The Schrägstich Faker, probably the most prolific fabricator and purveyor of fake German medal bars and fake German decorations E V E R, is selling his stuff like hotcakes for record prices. He is capitalizing on the scarcity of good imperial bars with a seemingly endless output of pure garbage.
I nicknamed him Schrägstich because of his signature needlework... very prominent and bold diagonal stitching of the backing material. The backing material he uses is known as Pacific Cloth, a specially woven fine wool-blend used to create storage sleeves, pouches and totes for silverware. This cloth can fool inexperienced people into thinking it is period-original Uniformtuch.
The artificially aged ribbons are modern and the decorations are about 90% fake. The fake decorations are sometimes sold by themselves.
Sales occur on eBay in Europe with shipping to the USA and Japan. The auctions start at 1 Euro with bidders' identities hidden. He is found under several different user names: ichverkaufalles12345, bogdangapol, norbmaschmi, wuotan1985, manmusma2, peppinochen68, wilro11, inge759ch, maschwanma, aubanan12, egon4791, trumeko28, pueppchenundtuch, salihero, lillyfee1995, kasperle369, galec-galec, furchtlosundtreu14, cairde32, benkosi, koelnerdomplatz09, kokor00, orehilas321, slimcase1958, sanktvith2011, trumeko, just to name a few. Judging by his auction-descriptions, he seems to have some knowledge of orders and decorations.
Here are a few of Schrägstich's creations sold during a TWO MONTH PERIOD... April and May. Just imagine the volume of garbage sold over the past few years... for jaw-dropping prices.
I have to agree with you. eBay has become tedious and exhausting for somebody trying to determine what is real and what is fake. It's also frustrating to witness how financially successful these unscrupulous sellers have been. Here is a photo of a real Honour Cross and also a detail-photo of a real piece next to Mr. Schrägstich's fake. Absolutely nothing is right about the fake... the proportions of the arms, the pebbling, the medallion ring, the monogram, the Öse, the crown. Incidentally... the crown doesn't even have a cross! Maybe it's a piece designed for Nichtchristen! ???
