Kryptos

A belated Merry Christmas to your all and may your collections grow in leaps and bounds in 2010 :beer:

Worst I have seen so far was someone selling a Knight's Cross separately to the matching documentation :banger:

Very nice to see. And thank you for saving the grouping that was left. Also understand why seller sometimes need to do it, but they do belong together and you just saved some history :jumping:

Yeah, may probably end up regretting it but hey, not too much when I look at the collection . I have had in interest in Japanese art and culture for many, many years and have found myself involved in many of the artforms so this has been an 'accident' waiting to happen since the day I started collecting militaria .

Simply lovely. Yes, it does pay to know the items, not just saving on the fakes not bought but also those bargain when real and nice items are going for a song. Reminds me of the the day I bought my German Red Cross 3rd class mini :whistle:

These are beautiful indeed, Dieter :beer:

WOW . The collecting of minis seem to be picking up in all areas and these little beauties are eyecatchers for sure. Always amazing to see the quality of workmanship come through in the minis.

Thanks Dieter. Sitting here and drooling over yours as well . And know what you say in terms of the affordability. My main collection is German so this was like a breath of fresh air for the bank .

Some more to show.

Thanks for the info, will definitely make use of it.

Suppose it also matter what the item is. For example, a good friend of mine collects Japanese swords. It is perfectly OK and recommended to restore an old sword and resharpen it and such. Increases the value, do the same with a European sword and the collecting community will lynch you. In the German medal area I know of no one who would risk polishing and cleaning unless it is very specific circumstances.

Thank you Dieter! Yeah, need to skill myself up in this area now. I know of two books in the area, the one by Paul Murphy and the other one by Peterson. Still need to get my grubbies on them, though. Making serious use of Richard's site. If there is anything else you know about with regards to reference material in English please let me know .

Thank you Dieter! I am a self confessed utter noob to the Japanese area. Started with the Red Cross area as my main collection is Red Cross related so at least there is a bit of a link. But yes, being thoroughly overwhelmed with what is available. Not being able to read Kanji also does not really help with matters at this stage, but I have had a love for Japanese culture for years and have always wanted to branch out into this area. Looking forward to many interesting discussions (although it will probably be a good while before I can add anything usefull in this area ).

Yes, dirt is one things, if you can easily take it off, but any method using chemical or abrasion means? I would not. It would, now doubt, damage the patina and that would take ages to become uniform again. I know this area can perhaps lead to a huge debate on the issue as there are different approaches and outlooks, but personally I would never do it. Reminds me of this article I saw on non-destructive rust removal on medals using electrolysis.

New to the area of Japanese medals and looking for a friendly place to discuss these items. As an icebreaker, my first additions. Red Cross membership and special membership medals.

It is indeed a good looking item. And the general law I live by with medals, unless you really need to, never clean. Almost without fail items are worse off after being messed with.

These items are quite common. All of these, depending on the condition of the items and whether in packets of issue will usually fetch between approx $30 - $60. Some higher somer lower.

All looking good. :beer:

Nice one Is the ribbon fully intact? Cant see properly from the pics.