Ed_Haynes

Discussion? "Discussion"? Where? By whom?? Lots of folks can "discuss", but unless they have done the reasearch, . . . ??? (And good luck with JOMSA, Mike! )

Thank you, Paul.

You think this is bad, Dan, try Mongolian . . .

And there are many fakes, ranging for the very good to the not very good.

Or, better yet, try a good library?

A Muslim in the Freikorps? I'd think that would have been even more illogical and implausible than a Jew???!!!

I don't think we (quite) know this yet. Were Bulgiarians (or any others) incapable of purchasing their upgraded prettier awards by mail-order in the inter-war years? Somehow, I suspect not. Though I could be wrong. We need to know much more, to put it simply, and to know it (in the specifc context of the Harp Madalyasi, 1915-22) in the context of the Ottoman Empire. Thereafter, the award belongs to the realm of any European (or Turkish) fantasy jewelery who wished to make a profit on the open market. And these may have been wartime (European) upgrades or postwar upgrades. This is an important question that needs to be answered from research (not guessed-at), though it does focus on what the evidence suggests were unofficial awards.

Interesting . . . . But isn't the question we ought to be asking is what awards are found in Ottoman groups (Tim?). It is an Ottoman award. This is something I fear many other "Central Powers" collectors sometimes forget. The fact that prettier, fancier, sexier post-war awards were available for private purchase should not be allowed to distort our understandning of what the Ottomans awarded. We also ought not ignore the significant scholarship that already exists (both in the various good pieces in the JOMSA). An interesting discussion, thanks . . .

Non-Christian. HIGHLY unlikely a Muslim = Jew?? Assuming, of course, the St. A is original and correct.

Of course, but in Freikorps?

Welcome Hunyadi -- we need your expertise!!

Interesting rumor. Any evidence for it? So the Ottoman Government awarded these? To whom? Says who? On what basis? Absent some evidence, this sounds like forum chatter.

Nice ones, Jeff. Many thanks. Good to see the real medals. May these assume these from John's collection are coming forward at a prestegious auction firm known to us all??

Interesting, a Jewish Freikorps veteran??

A nice badge, but a badly damaged badge. But at least it is what it is, a damaged badge. If ever repaired, what would it then be? I suggest it would then be a "nothing", of scant phaleristic value or interest beyond the novelty value of a repaired badge and the history of the piece will have been destroyed. Shed a tear or two over it, offer up a bowl of sake, and see it as a piece of history badly treated by history. I'd leve it unrepaired as what it is. And then go and look for a pretty one (too). Just my ?5.

So this is about design rather than function? So Sukhbaatar is out of the running? The Order of Kim Il Sung is out? Just Lenin, Marx, and Dmiitrov? A nice trio for sure, but . . . ???

Nice one! Not often the "good guys" win one.

Fair enough ... Simon ... ???

Ding! You win, as expected, Christophe. Simon gets honorable mention. Sorry mine was so easy . . .

Not sure we quite have the "where" of this . . . quite . . . ?? You may have it, say it?

Thanks for these, Christophe. Another stop for the travel agenda!

. . . a past that only a now-aging generation now seemed to recall, and with what mixed memories?

. . . but, mostly, it was just a place for Moscow residents to go, be in the sun, shop, and only occasionally be reminded of the past . . .

. . . and of the old socialist realism . . .

There were occasional displays of the old iconography of power . . .