic to be used etc.. Here, many, if all the fakers, are unaware of the Austrians didn't apply for the Hkx issue and put an HKx on (it's cheap). however, on another forum there is clearly a significant amount of photographic evidence that a LARGE number of Austrians did not get the HKx-even those later recalled into the Wehrmacht!

I'll bet Chris B. will be happy to see this.

No- There was no insurance. In 25 years of posting things this is one of the few times the USPS has totally screwed up. The Cd I have I am certain my wife will be able to take care of-in her own good time. She is pretty good at this sort of thing. When she fixes it, I'll probably share it.

It's the membership badge of the SBPF (founded in 1946): The Society of Fighters against Fascism...(AKA The "Death to Fascism and Freedom for the People" Society)so yes a very early Communist Partisan society badge and made at a time BEFORE the Apparatcheks flooded the ranks.

The full story is even more gruesome and harrowing.

This is a misnomer. terrorism is a strategic warfare principle with strategic and political facets. guerrilla warfare is another form of warfare. The difference as bespoken here is in the connotation: because terrorists seek to inflict death and horror upon innocent civilians, (indeed they do not view ENEMY civilians as innocent) there is an unpleasant moral implication to the use of the term. terrorism is a form of low level warfare that seeks political ends via a military strategy of terror. Guerrilla warfare in contrast uses terrorism as part of a multifaceted strategy which includes attacks upon military targets and the conquest of geographical areas.

OMG!! Excellent stalker?/birdwatcher/binocular maker? very cool. merry Xmas. I haven't even mailed your card yet-I found out via returns that air mail went up-a LOT!

Superb! It must be Assman manufacture-why else the production board?

Superb! #5 and 6 are very,very interesting. Those ribbon bars are a treasure.

wow!!! I have seen some photos of Cubans being awarded Derg medals-now that's an exotic bar.

very cool.

very cool-but what are those medals? I only recognize the wound medal.

I think it's Dutch horse artillery @ 1820-90. The orange piping is very Dutch and after Waterloo the Netherlands went through a British uniform "phase".

That's my understanding too-from the "Unterofficer" book I picked up many years ago I figured this was out there, otherwise how'd the author know exactly how many NCOs got the EK?

Very interesting-beautiful. Do you know where these came from? Are they signed at all? Dated? It'd be worth an article as the two rivers, to quote a numistic great, "is One of the great Orders in the World".

Interesting positions of the Austrian 14-18 commemorative medal.