bifter

Hi! These are all Nicholas Morigi replicas!!!!! When i was a child i started out on 3rd Reich replicas & his were the best quality available, but somtimes rather stupidly priced!!!!! Examples of these were what my paper rounds payed for. I still like some of his stuff; the 1944 wound badges are very good copies. I dont like the shiney silver finish in the centres though, so i paint over them with humbrol silver 'enamel'; then i rub the paint off the lettering & date to reveal the shiny silver. I am left with a more 'origional' finish!!!!!! The genuine ones, which most of us will NEVER be privelidged enough to own, had a matt silver centre in the field & shiny siver lettering & date. These guys in your photos usually cost about ?25 each; hope you were not 'burned' on them!!!!!!!??????

I just want to ask a simple question; When each croix de guerre was issued did ALL of them come with a ribbon device or did they only come with each additional award? For example; my grandad does not recall ever getting any devices for his ribbon!!! Was it at all possible to get a croix without any device at all?

Hi! I have just gotten into Belgiun awards due to a compulsive purchase of a civil knight Leopold 1st from a local coin fayre; it was only ?25. My 2nd buy has been a Leopold 2nd, military officer with box & cert for ?75!!!!!! I love it & think it is a good buy, but i cannot send a picture yet as i have not yet worked out how to use the scanner (at my library). The swords on the ribbon are seemingly the wrong way up up! The swords have the points going downwards instead of upwards.Are they meant to be with the swords points pointing down? I thought that maybe with the swords pointing up it would be denotive of a combat award & with the swords pointing down a non combat award? Even if i am wrong, it is a good way of pointing out what an award was given for!!! I have seen a few like this, surly they cannot all be done incorrectly?! I have a beautiful, exellent condition, 2nd class military cross waiting for me at my dealers stall for my next buy.

Hi!!!! My wee neice calls the suchebataar order 'The sooky batman'; so, i need to know, how big is the 'sookie batman' when compared to others such as the polar star or red banner of labor? I have only got those two, in various issues & types. I could have many different Mongolian orders but whenever i see a variant of one i already have i buy that instead!!!! Also, are there any good quality replicas available? I know i shouldt have copies, but i dont like to display the valuable origionals.

Hi!!!! I have recently got a couple of medals from The Peoples Republic of Yemen. I am surprised that no one has put up any posts, scans or info on these items amongst the communist section. From my books they were a pretty established marxist country with a lot of support from the USSR. The medals i got are = 1) 10th Anniversary of the armed forces 2) 10 year service medal 3) Order of military merit in bronze They are all very well made & very sturdy & very attractive. I hope to find more some time. I also got a rather crude but VERY pretty Ethiopian Communist Star. It is a bronze star with a red enamelled circle in the centre with a hammer & sycle in the centre. There are crossed swords behind the star & a wreath of laurel around the whole thing. It is a REAL neauty of a medal. I have no idea as to whether it is an order or just a medal. I NEED to find some Burkina Faso & Mozambique items next . I WANT & NEED at least one award from EVERY socialist state that ever has been or is in being. When i work out how to scan things i will show you all my unusual medals from Yemen & Ethiopia & Burina Faso etc.....

Hi!! I have been bidding on an October Rvolution Order on e-bay. I have noticed that it has no rivets on the reverse, & i am concerned as to whether it is a copy or not. The reverse not only has no rivets but it is totally flat; i think that it may be a fake. If it is a fake, it is certainly a good one. If i 'win' this item then i can put it up on my wall. Being a copy it will be good to display; when i get a real one i can put it in my safe. That way i will have a real one in safe keeping & a copy being displayed. Sorry i cannot get a scan of it, but i have yet to work out how to do that. I still cannot use the scanner to post pics of my medals.

I only want the copies for wall displays; i cannot place the real ones, worth hundreds, on the wall. If they fell & broke i would be heartbroken; also, if a peice of filth broke in & stole them, it would only be getting the crappy copies worth nothing, whilst all my origionals would be locked away in my safe. I have a genuine Labor glory 2nd, but i dont want it up on my wall due to my fears. I would enjoy a theif thinking it had gotten somthing worth hundreds being made to look like an idiot by discovering it had actually stolen a worthless peice of trash like itself!!!! Having said that though, even a cheap copy of a medal is worth more than a theiving moron. Items like the Order of Nakhimov will never be in my price range, so i would at least like to have a representation of it. It is the rubbish copies i hate; made from lead etc.... Those that are made to deceive are bad too!!!! The copies of items like the George Cross are generally good & have slight differences to the origional making them a nice individual item. When they are made to deceive they are literally criminal. A good representative copy should have slight differences & a copy mark; thus making them respectable; the deceptive peices should be imprisoned with their makers. I have recently been conned with an Odessa medal for ?95!!!!! It is a good copy, but if it had a copy mark on it then i would not have been caught out. I guess the criminals that deliberately want to make money out of deception are not going to lose money by marking their copies though!!!! I dont really mind if the copies i get are made by airfix in plastic & paint, as i only want to frame & display them. No one would be fooled by them then; except a total numb headed theif probably. They would just be for looking at & making my walls look pretty.

I got plenty of orders with all their beauty; but i just worry about them all the time. I live on a council estate where there is a lot of druggy types & if they even see me in a medal shop (my main dealer has a big problem with drug theives) they will follow me home & break in. If they only see plain medals they may be dumb enough to think that they are too plain to be valuable!!!!!! All my stuff is in a secure safe; but these freaks can be clever & brutal, as i have discovered in the past when a gang broke in & pummelled me (they stole a bottle of whiskey & a load of records worth hundreds!!!!!). I am always worried about the enamel breaking when i move houses too!!!! I never stay in one place too long; My dad was a career soldier & thus i have been moving around since birth; i cannot stay anywhere more than 4 years or i go barmy. I do love the orders, i just worry about them getting stolen or damaged. I have so many that i seem to be contradicting myself; the soviet military merit medals are a speciality; i have 28 of them, all different in some way even down to just the ribbon 'shades'!!! From the 1st type to the last, with about 5 varying ribbon shades.

Hi!! I have been examining all my stuff & have decided that the plain medals like the long service & the defence & the anniversary ones are just as nice and pretty as the fanciful orders. I have always been lured to the orders, but now i am being taken from them by the plain medals. I always worry to much about the orders; how to prevent them from getting damaged; how to store them etc.... The medals are easy to look after, they dont break, they dont look valuable (& thus theives will tend to ignore them for the more valuable looking ones). I worry about framing the orders in case they fall from the wall & break; or a peice of scum breaks in & thinks it is valuable (or a corrupt workman). The medals are just less stress. The orders are like teenage girls where you have to worry about them being raped or getting pregnant or being led astray by young rebels. The plain medals are like a son; just worry that he will not get too drunk & not be able to fight back!!!! Orders are complicated & pretty & prone to damage if not treated with love & respect; the plain medals can be dropped & trodden on but they usually stay in good shape . Am i making sense?

Hi everyone: are you all well? I need help. I need to find GOOD copies of the following= 1) Order of labor glory 1st class 2) Order of labor glory 2nd class 3) Order of glory 2nd class 4) Order of the october revolution 5) Order of personal courage I need geniuine examples of= 1) Cambodian order of labor 2) Czech order of the red star of labor 3) Romanian order of labor 2nd class 4) Laotian order of victory 5) Laotian order of bravery Any ideas? For a weird reason my computer will not log onto 'capral', so i cannot get them from there. I have gotten a lot of amazing copies of the rare medals from 'Azzie' in poland; EUR7 each, & they are very hard to see the difference!!!! I wish that guy would do the orders!!!! His medal copies are stunning. I 'aged' a couple by rubbing them on my body after a hard hour of moving furniture!!!! Sweat & grime ages things in a more convincing manner than the easily notable chemicals. Laotian stuff seems to be like hens teeth. I have won an e-bay auction for a labor glory 2nd class; the chap i bought it from will not let on where he got it, but it reeks of 'capral' juice to me; they are stunning & good. REAL enamel, REAL gold plate, REAL 'LIVING' rivets that actually do as they are meant & hold on the device. And it is all die struck. 'Azzie' has all his medals die struck from real brass & silver with real enamel. It seems that Poland is coming up in the fake militaria business. They are equal to the copies of British stuff but made in the origional materials; the british copies are usually made of fake silvers etc... The polish glory 1st class has real gold plate. I know that one place is doing copies of the soviet 'heroes' & glory 1st in REAL 9ct gold!!!! They cost a lot, but they are good for a museum display. You can come across them on e-bay occasionally. I keep buying glory 3rds with a desire to paint the centre gold for a display with my glory 3rd & 1st; but i CANNOT do it. I CANNOT debase a pure thing in such a way. If i were to get a REAL 2nd class & have it re plated that would be fine as long as the origional recipient didnt mind; but how would i find out? So it must be a copy.

Hi! I have gotten me a nice 3rd class order of september the 9th with swords & document & box. The document says on it 'order september 9th 1944, 3rd class with swords'. The box says 'order september 9th 1944, 3rd class'. The box does not say 'with swords'. Is this how it should be or have i been given a 'set' with the wrong box? I cannot keep them together if they are not matching!!!

I have bought some copies of the more rare soviet medals; public safety, combat co-op etc... On the web site they are really good & well worth 7 euros each; when they arrived i was appauled at the quality. The loops that keep the medals to the kolodka are all about a centimetre long!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It looks stupid; the medals are all die struck from what i assume to be very worn out dies; a lot if the details are just not there. This does give them a well worn look, but there are holes in the patterns due to where there must have been filth or bits of metat filings preventing part of the pattern being stamped. One of them is totally missing half of its border ; the medal was obviously placed wonky. I am hoping to cut down the long loops, & that a metal polish will remove the vile greasy powdery film that they all seem to have. The combat co-op has genuine enamel, but is really badly applied & looks like it was heated in a normal kitchen oven!!!! Overall they are a complete pile of ****!!!! At 7 euroes each, i have got what i payed for, but the catalogue pictures where of good copies. They are all genuine brass, silver & real enamel; it is a shame that they have not been made by a real enthusiast that loves their work. There are many good copies from bad materials; mine are bad copies from exellent materials. My usual dealer tested the metals; even the hero of labor has 9ct gold plate; it is just applied to a star that is badly struck. I am going to bury them as i do with all things i am dissapointed with.

I am in DESPERATE NEED of french bronze, siver & gold stars for the ribbon of my vichy Croix du Guerre. I was telted by the dealer i got it from that she knew the origional recipient & that the ribbon should have the emblems on. But the ribbon has only a number of holes!!!! I REALLY NEED to get these stars in order to make the balance tidy. I just don't feel right having a medal incomplete & with a ribbon full of holes; it is like going out without any pants on. If any of you can help i will be very gratful!!! I just NEED to know where to get them from, in England or Europe. Thank you!

Me has been offered a Legion of Honour for ?60. It is the 1870 officers type, with rossette,beleived to be from the first world war. It has 4 tiny chips to the enamel; 2 on the blue & 2 on the green on the suspending wreath. And a berry is missing its red. These are very tiny & need close scrutiny to notice. Also a 'Maroc' medal with Casablanca bar for ?60 too. Are these good offers or should i say "NO!!!!" They both have a sexy used feel to them; they came together.

So i am a busy body vandal for restoring my damaged medals!? When my grandad died, my gran cleaned his medals every year & even 'vandalised' them by replacing the ribbons; she even removed the wrong ribbons & bought correct ones!!! I guess she too WAS a busy body vandal. Those that refuse to tidy up a filthy peice that was picked up from the mud are insulting the memories of heroes. A war hero would probably take pride in their peices; when dead they need help to do so. If the medal deteriorates then so does the awardees existence, until it is totally gone & forgotten. The chap that was awarded the medal i have restored would probably be very happy that i restored his award to its enamelled state. To leave a peice so dirty & damaged is an insult. I assume those that consider restoration to be vandalism object to other restoration as well; such as the restoration of memorials etc.... We should let them deteriorate as well; God forbid that we should glory these evil people that risk their lives for freedom!!! If anyone were to obtain my grandads medals & leave them dirty or mismounted it would be insulting my family & the very brave things they did. You dont buy a ruined property only to leave it in ruins; you restore it & restore its pride. If your pet dog gets cancer, only an evil fool would leave it as 'that is the way it is itself'; you would remove the cancer. Restoration is needed to keep things going forward. If we all lived as jehovahs witnesses the world would crumble away without any repairs. Imagine if Patton just threw his medals into drawer full of pig ######: you now inherit his medals. Would you do the same just because it was what he did himself? Would you leave them covered in the filth? I LIKE TO RESTORE DAMAGEDTHINGS ; YOU LIKE TO KEEP THINGS DAMAGED & IN RUINS!! WE HAVE DIFFERENT OPINIONS ON WHAT TO DO. HOW DARE YOU INSULT ME FOR BEING DIFFERENT TO YOU. IT WAS YOUR ATTITTUDE THE FREE THINKERS FOUGHT TO DESTROY. YOU WILL ACCEPT THAT I DO THINGS DIFFERENTLY; YOU NEED TO LEARN THAT IT IS RUDE TO INSULT OTHERS FOR NOT DOING AS YOU DO; YOU NEED TO ACCEPT THAT OTHER PEOPLE ARE DIFFERENT TO YOU.

Hi!!! Sometimes when i buy medals with damaged or missing enamel i cannot help but repair them!! I know this takes away some of the history, but i cannot help myself. I got a nice 1938 military merit medal which dated to the russo finnish conflict. It was in a bad way. I washed the ribbon very carfully; cleaned the medal with some silver polish & then used some of the clear red cold enamel for the letters. The dealers i showed it to were very impressed with my restoration. I couldnt help but make it shine. It looked like it needed somone to love it. I also had to find a replacement Monetny Dvor screw plate; but had to make do with a smaller unlettered one. I understand how some folk think this is a bad thing to do, but somtimes a medal just seems to cry out for restoration!!!

Hellooooooooooooo!!!! Boys & girls!!! I have been trying to get into the 'fakes' forums, but every time i try i am refused access!!! Why, oh! why can this be happening to me?

'Your first award of the Great Patriotic War; awarded for the liberation of '******'. From your first daughter Vera, on the 30th anniversary of the award.' Is this how it is? I like to make things as clear as possible!!! I would love that award. Actually; i lost that medal at the exact time & place that you aquired it! As i am ill i cannot recall when that was!!! You really should return it to me!!! I only have 50 more years left to live. I really did lose it; you must beleive me. Give it back to me!! Etc.....

Hello!!! I have noticed how so many Hungarian items seem to have faults!!!! Enamel that is too thin in places; rivets that are not secure properly; attachments that don't fit; cracks in the plastic or paint. Ribbons with bad flecks or missing threads!!!! This does not seem to have happened in the U.S.S.R. or afghanistan or poland etc... The same applies to Albania. I HATE waiting exitedly for a long awaited item, & then finding one or receiving through the post, one that is faulty. These faults are factory made.

That commemorativ medal is mine! I lost it; can you send it back to me please? As i am unwell i cannot recall when or where i lost it, but it was definately when & where you got it. I am ill; you have to give it to me; now. I am waiting!!!!!

Hi!! I REALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLY NEED the following to cure my coveting illness. 1) Vietnam - Soldiers Glory Star 2) Cambodia - Order Of Labour 3) Laos - Order Of Victory 4) Laos - Order Of Bravery 5) Romania - Order Of Labour Any grades will do,& condition has to be good, but not neccessarily perfect!!! My e-mail address is = ashtonbabs@yahoo.co.uk

Hi! Dyas medals has a fair number of Albanian medals at the moment. I have bought a lot of them recently. Good prices too. Toddle peepington Beefter

I have a fair few modern chinese orders. The ones such as the 'Hero 2nd class order/medal '& 'Military Merit/Exploit 2nd class' are stunning & use real 24c/9c gold plating respectivly & come in very well made boxes, wich are fit for a king! Wood, leather & velvet. The 3rd class merit/exploit is a painted aluminium medal with a plastic case!!!! Unless this one is for enlisted men & my other 2 are for officers. Somtimes officers get the best quality. I will put up pictures when i work out how to use the scanning machine at my library!!! Toodle pippingtons Bifter