VtwinVince

LOL, has the Order of St. Fauci been established yet?

I've been a collector of Saxon bars for many years, and I wouldn't be so quick to dismiss this one. Firstly, I don't know what happened to the device on the Merit Order. Secondly, the precedence can vary regarding the Albert and Merit Orders, I have bars where one takes precedence, or the other. Thirdly, Scharffenberg DID use hooks for mounting decorations, I have a bar with the St. Henry Order which contradicts your statement. The use of this label can also be explained. I agree that the reverse hardware is not typical, but this is not sufficient for me to dismiss this one.

As I said earlier, those two are fine examples. especially the first one with the silver merit medal with clasp.

I agree, the market was quite different online even a few years ago. I remember seeing a genuine early Hossauer Black Eagle Order sell for scrap gold value (unfortunately I missed the auction). That would never happen in this day and age.

Thanks for the images, truly fantastic material. The documents are also first rate.

I had the same reaction to the Oldenburg merit cross, as well as the RAO medal, those do not look period to me. The rest of the bar is convincing.

This is a great Nachlass, please post images of the award documents.

Holzauge, sei wachsam.

Yes, very nice indeed. Can you post images of the KO4mS and the clasp on the colonial medal? I would also be interested to see the reverse of the bar. Are you sure on the spelling of this officer's name?

I'm getting a weird feeling about this one, the combination is strange and I don't like the reverse.

Thanks, and I agree that these German-style Austrian bars are somewhat scarce. Yours is really interesting, with the engraved Merit Cross. I once had a group to an officer from Pressburg with a couple of the pre-war Rothe presentation pieces, and one was a peacetime merit cross which was engraved. I wish I still had that group.

Good question, I'm not really up on my K.u.K awards. I guess this guy was an NCO during the Republic period and then later was in the Wehrmacht, hence the Anschluss Medal.

Sehr beeindruckend, die mit Inschrift habe ich nie gesehen.

I dragged this out to show a fellow member, and thought it might be of interest. Lots of zinc on this bar, and the silver bravery medal is aluminum.

The whole thing looks spurious to me, weird engraving and weird spellings.

Yup, that's exactly what I've done as well. Can't have too many spares kicking around.

Interesting, I have wondered about this medal myself.

It's unusual, but certainly possible.

Oh dear, things are rapidly degenerating. Are we any closer to figuring out who is producing this junk? Latvians? The Chinese?

That's a nice one. I've got something similar, images on the way.

Agreed, I take the long view and wait for something to appear out of the woodwork at a good price.

I agree, does not conform to known originals.

There is another on German ebay with a buy-it-now of 80.00 euros, but I have a funny feeling about it as well.

D'oh! Unfortunately the Alsens are harder to find than the Dueppels these days.

Yup, this is why our hobby is being ruined.