Vit67

EK ribbon is a repro. All ribbons folded differently, no padding whatsoever, not to mention poor craftsmanship in general. Hardware is not a period piece If combined cost of the awards in this group will cover the spendings, don't bother to return it With ingredients like these, I would produce a piece of art Regards Vitaly

Hi. Nice little group. This Rising sun is 6th class. 5th has golden plated large rays. Treasure, I believe is also of 6th class. I will try to make a suggestion on dating both Ordens: Showa period some 1940s Regards Vitaly

Hello gentlemen I am looking for opinions on this order Also would appreciate if you could tell me the price range for this piece.

If you mean me - you are wrong. I am absolutely sincere. It wasn't easy for me to go trough all this ordeal. Different thoughts were crossing my mind, I even wanted to "slam the door" and go "underground"... but then again thanks to all negative and positive responses I can say - I will make, repair, rebuild and sell my medal bars openly. And one more thing - I will never apologize for what I am doing. If it feels right it can't be wrong. For myself it is a period.

To be honest this discussion (and many others) were extremely useful. At this moment I have complete understanding of the current situation. Of course there are people who will hate me, but there also will be supporters or at least people who like what I do. I hardly react on insults and attempts to undermine my activity or devalue my efforts (you have to agree it takes hours and hours of research, not just steady hands for stitching) I have decided to go public, I will create a website where I will offer my services. THANK YOU ALL!!! You all helped me a lot. P.S. Have you seen this one? I build it for myself

There was Some progress on this bar 1. I have disassembled it 2. Sourced some medals (including hilâl-i ahmer madalyasir) 3. Started to mount medals on to carrier ribbons Need to buy only 5 medals so far: Bulgarian commemorative medal, Sachsen Meiningen für Verdienst im Kriege, Lippe-Detmold kriegsverdienstkreuz, S.E.H.O and Hausorden vom Weißen Falken (last two are costly but easy to find) Red Crescent When I removed the ribbons inside of some of them I found rings belonged to original awards it looks like they were just ripped off.... this is how I found out which Faithful Service cross supposed to be there....

I see. I was sarcastic. Just because I really don't know what to say in response yo your post with all the scary abbreviations .

Citizen arrest?

I do like recognition of my skills ( of any kind actually) nothing wrong with it. Trust me I can enjoy selling my forgeries quietly. It looks like this is the best way... unfortunately.

Very close but not exactly. The fact that I am not ashemed and not apologizing for my doing, doesn't make me a criminal. I really, really don't want to work for a "black market". We need to learn to co-exist. I just triggered the process that exposed problems, most of the people find hard to accept. Regards Vitaly

Nothing glows. Here is the stitching under the felt.

I did.

Detailed inspection showed that the KVK ribbon has very distinctive dent left after contact with the large rounded object, most likely the crown. ring could've been removed prior mounting or simply turned down, all medals were stitched around jumprings it would provide decent holding strength. Also I have noticed that threads for this purpose were carefully picked according to the medal's color. That gives a clue for Faithful service award - golden color threads suggests 40 years service award. I will try to research this bar anyway. We will see where it brings me.

I did some mock-up in PS. Added White Falcon, Saxe-Ernestine House-Order, and Lippe Detmold cross. Sizes are 99% correct, knowing the measurements of the KVK =47,5mm and measurements of the other orden we can figure out size of the awards in the mock up. Well it looks like there might be no number 5 at all. (the one between Saxe-Ernestine House-Order and Lippe Detmold)

I wonder, with this set of awards would it be possible to research the owner? I actually have no idea where to start. I would love to try. Any suggestions?

The idea about silver merit cross was based on the location of the stitching point where the missing orden was attached to backing ribbon. White Falcon has a crown which makes it "taller" than other awards and therefore mounting point should be higher, and actual mounting point is located slightly higher than KVK on the 2nd place. But! this bar is Frakspange and if White Falcon would've been mounted under the angle and leveled based on the center line, then it fits perfectly. (to make sure I will make a cardboard mockup of the orden and try it) If this is true then your suggestion about Saxe-Ernestine House-Order becomes a highly possible option Laurentius, thank you for your opinion!

It makes sense. I am actually was thinking about it. Thank you for advice! I will do. (I suppose, this is what forums are for) I knew, when I started to show what I do, it will be controversial, but I kinda love it and believe this sort of activity is absolutely normal. And eventually I will be very very good at this. And my supplies will be 300% authentic. However I have no intention to be in shadows, I see no benefit for me to produce bars from scratch purely for resale purpose. Anyway. good discussion. Thank you all. Can we get back to 2 missing awards on the subject please?

Restoration - the act or process of returning something to its earlier good condition or position, or to its owner. (Cambridge Dictionary) Lets take a look at Medal bars as subject of collecting. Problem with them is: in 9 cases out of 10 we are unable to answer these questions: - Who was the owner of the bar - Who made/manufactured the bar - When it was manufactured (Unless, of course, if "experts" with Chrystal ball, just looking at the picture of the bar can determine all of the above.) Effectively it denominates item from "historical artifact" to a nicely arranged display of some random awards. Value of this bars equals monetary value of the medals on it. No significant historical value whatsoever. (but yet still some history, if awards and ribbons are authentic, ) If you buying a medal bar even with manufacturer label on it, say on a military fair, you choose to believe, without any serious expertise, that this item is an artifact, - please be my guest, it is surely a sophisticated way... Absolutely different story with items furnished with solid provenance, in the form of certificates, pictures of the owner with particular medal bar/ribbon bar. Normally items like this very well preserved, easily traceable etc, and do not require any manipulation. Items like these are extremely valuable in my eyes - would never touch them. All above makes such items "lucky" everybody loves them, cherish them... What about abused bars? Like the one at the top? Medals just ripped off, and if not restored it will be taken apart, sold by pieces, leftovers just dumped and ....boom! it's gone. Not on my watch: I find them, buy them, if possible research and and restore. In difficult for me cases I always will be asking community to help in Id and other information that may help me. Oh I am familiar with this classification: there are few types of people collectors: - Pure, sophisticated type, they are the best, crème de la crème - Others, lowlifes, third sort, "Souval hoarders" etc.

I totally understand your point and respect your position, but you are wrong about above bar. I don't do Prussian style bars. Too simple. This one came to me without the awards in a large lot of damaged medal bars I have purchased recently. For some reason pictures look better than they are in real life, ribbons are faded and slightly worn. There is nothing wrong with that bar. Besides I have declared multiple times at WA forum that I do repair/restore/rebuild medal bars and also my position on that matter. It is not a secret. There is some people who find it hard to accept, but at the same time there are many who are sure it is not a crime. I can admit that I am capable of building ANY bar from scratch, but I am interested in large, complex restoration project like the one presented in here, I also do repair bars for other people (missing medals, ribbons etc.)

I will take it as a complement. Thank you for helping in IDing 3rd award. I recon 2 missing ones also some merit awards from other German states? What those might be? (At this moment it looks like it is virtually impossible to research this bar, isn't it?)

How will I put the medals back on? I need to disassemble the bar, attach medals to the backing ribbons. Besides, I am capable of putting them back together the way it was. I even use period correct threads. Just as an example. this one fully restored (it was even in much worse condition as the big one)

Since I will strip all the ribbons anyway, I took off the one in question, number 3 Also i have marked all backing ribbons that match the awards, only few of them don't match. Interestingly, for awards number 3 and one that supposedly is Osman red crescent, same backing ribbons were used,