Hauptmann

Dan,

All good questions that I do not have an answer for at the moment. My cased KVP and the photos came from a German friend, also a DDR collector, who lives just outside Berlin. He offered it to me and whether you could get a cased one for that price I do not know. Early cased medals are not easy to find. I only was able to acquire the cased one because it was offered to me, not because I was able to search and find one. Contacts in Germany are essential for these kinds of things. As for the one you need to go with your early Urkunde, another good question. I'll have a look around over the next few days and get back to you. I haven't bought any DDR medals for some time, only uniforms, so I am not current on their prices and I want to make sure the info I give to you is accurate.

Regards,

Gordon

Hi Gordon,

Quite understand. Will stay in a holding pattern on these... and actually no rush as I'm getting low on funds right now anyhow. But want to be prepared once I have my war chest built back up again.

Many thanks,

Dan

Hi Gordon,

Outstanding! So I take it this is the type of case I just got with mine? Sure if a beaut!!!! Can't wait till it gets here! That's the hardest part of buying online or through the mail... the nearly endless waiting. But when they arrive I'm like a kid on Christmas morning... even though I know what's in the box before I open it. Seeing in person is always a much better experience than just seeing pics online.

Can't wait till you pop up a separate thread on these as just the ones you've posted here have been fascinating. More than I've been able to find on this Order since I first saw it years ago.

Many thanks!

Dan

Hi all,

Well, just managed to work out another one... the Medaille f?r ausgezeichnete Leistungen in der bewaffneten Organen des Ministeriums des Innern:

I'm hoping this and the last group of three I posted (all from same seller) will be here by the middle to the end of the week (knock on wood!).

So other than the last really high and expensive ones I've pretty much finished the set.

Dan

Dan,

As far as I know, all of these KVP medals were numbered.

For the medals you are looking for, yes they are avaiable but I don't see them for sale very often and then only on ebay.de.

I wouldn't class the STASI as police. For that particular medal there are two issues. The 1970 to 74 and the 1975 to 89. I don't own one of these medals and haven't researched them so can not add a lot more than that you are looking at big money here for an original. Since almost all high end awards are being repro'd in Germany these days I would do a lot of homework before buying. Personally, I would only buy one of these from someone I knew really well. Dealers are not always up on the high quality repros and since the buyer rarely gets to see more than the one he buys it is a dicey proposition these days.

The Verdienter Volkespolizist der DDR falls in the same category as the STASI when it comes to rarety but is not quite as expensive. Probably two third the price of the STASI medal. I wouldn't touch this one except from a very well known person.

The problem with high end awards is that you are forced to buy form a trusted source, normally a dealer you know well and trust, and his prices will be high. Probably the highest out there. But then again if you are going to lay out anywhere between 1000 and 1500 Euros why buy from a stranger?

Good luck on your hunt for these medals.

Regards,

Gordon

Hi Gordon,

Again many thanks for all this great info. You should write a book my friend! Goodness knows we desperately need some in English.

Real quick... on the KVP's... roughly what would I be looking at with one of those? And how hard to find cased... and how much more for that would you think?

Also about how much do you think I should be looking at for the one I need for my early Urkunde? Cased and/or uncased?

Thanks!

Dan

Hi Gordon,

Outstanding set! Out of curiosity, were all the KVP's serial numbered? And are they difficult to come by? I'm coming up where I'm going to be hunting one down and didn't know if it was going to be a rare piece like I'm assuming these are:

Ehrentitel "Verdienter Mitarbeiter der Staatssicherheit" (conferred to Stasi members)

Ehrentitel "Verdienter Volkspolizist"

And not positive I'd need the Stasi one for a "police set". I've always kind of considered them separate from the regular police.

Only other one I'm hunting for right now is the Medaille f?r ausgezeichnete Leistungen in der bewaffneten Organen des Ministeriums des Innern. I may have a line on one but not sure yet. Well, that and the one I need for my Urkunde.

Thanks,

Dan

Hi Sergey,

Beautiful flag!!!! Love it! I eventually want one in that type of material... velvet I'm guessing? Just fantastic! Thanks so much for sharing it.

Dan

Hi all,

Well, more new additions to my Police set... Verdienstmedaille der Organe des Ministeriums des Innern in gold, silver and bronze:

Obverse:

Reverse:

So now I only need three more to finish the set.

Dan

Your last blade, the Hirschfaenger, was one hell of a deal at $75. In its condition it should bring about $200. I would suggest that you dismount the shell and put it on the other side (outward) of the guard and orient it in the other direction so that the shell covers the upper portion of the scabbard when put in the scabbard. It is upsidedown and backward now.

Hi George,

Hmmmm, had no idea that was the case. As many of these as I've seen in books and such I don't know why it didn't hit me. Will definitely (and carefully) give that a try.

Also the $75 I paid was about twenty some odd years ago. But very glad to hear it has gone up. I'll have to pass that along to Kim as this is her pride and joy!

Many thanks for the info!

Dan

a smelly tunic

Hi Charles,

Sorry I didn't see this earlier. Got pulled way visiting with some friends from Bowdon and only now getting back to finishing up replies and such.

Really love the tunic. Great piece and with the ribbon bar too! A nice extra bonus. Hope it airs out okay for you.

Dan

Here are 2 that arrived this morning :

I think they are Police graduation badges , any addition info appreciated !

Hi Grant,

Gave you a bit of incorrect info on these. I'd seen where they were for NCO and officer... but Gordon just popped onto my thread on my police collection and gave the correct info... so wanted to share it with you. Here's the link:

http://gmic.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=1596...t=0&start=0

Post #15 subject 2.

Hope this helps!

Dan

Dan,

Nice start to a your police collection. I'd like to add a couple of comments. Hopefully they will be useful.

1-All of the first medals you posted all bear the last type pin used in the DDR from about 1986 to 89 so any Urkunde you purchase to go with them, if you intend to do that, should be dated to match.

2-There are no Akademy badges for NCOs. Only for officers. The two you have shown are;

a-Wiess mit grunem rand (white with green border) der Hochschule der Deutsche Volkespolizei "Karl Liebnecht" in Berlin

b-grau mit grunem rand (grey with green border) zivile hochschulen

Basically, the one badge was awarded for taking your training at the DVP akademy while the other was for graduating from a civilian university.

3-the Dog Handlers qualification badges were given to individual policemen who were qualified dog handlers. They were issued from 1966 to 1989.

4-The early folder and urkunde was a great find. This award only came into being on 28.04.55 and you have an urkunde for one of the very first medals awarded. This pink tone colour of folder was discontinued after a while and you only see it for medals awarded in the early years of the DDR. If you will look at the picture of the medal you will notice it bears the three colour shield and not the later compass and hammer state seal. For this urkunde you will need to find an early medal to match. They are not easy to locate, probably only through ebay.de, and it will be pricey when you find it.

Keep up the good work of adding to your collection and posting them for our enjoyment.

Regards,

Gordon

Hi Gordon,

As always mucho thanks for all your great info on these! We definitely couldn't do it without you my friend!

And especially thanks on the info on the academy badges. I'd gone by something I'd seen on the web at some point and went with it. Had no idea. I'll have to let Grant know as I'd given him the same incorrect info. But great to be set straight again. Many thanks!

And I'll definitely keep the date range in mind on future docs.

On that last... I sure hope I manage to grab one soon. Will let ya'll know first thing. But I'd definitely love to put the medal to the doc.

Thanks again!!!!

Dan

Hi Richard,

Great pieces!!!! Especially love the Hero... the way that did the ribbon is very cool and very colorful! They had a knack for that.

Welcome aboard!!!!

Dan

Hi Charles,

WOW! My friend, you outdid yourself!!!! I just had a feeling you were gonna find some terrific stuff this weekend!!!! Absolutely outstanding!!!!

May your good fortune continue and may more goodies pop out of the woodwork on your future shopping trips!

Dan

Hi all,

My one contribution here... at least for now. Always open to finding more:

Dan

Thanks!

Dan

Hi all,

Opinions on mine?

Hi all,

I just had a thought... would a holder of all three classes of the Bulgarian Order of Labor Glory be considered a Cavalier of such as in the Soviet system? And would there have been similar benefits as with the Soviet awards?

Thanks,

Dan

Hi all,

Haven't been able to add anything to my Bulgarian collection for quite some time. But thanks to Vic (Order of Victory) I've now managed to acquire the 1st and 2nd class I've needed to finish off my set. My 3rd class is pictured on Post #30.

Here's an example pic from the seller... not sure if these are exactly the ones I'm getting but they'll be nearly identical. Once they arrive I'll do up and post my own scans:

Again keep in mind I already have the 3rd class... just pictured these to show the set all together.

And a closeup of the 1st class:

Thanks Vic... couldn't have done it without you my friend! I just can't say how happy I am to finally be able to put this set to bed after about three years of waiting.

Dan

Hi all,

Well, thanks to Vic (Order of Victory) I'm well on my way on the next set:

Now all I need is the Gold and the Bronze.

Vic... many thanks for negotiating this one for me. Keeping my fingers crossed on the rest of the bunch we're working on.

Dan

Niiiiiice group!

What really jumps out at me is the 1958 sports in though-note the metallic composition. That speaks volumes right there (RE: Partisan badges).

Whats the size and weight?

It's just a "hair" smaller than a U.S. nickel... about 20-21 mm, if that helps. On weight... not very much. I'd have to use our digital restaurant scale to get an exact weight. Will try to do that asap.

Dan

Dan,

I will have a number of pins left over, duplicates mostly, and some from WP countries that I will be disposing of shortly. I am still sorting through them and deciding which of the WP and youth associated pins I wish to keep. I'll PM you when I am done with the available pieces and prices. They won't be expensive.

Regards,

Gordon

Wow! Thanks Gordon! I'm looking forward to it. Really appreciate that!

Dan

Wow Dan you are realy doing well with those

Order of Victory

Hi Vic,

Many thanks my friend. But of course we're actually just about neck n' neck on the medals... at least you and Grant will be once the big shipment arrives. Only you have the High Achievement and I have the Grim Reaper. We both need to keep shopping.

Keep hunting... gotta get em' all!

Dan

Wow Grant... you're hitting this hot and heavy!!!! Some fantastic pieces there! I've never seen one of the marksmans badges with numbers! And so far I don't have any of the navy badges so envy you that one. And on the cased badge I've seen two together but not three... just some terrific finds there and great additions to your collection! Keep up the great work!!!!

Dan

Hi Gordon,

Very nice pieces. Can't wait to see more! Sounds like you really lucked out. How I wish I could get over there and dive into some of this stuff. I wish we could still find deals like this over here. But anymore, even when folks don't know what they have they just assume it's worth a ton and price it accordingly. But I keep hoping I'll find a real "deal" on some goodies at some point. Our towns yearly gun show is this weekend. I'm planning to go see what they have. I have a feeling it's mostly going to be hunting related stuff and of course guns and knives. Nothing wrong with that... love it all. But not sure if there will be any militaria to speak of. But there's always hope.

But based on what Charles sent me and some of the other Warsaw Pact pins I've seen over the years I'm about as close to being hooked on them as one can be. Great stuff.

Thanks,

Dan