VtwinVince

Now that is an interesting bar. Can we see the reverse of the medals, please?

That's a nice bar, Gutemuh.

Interesting family history. I think it's about time the Russians honored treaties and started returning all the stolen art, including the Schliemann gold.

As usual, superb piece. Congrats.

Scott, from your scans the construction looks absolutely correct, but the combination is very weird. I'd pass.

Very interesting, never seen a color photo of AH wearing the Blutorden ribbon.

Nice one Tom, I had my eye on this spange before Christmas, but then blew my budget on a bunch of other stuff.

I concur, absolutely great naval bar.

Spitzenklasse, I like the HOH on peace ribbon.

Both bars look perfectly fine to me.

Nice bar and feldspange combo, price is a little high, I'd say more in the 600.00 range. Non-com EK bars are getting harder to find.

I don't think the price is wildly out of line, a little high perhaps. Good BMVO4's are now going for 350-500.00 depending on maker and condition.

That Baden Frackspange is a real beauty.

I guess the only thing missing from this group was "Unterhosen des Leutnants, getragen bei Vionville und etwas Schmutzig".

Nice pickup, Pierce, I was seriously tempted to grab this one off Timo.

Absolutely stunning Kettchen, what more can you say?

Fantastic spange. I agree on the analysis of the missing Centennar-Medaille, however, although the inscription says "Wilhelm der Grosse Deutscher Kaiser", he was, in fact, never referred to by Germans as "Wilhelm der Grosse". The implication of the inscription is that he was a great emperor, not "the Great". As we all know, the only German king of the modern era to have been granted this title by posterity was Friedrich II.

Great photo, Chris, I guess they were giving these things out like candy.

Bravo, Christophe, amazing collection and most informative.

John, I wish my dad had grabbed von Buttlar's PLM, what a piece that would be. He described him as a very correct old-school officer, and they talked about his missions during the war. This would have been about 1950.

Holy cow, John, what a great story. Sounds like von Schiller had quite an interesting career. Looks like a denazified pilot badge in the trophy case as well. My dad befriended von Buttlar-Brandenfels after the war, as they lived in the same flat in the Eifel mountains. Any chance of getting the rest of the items?

Thanks for your insights, Les, most informative. On a similar note, my uncle, the younger brother of "Opi", was captured and sent by the Americans for "de-Nazification" at the officer's camp at Dachau. When I talked to him, he told us that the piles of bodies he saw there after the war were those of German POW's, not KZ inmates. And he was there for a year.

Great photo of an archetypal Saxon\Prussian officer.

Great photo, that guy looks about 13.

Hello Koberstein, Regarding Ludwig Koberstein, he was in the Luftwaffe, I believe as a radio operator on bombers, and he was a member of the crew of Knight's Cross winner Oblt. Thoss. I have several copies of photos of him during his time in the service, which he autographed for me. Unfortunately details are sketchy, and I don't know if he was captured by the Russians. Of course, you could have been captured by the western allies and still find yourself in a death camp. Read Bacque's "Other Losses" for a sobering account of the conditions in the camps on the Rhine.