Luftmensch

ACH so...I think I go back and clean by AG badge v e r y c a r e f u l l y !!!!!!

I'm not sure about the heroin analogy. It's yours legally (for the duration) if you have a bill of sale pre-dating Pres Burning Bush's signing into law for all items over $500 in value, I read somewhere. I think the only legal way to dispose of these upon death is to chuck them over the White House fence, or maybe find the memorial on the Mall that corresponds to your time period of your medals and DROP THEM IN THE RECEPTACLE PROVIDED!!!

Jeepers, and I thought I had problems. Sounds like a Disney Resort waiting to happen...Rgds

Kev, is this true? Count Dracula's castle is for sale? (On CNN today.) Can't you Transylvanians pass a "Stolen Vampires" Act? Aldo, you gotta stop wearing them ears around your wife in the kitchen...

I think Herr Aldo has hit upon a wunderbares idea...you've heard of the bookmobile? Why don't we do a Lending Library or a Timeshare of Valor! Everyone who wants an aces group in their collection, leases it from me and we rotate among subscribers on a monthly basis. If you want it for haldf the year you buy 6 shares. But I would need the WHOLE value upfront from everybody as a security deposit!!! Now we're starting to think like politicians!!!

Good question. I guess the amount you can write-off will take a hit if theoretically there is no market value. $10,000 riker? LIke the Pentagon's $10,000 hammer? Rgds

Some close-ups: DSC is numbered 6256. Rgds John

Hmmmm...German Jew, I believe, settled in Pennsylvania--not Transylvania--but close! Differently spelled branch of the family but distantly related to Schwab brokerage family...lotsa money. Young Jacques and the family chauffeur built a biplane in the family garage. After the war he was tech adviser on Hell's Angels and hung out with Jean Harlow. Any resemblance? Claimants to paternity should email me family trees and copy the FBI

You guys are so nice...you can all testify at my trial...be character witnesses...and then go on a hunger strike! The stars denote German planes shot down. 10 kills...10 stars. On Swaab's first orientation flight over the lines, he got separated from the rest of the flight. He tried to land at an enemy field thinking it was an allied field when a Fokker DVII surprised him. He surprised himself by managing to shoot it down. Before he could get out of there he was bounced by 10 more DVIIs. Swaab was grazed 3 times in the head, but still shot down 2 more enemy aircraft and drive the rest off before he lost consciousness and crashed. He was shaking so bad after that first flight that Brooks sent him to a sanatarium...and checked himself in a week later when he lost some more newbies on another orientation flight. After several days they checked themselves out because they were depressed by all the shell-shock cases that came in. Brooks put him up for an MOH (Pershing recommended) but it was downgraded to DSC in 1919 in Washington. He didn't lobby congressmen like Rickenbacker for the next 15 years to keep the MOH. But he did go on to be high scorer of the 22nd. http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/usa/swaab.php Rgs John

Fortu...I mean, unfortunately, to Lt. Jacques Swaab, 22nd Aero... He was downgraded from an MOH, otherwise I could be doing concurrent sentences someday...!!!

Okay, you're next in line after my sister in Port Hope, Ontario...but I want an Xmas card every year without fail...

What do I have that's now worthless? Well, I don't collect U.S. medals, but aviation collectors rarely get a chance to own an ace's rack. Ouch! Is it legal to leave them to my girlfriend (someday wife) if I die? What if she doesn't want `em? What if I dump her and form a homosexual civil union with another medal collector in Massachusetts and give them to him. Is that legal? Is it legal to mail `em to Iraq to attach to a shell fired at the enemies of freedom so we don't have to fight them at home? Can I track down the grandkids who sold these several years ago and beg them to take `em back in exchange for a lifetime of dental work or investment advice? Is it legal to wear them when they plant me six feet under? Rgds Confused

Authenticity? Prima! Spitze! Very nice!

Very nice. I'm getting tired of the same old Junckers!

Hi, Sasha We'll need photos of the back, too. Rgds John

WOW! Great work, Rick. Thanks for the citations and image...only 11 more to go (incl. EK1)!! Rgds John PS Ray Rimell and Windsock just put out a new Datafile featuring LZ38 among a few others with some great photos from the "Linnarz Album"! Great read. Here is LZ 38 with its Iron Cross painted under the bow... Here is the "First London Crew" with Linnarz the tallest with goggles. The caption says to note the sandbag ballast lashed to the handrails, the rippling of the celluloid windows, and the canvas of the control gondolas upper section stiffened by duralumin ribs below.

Hi, Rick. I have noticed that in our field. Most flying badges are owned by guys who have one or two and then a lot of other badges of other nationalities. So for their Prussian pilot they want a textbook example of the most representative type. I've always been attracted to the one nobody else has! As for the Prinzen, it might even be harder to find with these marks, but I think I'm thinking like a coin collector! Rgds

Your opinion is also noted, Chris! But look at the prices of REAL run-of-the-mill Juncker pilots on any dealer's site and explain why a rare maker should not command some premium! Otherwise, allow me to add my name to yours on the list of those who would like to build a collection of real badges and pay wholesale! Rgds

Check out this previous thread for other examples to compare. http://gmic.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=8735&hl=bulgarian Rgds

I dunno...about $900 each...30% less if not for our policy of letting our currency tank...

Isn't that funny...the last few auctions I went to in New York a gaggle of Russians in the back kept getting warned for noise and drawing shhhhhs from bidders. Thanks for the info. Rgds

Hi, Claudio Then it's 20% on top of those prices, right? Is there further VAT for European buyers? Lastly, are there many floor bidders (say, more than 50?) at his auctions, generally, and is action strong on the phone or mainly from write-ins? Rgds

Good thread...not because it says anything conclusive...but because people are unable to get comfortable with certain Bavarian badges and bailing out! Live to fight...I mean collect...another day. Rgds

Hi, Jaba--I'm looking for that picture. I don't have the badge any more because, like Stogie, I wasn't sure about it. It was from a guy who occasionally "salted" a group with missing pieces. Which sort of contradicts my earlier advice but leads to the next free bit of advice--IGNORE THE STORY! Examine every piece for what it is, or isn't.

No, but its fun to be patient and consult forums like these, kick the tires at shows, and be ready to pay for attributable groups or hand-me-downs from veteran collectors, by which time you will have schooled yourself to see some differences, but continue to take Stogies' words to heart that even he does not have certittude on certain types, so be prepared to pass on pieces until conditions are favourable. Small, well-considered collections--good collections! I own one A-H I really like after 15 years. I've only held three real Bulgarian's in 25 years. I have never trusted Air Gunners until I bought a sweet one from a knowledgeable dude on this thread who deaccessioned his...etc. etc. Rgds John