Kryptos

What a nice picture, Dieter. Thanks for showing!

Lovely item in stunning condition, Dieter!

A really beautiful item Dieter. Congrats on the addition!

What a quality Dieter. That must be impossible to upgrade. An excellent addition. I love it.

One thing they don't realise is very few noobs will just jump in and buy the investment pieces so being an honest dealer that takes some time to build reputation will still benefit in the long run. Hey just rewatched BoB last week, this time in high definition. What a series, even with the odd flaw here and there.:cheers:

Yes, the collecting community is a lot smaller than some sellers may think. And word gets around very quickly. The sad thing is that they will never run out of stock of the new, the uninitiated and the pure suckers. Here in SA I see so many sellers make a living even when selling fakes and overpriced items. And I remember how it was a a brand new collector. You felt you could buy anything and then... Really hope the Japanese area does not become as convoluted as the German one currently is. :banger:

Another little addition thanks to Paul

OK and our biggest militaria show here in South Africa is about 20 tables Must make a plan sometime in the future.

Nice variant there for us interested in the RC medals. Thanks for showing.

Beautiful badge. What era does this one date to? Also curious about the name on the badge.

Cross for 25 year service:

Cross for 10 years service:

Thanks for the explanation Paul. As this is my first Japanese certificate I had no other to compare the size with.

So far no regrets Japanese wise but there was this German Weimar era Sister's Cross on auction a month or so ago. Ended up selling for 45Euro. I knew about the auction and remembered to check on it 2 hours after it closed. I was then I took a deep breath and went again.

Thanks Laurence. Dont worry, planning to plug that gap this month . That really leaves one wondering why the docs are scarce. As I understand the RC items were presented based on donations and such. So perhaps not a document that carried as much weight to the recipient as an honourary award and therefore maybe treated with less care? However that does not fit in with my understanding of Japanese culture. And thanks for the pics guys. Lovely items and paper there :beer:

Thanks for the info Dieter. Just considering how common these items are one would at least expect the docs to be easy to find. Why I was wondering if the severe discrepancy is caused by some items being given without docs? And great idea! Would love to see some more Red Cross docs! Paul, could we pehaps twist your arm to show some? :whistle:

Interesting indeed. Were all RC medals accompanied by a document upon presentation? Suppose like all paper items, the docs are not quite as resistant to the test of time as the medals are.

:speechless1:.Simply beautiful. Seeing items from a collection like yours is always a feast for the eye!

:lol: Yeah, a while back they were selling rejected NSDAP membership pin proofs for more than a mint fully finished enameled sepcimen over here. :banger:

@ Paul: Thank you. So we learn. Actually got the group for the award doc more than anything else. Will need to find a nice WWII era full member medal to go with it. Sadly I can help myself with the date so far but the rest of the kanji is still a bit of a challenge. @ Dieter: Indeed the one you are thinking of :rolleyes:

New additon to the Red Cross grouping. This one with award doc. Dated 5 October 1943.

100% agreed on that one Dieter. And yes, sometimes rarity of an item needs to take precedence over absolute mint condition.

Happy new year to you all!!

I know there are collectors who focus on 'ground finds'. Guess it all has to do with why we collect. Being able to link a medal to a specific person and therefore history, to me, is the ultimate.

Interesting topic. My fave story to tell in this area is about an Eastern Winter campaign German medal. See the same seller over here trying to sell the same medal at almost every antique fair I go to. Charging twice the price I can get one from overseas in mint condition (maybe even with packet of issue) including shipping and spins this story about how this medal comes from Stalingrad and therefore must have been damaged in the fire. Meanwhile it is a zincker with zinc pest!! Nah, when it comes to medals I say go for as mint and unaltered as possible. It is so difficult to be sure the wear comes from combat and not bad storage for the last 60+ years. And have even heard of people who have shot up perfectly good medals to sell that as intense battle mementos because of the bullet holes. Not to mention that I firmly believe that trying to clean a medal will almost always devalue it. This example shown here is so typical of the seller out there who pawns off everything that is old as valuable. And the sad thing is, he will always find a buyer.