Ulsterman

I would LOVE to see them too! May we have larger pics? Ta-

sweet! suss rater- hey pm sent.

That's something new: efficient.

Interesting-it looks like a Napoleonic french crown.

THAT ...is quite a picture-a VERY early furled medal bar too!!!! Three wow salute! :speechless1: :speechless1:

Argh! I misread what you typed Claudio! Sorry. I assume the bar is just at an angle. A double red cross medal-ESP. a @2nd class to me says "medical person". Looking at ranklists, photos, court handbooks etc. The VAST majority of DRK medals were actually awarded to people who worked with/in hospitals and the wounded. This is especially true of war time awards (note placement of red cross medals).

The brave Colonel Omptedas' great-grandson (?) was a garrison staff officer in Belgium during WW1.

the collar and medals.

Good Lord! No wonder I rarely see a 4th class! Egad. I let one slip through my fingers for a mere $50 last year! I assumed they were as common as Prussian KVKs. Argh! :banger: Here is a close up of the chaps' hat -i suspect a postman. The collar devices are the same. I believe the cards' writing is Czech.

"F.W. IV" Friedrich Wilhelm IVth-the Royal who created the award. There are lots of these about-do a quick search and you'll find lots here on the forum. Also, the OMSA free database is usually quite good for these examples. This is a Bavarian fire service one.

Fascinating! So, this one-off piece (I assume it IS actually 80% real silver content for the sake of discussion) is proven to be a fake because of the "5" code, presumably added for 'authenticity' ? I cannot fathom how a faker could make money on such an item, unless it's a 1957 piece that has been fiddled with. JTW have you ever seen another such item? Where in Gods' name would one find someone to do this type of silversmithing these days? Eric-how long have you had this piece? I am agog!

whats' the weight? Dimensions? Are they in-line?

wow! That Lippe bar is superb!!! I have never actually seen one of those Beau-another first.

Logically, if it is real silver and unique, then it is genuine. Fakers are businessmen. They tend to mass produce where and when they can. Ever seen the piles of boxes of airship badges that were circulating in 1992? Or similar piles of assault badges about the same time coming from Poland? In the 1970s again, there was a series of mass produced runs of items-many at a @ 150 pieces or so as that was the minimum order certain metal workshops in Birmigham and Luton would take as a subcontract. The price of lufty badge has really only exploded to absurd levels over the past 15 years (with the advent of the internet actually). I remember hesitating to buy one in 1993 for $60. Consensus seems to be that it is unique....and it has been assayed as real silver, so there you go. Nobody would make a fake from real silver, UNLESS the money was there to do so and they had the metal craft skills to do so. To make that badge even via a mold that was later polished up would have taken someone a LOT of time and effort-far more than the going price of these. Jewelers however, have been making special one offs for clients for many years. I once saw a real gold Liberation of Kuwait medal made by a Texas jeweler in the FJP catalog. I also remember our local jeweler making an Iranian order of the Sun from scratch for our neighbor, after a horse stepped on his!

very interesting! It says "March, 1944" (Marz with an umlaut over the a)

Modern methinks- here's an original, (free use via googleimages, with explicit permission for noncommercial use):

Nope-VERY NICE: classic too. That HK looks TOP grade (bronze?)? Not when worn on suit coat that has lapels an angle:tuxedo, navy class As, diplomatic court dress etc. etc..

WOW!!!!!! That is beautiful. Now THAT is a fantastic bar!!

Ok-this thread should be promoted to "sticky" status!! or certainly added to the permanent datatbase! Colin: you are a top class collector! This is the level of historical research and detail that makes this hobby GREAT! I strongly urge you to write this up as a three or four series article for Benders' Magazine OR WW2 History magazine. This is incredible stuff. I met some of the Stauffenberg cousins @ 20 years ago. They were still suffering the after effects of July 20th. Prison had damaged them-made them cautious, wary and timid.

Those pics of Flath and Kallmeyer are GREAT!!!!! 1st time I have seen a badge in wear like that. Flath's seaborne detached career makes him almost unique!

#123-the GPB guy? what's his ribbon bar consist of? Austrian anschluss/sudeten annex and west wall? Hey!! LtCol. Oehmichen!!!! Tres cool. Thankee. What units did he serve in? Did he survive the war?

very,very cool! Iraq huh! Plus ca change....

What! Excellent sleuthing chaps! Bravo. By the way, RR may I have one of daniels book?

6.1X.18

Bravo homies! Bravo!