Hauptmann

Broomhandle Mauser: Not sure if any of this is a unit mark... it's located under the barrel:

Hi all, Been meaning to post thse for a while... so without further ado... Bolo Mauser:

Hi Laurence, Actually I do know they were military. Just have no idea what they were used for. I only wish I'd had the $$'s to buy them all those years ago... might have been something really rare. No idea. Just popped into my head the other night and I thought what better place to try and find out but here. Dan

Hi Christian, Many thanks for all this great info, and the pics as well. The Peoples Army Orders are definitely on my list as they're some of the ones that I definitely like. And yes, they sure do look BIG! Dan

Hi Christian, Many thanks!!!! Can't wait to see it in person as I've only seen Yugo awards in books and online. Vic says they're very heavy which is one thing that attracted me to trying them out. I like heavy well made awards. Keeping my fingers crossed that it's complete with the ribbon bars... but if not how hard are they to find separately? I may have a line on a mini but I'll have to see how the $$'s stand right now to see if I can manage it. But sure would be nice to be able to add that to the set. And I agree... I find the 3rds to be the nicest in this set of Orders with the seconds next in line, although I did see one posted that was about neck n' neck with the 3rd in my eyes. I think it has to do with the quality of the gold plating in the center. And I also find the 1st class to be a bit "over the edge" shall we say. Kitsh was precisely the word I was originally going to use so good to know you feel the same on that one. Definitely will try to find a nice Partisan Star... I really do like them! Thanks for the warm welcome and the compliments on the new addition!!!! Dan

Hi Charles, That sure is a beautiful Gramota! Yet another great find! You're amazing my friend! I think when you come visit when you're back in the states I'm going to let you take a crack at metal detecting... cause I think with your good fortune re: finding neat goodies you'll hit the motherload!!!! Dan

Hi Grant, You're really coming along nicely in all this. Another nice addition for sure. Can't wait till you get some Urkunde sets as those are really nice! Keep up the great work! Dan

Hi Ulsterman, Many thanks!!!! Not sure... Charles will have to kick in on that when he has time. But I agree it's a great bar! Oh, if anyone wants to see the back it'll have to wait until either Charles has time to do a scan of it or I get it here and can do it. I know he's busy, busy, busy right now. He also managed to get ahold of one of the retirement boxes and a nearly complete set of the long service medals for me. I have shots of the latter but not the box but hope to post those when they arrive as well. Again Charles, many thanks my friend... couldn't do it without you!!!! Dan

Hi Grant, Very cool! Wasn't positive it was the gold grade so guess I'm starting on the top run again! And I agree... I like the insignia in the center as it really sets off the design quite nicely. I kinda fell on this one as it's from the same individual I purchased the early cased DDR police medal from along with a set of Soviet sub and ship commander badges. Can't wait till it arrives and I can see them in person. Many thanks for the additional info on this my friend! Let me know when you and Vic get together and you get the goodies I shipped over. Can't wait to hear what you think about the disc and the surprise. Thanks, Dan

Hi all, Charles, many thanks for that great explanation!!!! I'm up with the front of the herd again! Believe you me the view is much better up here in the front! I wanted to pop on a link to my latest acquisition, thanks to Charles (Thank you so much my friend!!!! ) as I felt it might be of interest as it's a medal bar which includes one of the Fire Crosses. http://gmic.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=16324 I really love these and hope we continue to learn more about them. Dan

Hi all, Many thanks to Charles for this one! (Many thanks my friend!!!! ). I'd mentioned getting some of the more modern Hungarian awards and he knew of this bar and recommended it to me. I liked the description and especially as I don't have any Hungarian medal bars I thought this would be a great start. He was kind enough to go ahead and get it for me and also to allow me to go ahead and post it for the benefit of the rest of our Hungarian collectors. So without further ado here is a pic and also the results of some research Charles has now done on this wonderful bar: "The medals on the bar are a late war production Fire Cross W/ Swords dated 1943. The ribbon is a modern replacement. Next to it is the Medal of a Democratic Hungary. I didn't catch the date at first of Dec 21, 1944. This was the day that a provisional government was established in Debrecen (on the eastern portion of the nation) while the 2nd Ukranian front was encircling Budapest. The medal was created in 1992 and awarded to individuals who were in the Hungarian Army on the December day and who were part of a small army that went over to fight the Germans. 4500 individuals were confirmed to be part of this small army (most of them were from two generals who had complied with Horthy's wish on Oct 15th, 1944 to turn and fight the Germans.) Of the 4500 recipients about 1000 were awarded posthumously. Then the last one is the medal given to 6600 people who had proof of revolutionary activities from Oct 23rd, 1956 to November 12th 1956. So - this means this guy (sadly no name to go with it) fought the Red Army in 1943 - 44 in a front line position, then was part of a couple of regiments who then turned on the Germans and fought Fascism, then who in 1956 fought the Russians again." Great research Charles did on this bar! Again many thanks my friend!!!! Looks like a terrific piece and I can't wait to see it in person. Hope ya'll like it as much as I do. Dan

Hi all, Here's my newest addition to the DDR collection: Correct me if I'm wrong... a Kampfgrupe Bester badge... not sure if bronze or gold. Should be shipping out Friday with some other pieces I've ordered... so with luck I'll have it by mid week this coming week. Once here I'll do a couple of scans front and back. Thanks! Dan

Hi Gordon, Boy do I wish we had those kind of museum shops here! WOW!!!! Here it's all pens, pencils, t-shirts, keychains, books, cd's, DVD's and calendars. Yawn! But I'd walk several miles... or drive a ton of em' for a museum that sold militaria! That's my kinda museum!!!! Dan

Hi all, Well, after talking with Vic and Christian... doing some research on all the great posts ya'll have made re: Yugoslavian awards I decided I'd test the waters and give it a try. So with the excellent assistance of Vic I've managed to acquire my first Order, although it'll probably be a while as it's going with a shipment to Vic and then he'll be sending it to me with another package he's put together for me. Thanks Vic on all counts!!!! Well, without further ado, here's my latest acquisition and my introduction to Yugoslavian awards: Order of Labor 3rd Class It's the sellers pic so I'll do more when it arrives. It comes cased as pictured... hoping it comes with the ribbon bar as well. Vic confirmed that it is a pin back so hoping it's the verical type like on German awards and not the horizontal one that looks like a funky pitch fork. I guess having been in Imperial and TR German for so long I just love those horizontal pins, even though I know those are the later pieces. So there you have it... I'm in for a penny, in for a pound as they say. Sure hope I can find some more I like at prices I can afford. When I do ya'll will be the first to know... well, perhaps outside of Vic if he manages to locate them for me. And here's hoping we get a separate Yugoslav section soon too! Dan

Hi all, I just remembered a memory from my younger years... I was about ten or eleven years old at the time. I used to hang around at a coin shop in Florida that was owned by an old friend of our family. He taught me tons about coins, currency, jewelry and all that sort of thing. One day I saw he had some medals in one of his cases. I asked and he told me they were Canadian. He said something about them being used in parades and such... but these were huge! they were probably about 4 inches across and then the ribbons were probably another 5 or so inches high off the medals. There were several of them... no idea what they were as even now I'm not that up on Canadian awards. But it was always something that I've wondered about. What would something like these have been used for? Do any of you have any examples of these or know of any? It's something I've never seen before or since that day. Thanks, Dan

Hi Charles, I'd be willing to be that in some dark, dingy, forgotten corner of a warehouse somewhere... or a basement or attic, a bunch of those hugh badges are just sitting there packed away and ready to be found. Here's hoping you're the one to find them!

Hey Vic... didn't realized you'd gotten your promotion to Senior Member! Way to go my friend, way to go!!!! Dan

Hi Christian, Hey, don't forget coins and currency as well! There's some nice stuff floating around out there. I used to find tons in a dealers junk box of foreign coins and another of currency. He didn't specialize in that stuff so in the junk boxes it went regardless of condition. I'd find stuff from the 20's, 30's and 40's in there all the way to present day. And all for less than dirt! I loved that place. But after about ten years of that the owner and his wife both died at nearly the same time of cancer. Shop was sold out, closed up and not there the last couple of years that I was in Florida. It's a shame as although he was one of those people who takes some time to warm up to you, once he did he was really nice as was his wife and the rest of the employees there. Spent a ton of hours there going through stuff and made a ton of great deals. Boy do I ever miss it! Dan

Hi all, I hope I'm understanding this correctly now... this is not a "fire" cross in the sense of it being an award to a member of a Fire Department... but more like troops who get thrown into a hot area to get things going in the right direction for their side again... kind of like Waffen SS troops tended to be. Please let me know if I've got this right or not. Thanks, Dan

Hi all, I'm adding a shameless plug... but I have the Seitengewehr Troddel of a Festungs-Maschinen-Gewehr-Kompagnie from post #1 above in the sale section. Since the estimate I was given was between $60 and $90, I decided to split the difference and ask $75 plus shipping (of the buyers choice) and 4% Paypal feels. So if anyone is intro'd and would like to dress up their Imperial butcher blade bayo please give me a shout and we'll go from there. Thanks, Dan

Hi Vic, Congratulations my friend on your 1,000th post! It sure doesn't take long does it? Before I knew it I was well over 2,000 and still climbing. And I know you'll be there before you know it too. Shoot, just on DDR stuff I know you'll have enough for at least a 1,000 more posts in short order! Keep up the great work my friend! Here's to many thousands more!!!! Dan

Hi Vic, Well my friend, I don't know how far I can slip with my limited budget and way too many areas of interest... but we'll try and slip just a bit. Thanks, Dan