Luftmensch

Like I said, you can always have checks issued if you don't mind several weeks of float.

Contact a branch of HSBC Bank...by phone if there isn't one close to you. They will refer you to an IBC (International Banking Center) of HSBC. An IBC will get all forms to you to open a Euro deposit a/c and tell you how to get them filled out and notarized. They are currently inundated with American applications, so allow for 2-3 months all told. Your Euro a/c will be domiciled at a Canadian branch of HSBC. Once the a/c is set up you deal with them by phone or thru internet banking. A form notifies the IRS of its existence so I wouldn't try to shelter income there. Some tax is withheld on interest by Revenue Canada but there is a tax treaty so I believe you can claim most of it back to avoid double taxation. Your Canadian HSBC branch will receive Euros wired from Europe, or Euro checks or I suppose cash sent by registered mail. Having set you up they would like you to leave some funds on deposit (not a bad idea as the dollar slides) but will convert and wire US funds to your US a/c as you require them. They will also mail a US $ check to you to avoid further fees. For funds on deposit they offer Euro CDs at decent rates. If you want to repatriate US dollars and don't like HSBCs conversion rate (it depends on how much you have with them!) you can use xe.com, which a lot of American dealers use. They open a/cs in Europe and occasionally top them up before buying trips by wiring US dollars and converting funds thru xe.com. XE are a Canadian company and reputable. You can do all the above with six other currencies, none of which is possible with an American bank, unless you are some high net worth individual. Until I set this up, Citibank, for example, wanted to charge me US$1,000 conversion and fees (above the xe.com or Cdn HSBC rate) on a 7,000 pound check. The trick is to get someone to physically deposit Euros to avoid being burned on conversion....and then someone else who will convert at something like a settlement rate (which HSBC can match if it wants the business). I don't think it has much to do with US banking law. US banks just don't want to be in the retail currency market. After you've been nearly burned once you oblige them and look elsewhere... Rgds

Right you are! I recommend HSBC in Canada who offer Euro and Sterling accounts to Americans. You can open them on the phone. The advantage is, to an active collector, banking Euros to spend Euros on new items, and avoiding multiple conversions--and a very sick currency altogether. Though it may see a pop around the election... Rgds

As worms turn, there is no better example than friends of Putin finding themselves under lock and key the next moment and their assets seized. They are probably getting rid of cash in areas where there is a well defined and growing market, and salting those assets away...

For those of us who've seen currency rates go up and down, the current dollar situation is a good one to set tight on and -not- sell. Sooner or later, the exchange rate will reverse itself, and items will move in the direction of those with the money and willing to pay the prices. Enjoy the situation while you can. The worm never rests, and it is always turning. Les

Beautiful case (with buff flocking) identical to mine. Got $1500 for mine 2 years ago. Is the Euro worth $3 already?!!

Need one for an article? Close-ups of back and front?

It's a pretty badge, Vic. How much did you say you are on the hook for? Or did you say? Not that it doesn't lead to more self-doubt. I'd pull the trigger for 750 or less because it wouldn't be hard to get my money out on a piece that is such a looker. But then why is it going for so cheap? 900 or above and I'd wait for a group with great provenance...even if it took years. I wouldn't be in a hurry to amass loose badges in this market. You are not a rare variant collector, right?

Never seen one like this! Hallmarks look unimpressive in the manner of recent Juncker types, but that's probably a quibble here.

Buyer paid $7400 for this in Thies' last auction, serifs case and all.

I'm not holding it in my hands, so assuming it's real, with the cockade nibbled and the bullion worn dull, low end, 300-350.

$300-450 depending on condition...

Yes, my first impression was that this "reenactor special" would have been happier with an RNAS badge! Rgds

That salty badge just doesn't look like it started out in life attached to that cap, which looks to me like it was made in the UK. Too clean inside, too! Rgds

Good for you...I hope to get mine back, too. I used the loose badges to make a block of aviation items. Come to poppa!!!

Nope, it is ex-Stogieman collection, and comes with his COA. I've seen maybe one other in my life I trust. The auction example is still available, but I think for protocol's sake contact Thies for the time being...I'll raise the price! Rgds John

Yup, no dedicated pilots' wrist watches at this early stage. Wristwatches with sweep seconds and features useful to other technical troops like artillerymen, certainly used by pilots. Would have to be a presentation piece and engraved to a pilot to claim "pilot's watch".

On reviewing the thread, I noticed some images from page 1 were not posting. Here they are again for new readers trying to make sense of the text. Rgds John

No wonder he was so vain about his looks!

Something I just read in Rimmel's new book on Zeps. Are people familiar with Felix Schwormstadt's great illustrations of a Zeppelin crew in action, printed in the Leipziger Illustrierte Zeitung in 1917 and also in English publications after the war? They are widely reproduced in books today. Apparently Felix used Linnarz and the crew of LZ 38 for his models! Check the resemblance...

That's not a moon...that's an axe blade...

The logic is simple, Steve. There are known exemplars. I'll hang onto my money until one comes along. In terms of the pursuit of knowledge, no one is saying definitively this didn't exist, but that it doesn't conform to known examples that have come from a family-owned group. That's the only unshakeable test. That was the acid test Bob Pandis and Rick used. I'm open to correction... Rgds John

Concur. Ever since Herr Stogiemann had the balls to assert that crowns were falsch, I have concentrated on and paid close attention to the badges I have been fortunate to get direct from families in groups--12 so far. About 8 were Junckers, and not one had a crown, or a mark like the open moon above, which to me resembles recent fakes. Given their cost today, I will go with undoubted examples, even if my sample size is a little small. Here is the latest family Juncker I picked up in a complete group to a Saxon pilot...

HORRIBLE hallmarks for one...check that moon.

Thanks, Stogie.