redcross

I have had good luck with this seller, fair prices, helpful... the only down side

is the shipping may take a month, so be paitent, good things come to those who wait.

while the bar and crown are rare,

when buying - do make certain

that the bar and crown were issued

and are not upgrades by the

frankenstein medal bar folks

I was offered one once that

used a Belgian crown and when

I pointed this out, I was told it was

a very <g> rare variation

one never knows what something will bring on ebay

I'll always bid $35 for one, even if I don't need it now,

but on ebay you're never quite sure whatyou'll get

sometimes its copies <sigh>

there are copies that are enameled on the back

but yours looks good to me

they often show up on ebay quite cheap

which is how I've picked up some spares

other times they sell well

hard to figure

someone might have more info

[and will request a picture of the back side of the bar]

but my impression is

1st place Prussian Red Cross 2nd or 3rd class

2nd place - probably Charlotte Cross

3rd place the medal you have

nice

It is definetly not a Bulgarian Red Cross medal,

but as to what it is.... I don't have a clue,

other than there are several 'humnitarian'

awards that I have seen, but have not been able

to really document, this is one I hadn't seen before,

and have no idea who issued it, except it was

probably not a red cross organization

which generally either use one of the standard

red cross mottos, or have the word or abbev for

red cross - somewhere on the medal

having said that

I will add there are any number of red cross medals

I've heard of but never seen

and I have no idea how many I've never heard of

my regular version arrived last week, nice book,

sadly the red cross section is a little weak

but there were a few, which makes it better

than many a book I've bought in hope

I thought it was probably

an Olga Order

not a Charlottes cross

with regards to the red cross award

its the Thuringain Red Cross

Th?rigen Landesverein vom Roten Kreuz

its the service medal

I'll have to update my website

as I have it as the wrong class

but need to pull out the research

so this time I remember right

I don't think it is a conflict of interest,

but I am not a lawyer.

What I do know is that if you do apraisals,

you can be held liable if it can be shown

that what you say its worth

is substantially different from what it is worth

many folks have gotten out of appraisals

as we live in a litigious society

and liability insurance is expensive enough

that many folks can't afford it

for what apraisals bring in

I'm glad it went to a good home

sorry I had to help bid it up

but I very much wanted it too

here is the first class star

I'll try to find the other medal

and add that then

All I can be certain of

is a certificate I have

for a 3rd class medal

with a date of 1923

I have seen somewhere in a book

that they were issued until 1924

but can't remeber which book

its not in the first 3 I took off the shelf

but the bar doesn't look right to me either

its rather hard for me to imagine

3rd class PRK being of highest precident

when would that be the case?

where it comes from matters

if I knew it came from a well known

and trusted seller of imperial german medals

I probably would have bid

in this price range you need

references that we can check

[or even to see it and hold it]

[emailing the person you bought it from would

be the least amount of caution I would want to take

and I'd need to know that I could trust them also]

an alternative is to offer money back guarentee

should I take it to my expert, and he advise that it wasn't right

its about the only way you will get top dollar

prussian red cross was issued well into the

weimar period

I've seen several for sale in the lat few years

one was on ebay recently, no bids, opened at $1500

the problem is this is one of....

the differences between the period issue

and all the others that are out there

easiest test is black light on the ribbon & thread

some have plastic instead of hard enamel

some look too brand new

and some are more subtile

I leave it to someone else for the fine points

I'm afraid I can't

I never thought to take pictures

and what I had I passed on to

someone who really wanted it

I hope someone else will post them

I'm not certain if its Ottoman

but do believe it is Turkey

have some similair

they came from europe

china is great

but as values went up

reproductions abound

1st thing to check and learn

is to recognize transfers & decals

2nd is to learn what reproductions

are and have been on the market

since it is a banned symbol on ebay

you won't be able to check there

but ebay is a good source to learn

about what is being faked and forged

or "upgraded"

a friend came back from a trip overseas

having found complete sets of period china

still in the box - but the boxes were new

he brought me back a tea set

said it cost less than $20

I'm fairly certain that the badge in post #64

is not Red Cross - the colors are reversed,

as to what it is... there are a number of related

organizations - first aid, samaritans,

that exist in various eurpoean countries

[the swiss, germans, austrians & itallians

are ones I've seen examples]

or it might just be "patriotic"

besides organizations using a white cross on a red field

there are others using a green cross on a white field

much of the time when I've run into white cross on red field

my first suspicion is that its something swiss

as the orgin of the red cross symbol is the inverse of the swiss flag

thanks

sadly neither has any of the Red Cross medals I'm looking for,

but I was surpised at their estimates

for the national defence red cross medals [which thankfully I have]

I didn't think they had gotten so high

if one is whytes - who is the other?

having forged a blade or 2

I will tell you it is a lot of work

and it takes a lot of skill

its an art - and you must pay for good art

I appreciate good damsacus

because I know what it takes to make it

Nice medals

always like to see red cross medals

Brian

yours is the late model,

I think some of them got out of the mint

with the fall of communism

as they were abundantly available for a few years

the early model looks about the same

except that the back of the medal also has a circular mint mark

there are miniatures also availabe for this

[i think some are still listed on ebay]

my own personal favorite of this series

are the ones that were made by Spinks during the war

sorry scanner is down, so I can share it right now

I have, and enjoyed it

but after moving to iowa

[no rifles for deer]

8mm on a gopher is sort of overkill

but I didn't think that about

50 cal on prairiedogs