Hauptmann

Hey Pat,

Good going on this one! And thanks to all the members who jumped in and helped. A great piece.

Another question on this one though... now that she's known... is there any easy way to find out what, if any, other medals she was awarded? I'm assuming she would have gotten the WAC medal... and the Victory medal, but any confirmation or way to find out about others?

Would be great to have examples of anything else she was awarded.

Again great find Pat... and now extremely important to you, I know. Can't think of a better birthday present than finding out the history on this one.

Dan

Hi Pat,

Putting more of my poor little pics to shame again I see. Great scans... so detailed... love it... why did I let it go? Just kidding! I'm glad she's in a new home where she'll be loved all the more. You'll just have to get some more nice SA pieces to put with her... perhaps a dagger.

Just remember, check with the gang first to avoid any more baddies out there.

Dan

details

Hi and thanks for posting your's. Although I'm far from an expert it looks good to me. From the look of the materials used and the contruction, based on other armbands I've had and have. From what I can see it's a terrific piece!

Thanks for sharing.

Dan

and the reverse of my new non-combatants KVK2, with closer view of the details. Any opinions are great!

Pat

Hi Pat,

I LOVE it! But then again I'm biased.

Glad you like her... she's purty!!!!

Dan

Dan, I too have had impressive and too good to be true (to me) deals be laid before me then for some reason or another I backed down and have regretted it to this day. However, I love the thrill of the hunt in looking for militaria in the darndest of places and if that good deal has presented itself... I buy it. LOL! The situation you had encountered was an unfortunate one and another will come by. I believe in militaria kharma. One good deed is deserving of receiving another.

I'll post pictures of my bayonet when I get home.

Regards,

Joel

Hi Joel,

Many thanks for your encouraging words. I also believe that... although with a few things the belief is starting to wear a bit thin... it's there but barely as it's been sooooo long.

Sometimes it's been my own stupidity. Not buying West German 1957 awards because so many collectors I respected were saying they were garbage and would never be worth anything. I loved them then and could have bought tons. I bought only a few and ended up still loving them and now not being able to afford them for the most part. But in the end it was my own fault for not listening to my heart.

Then, at a gun show in Tallahassee once I passed up being able to buy literally up to three tables filled with those self same NCO swords... albeit the majority not near the condition of "the one" for $35 to $40 each! Probably could have done a great bulk deal too. But no one knew they'd go up like they did in a very short time.

At that same show I had an opportunity to trade a stein I had... a rather plain one for the most part, for a Marine Mameluke sword in mint condition complete with it's original storage bag which he'd valued at $100. I passed on it. Even then I gritted my teeth as I did it. This pattern has always been a love of mine. Why oh why did I do it... I'll never know. But again my own dumb fault and to this day I have no examples of this beautiful sword.

Sigh.

But for every dumb thing I've done I've probably done several smart things so it all works out in the long run.

I too love the thrill of the hunt... in all of my many hobbies. And there's nothing like coming home victorious with the grant prize slug over ones shoulder! Nothing beats that feeling.

I'll be eagerly looking forward to seeing the bayonet... and of course if you happen upon a steal of a deal on one of those NCO's and/or a USMC Mameluke sword for a song on the way home... just remember... all donations are gleefully accepted!

Thanks!

Dan

Dan, thanks again bud. Yes, I have quite a nice Nagoya subcontracted Chinese Made Type-30 attached to the end of the Carbine. The only other piece I had was a Wakaishi (sp) sword that came with the gun. I ended up trading it for a nice M-35 Luftwaffe Helmet.

Regards,

Joel

I like Wakizashi's but really LOVE Katana's. No idea why but especially the NCO Shin Gunto's with the olive colored metal scabbards and the metal grips. They used to be the cheapest back in the day ($40-$50 each believe it or not!) and least desireable in most circles until the Japanese economy soared and they started to buy back much of what they'd lost in the war. Price was no object and darned if they didn't drive everything through the roof... and it's never gone back down.

I missed a near mint example... I was absolutely in love with this sword. A local dealer I knew down in Florida had it and as I'd done him some good deals on some things I had that he wanted I'd asked him to hold it for me for a couple of weeks. It was only $200. He was one of those collected to deal types and in it for $$$$$$$$'s at all costs but seemed nice enough and we'd had some good deals. Well, he'd agreed and in two weeks as promised I had the money. He'd sold it two days earlier. Needless to say the free ride ended there as, pretty much, did our dealings. Really ticked me off royally. And to this day I've never been able to get one, and that really hurts.

Even worse... years later I answered a small ad in the local paper for a Broomhandle Mauser for $250.00. Went and checked it out and bought it along with a Mauser rifle for $100 which is the one I posted that turned out to be a DDR marked piece, as well as a replacement stock for $50 (kept the original) for my M1 Garand with the cracked wrist. Well, long story short, we get to talking. I mentioned that dealer in Tallahassee and the story of the sword comes up. He says to hang on a second... goes in the other room and out he comes with MY SWORD!!!! He was the guy who bought it!!!! I begged. I pleaded. I did everything short of getting on my hands and knees in tears to buy that sword from him... but he would not sell. And all he did was keep it in a gun safe in his bedroom where it seldom saw the light of day.

So again, never got one... don't know if I ever will because when I see some of the garbage they sell (good pieces though) for $350-$1,000 and up... and compare it with my memory of that jewel I could have had for $200 if that dealer had only kept his word as I did mine... ARRRRRRRRRGH!!!! Everything else pales by comparison.

I still pray that perhaps God will bless me with a vet deal for cheap... but then again I would never want to take advantage of anyone and I'd have to be honest as I always have and tell them what it's potentially worth. But then if they still only want a bit for it it would be okay. That's one of my major problems I guess... I'm too honest and shoot my foot off quite often. But I'd rather be honest and lose a deal than be a pirate who knows full well what some vet's widow has is worth and giving her a pittance instead only to rush off and make ten times that on each piece. Hate it when I hear about such things. And I've lost more good deals being honest... but I've gotten quite a few jewels as a consequence of how I am too... so it all works out over time. And I can sleep at night which is priceless.

Hey, please post a pic of the bayo when you've got time as I'd love to see that too. Just great stuff. Yet another branch of the hobby that I love but sadly the money only spreads so far these days. But I do hope and pray I'll get that Shin Gunto one of these days.

Thanks,

Dan

Thought I'd add another picture of my Japanese "trio"

Regards,

Joel

Hi Joel,

Great display! I also love the rifle... have a couple myself, one of each caliber but one has been sporterized (not by me! ) and also the flag. I have that one meatball flag but not the one with rays. Would eventually love one of those too.

Do you have the bayo? That's a terrific accessory if you can get one at a good price... but be careful as most I've seen have been razor sharp! They did tend to like sharp blades.

Do you have any other Japanese pieces... insignia, equipment? I don't have a ton other than what you see in the pic... a couple of medals, one cased and a few pieces of collar insignia. I had a fantastic, untouched and very complete helmet literally walk in to my room one day many moons ago in the hands of a friend and he just gave it to me. His dad had sent it back from the Pacific and never did anything with it. It ended up in his mom's attic and when they were putting her into an assisted living facility and cleaning out the house they found it. He gave it to my friend who asked if he could give it to me. The dad had no interest in it so to me it went. Then like a fool ) I trade it off for some TR stuff as that was my primary interest at the time. Now they go for a small fortune like that.

I have a helmet which I got for dirt... say $5-$10 range if I remember... been so long ago. But it looks newer and I seem to remember seeing that at least at some point (not sure what they wear now) the Chinese Peoples Army used the identical helmet but with a newer type liner. I may be wrong... I guess I'll have to do pics and post it at some point and get opinions. Haven't quite gotten up to the helmets yet.

Great pieces one and all. Keep that collection growing and please... show more when they get added to the family.

Thanks!

Dan

Hi Joel,

Beautiful Nambu! And the holster is gorgeous as well! Mine has the winter trigger guard but your's looks even more like a luger with the standard guard. In fact, the guards themselves are fascinating as when these are broken down for cleaning the entire trigger and guard come out as one unit if I remember correctly. Never seen that in another handgun.

[attachmentid=41528]

Have you ever fired yours? I know ammo is a bit tough to come by, not to mention expensive. Also the firing pins can be fragile. But some friends of mine found and gave me a box of ammo years ago which was short just a couple of rounds. I've fired two or three from it and that's it. Just wanted the experience and must say it's a fine shooting gun.

Japanese guns got such a bad rap after the war but most are actually quite well made. In fact, the rifles were based on the Mauser action and are so well built in most cases (not the last ditch types of course!) that you can actually overload them quite a bit and they won't blow up. Not that I would recommend doing so but it was tested by the staff of Guns and Ammo magazine many years ago and it held up amazingly well.

Again beautiful piece... thanks for sharing!

Dan

Very informative on post on DDR medals Dan

It seems you have a very good selection of documents to go with the nice medals. I have many of the pins and badges that you have pictured, plus a few more that you haven't posted. I have a few different "GST" badges (among others) and I was wondering what that stood for, as I really don't know much about DDR, but apparently I have still managed to acquire lots of it. I will have to get on the scanner and post some of my DDR stuff for your viewing! Mostly pins, badges and shoulder and collar tabs. I really like the Kampfgruppen set, the image of the AK toting soldier is classic. The banner awards are also a neat variation of the Soviet Red Banner award, and together would make a good set for the era. Here are my Major-Oberst DDR Airforce collar tabs for kicks.

Cheers,

Pat

Hi Pat,

Many thanks. The nicest thing is there's a great deal of variety and something in all price ranges so just about anyone can put together a fairly nice DDR collection.

On the GST it stands for Die Gesellschaft f?r Sport und Technik. It was formed 7th August 1952. It was a paramilitary youth organization for sports including things such as motorcycling, flying, pre-military training, etc.

From what I've seen GST items are among the cheapest and easiest to get ahold of of all the DDR material out there. They even have a nice finial I'd love to get some day and even their flags and such turn up rather cheap from time to time.

I've never really sought it out for the most part... the pieces I have mostly came from big package deals and they just happened to be there or as throw in's or gifts. Makes for a nice sideline.

Nice tabs by the way. I have the same ones with the matching boards. Another throw in if I remember correctly. I also have a set of paratrooper tabs and some other miscellaneous tabs and boards, as well as several uniforms, field gear, headgear, etc. I'll have to get around to taking pics of those and posting at some point.

Definitely would like to see your goodies as well.

Dan

And the reverse -

Hi Kevin,

I'm in love!!!!

Many thanks for all the info! Will be going over it a bit later when things get quiet around here and I can concentrate and enjoy.

Thanks,

Dan

Thanks for sharing your collection. Kampfgruppen and VOPO medals and badges some of the most affordable of East German collectables. I'll try to post a couple of examples of varations of medals to illustrate your comments. Kevin

Hi Kevin,

Thanks so much for posting some of your pieces. Great stuff! I'm so glad to see some of the varieties I talked about. In fact I believe between your Kampgruppens and the service medals they also show the variation in the reverse wreaths as well as showing the early numbered awards not to mention the pins... something not mentioned in the book. Well done!

I have some of the ones with the varieties in the flag on the obverse on the Army loyal service medals but not any of the Verdienstmedaille der NVA. But I keep looking.

I just LOVE your service medals, especially on the bar. I'm still hoping for at least one DDR bar and I would dearly love to find one with some of my beloved Verdienstmedaille der NVA on them... just beautiful!!!! I don't know why in the world I'm so hooked on that particular type but I am so guess I've just got to go with the flow.

And many thanks for showing the difference in the reverse attachments on the early qualification badges. So I take it that means my Panzer Meister is one of the restrikes? Again I'm far from an expert in such things... but I'm trying to learn.

Beautiful pieces you have there. Loved seeing them. Please post more DDR's if you have them. And would absolutely love to see that entire medal bar... or medal bars in general if you or any of the other members have them. I've yet to see one for sale but I keep hoping. It's like ribbon bars... I have yet to obtain a single DDR ribbon bar... outside of the singles that come with the medals.

Again many thanks for sharing. That's the greatest part of this... we all get to learn more about the things we love.

Dan

Nice collection! I especailly enjoy the qualification badges and the award citations.

Hi Paul,

Many thanks! They did indeed have a large variety of qualification badges of both types with much of it still being dirt cheap which is great for collectors on a tight budget... which I've been for a long time. Lets us get in on some of the fun! I hope to get some navies eventually and perhaps a few from the air force. They're starting to turn up on Ebay and I keep checking hoping for some good prices. Oh for the return of the heyday in Soviet and EG collectibles.

I also love the Urkunden. I never really was able to get into WWI or WWII award documents and these make terrific displays. I only wish mine were "awarded" pieces... but I'm always hoping to be able to pick some up at some point.

And when I got my book on Orders and medals (see my addition in the reference listing) I was amazed at some of the variations on some of the awards. It seemed they were tailor made for collectors who love such things.

I guess, along with the 57's this is one area that definitely needs improvement though... references in English. I've scrounged for whatever I could find but it's not much. And the prices on Ebay when such things turn up tends to make it so I can't afford it. I have a few in German but sadly I'm nowhere near fluent enough to learn enough from them. But there's a seller on Ebay with alot of this material on CD rom and I've been tempted to get one and check it out. Looks like an awful lot of info.

And I really hope that by posting such things we'll all be able to learn more about them.

Thanks so much for taking a peek!

Dan

And last but not least is my Panzer Meister badge. There were three types of Panzer badge. The first type looked like this with the exception that the "flag" at the top of the wreath had only the DDR state colors. This was used from 1958 to 1960.

The second type (mine) had the state seal included on the flag at the top of the wreath. This was used from 1960 to 1963.

[attachmentid=41340]

[attachmentid=41341]

[attachmentid=41342]

The third type (to my knowledge) looks similar to the majority of the qualification badges shown in my post, including the one for the Border Guard... except on the Panzer it has a pink background for the center color with a picture of a tank, the number of the qualification badge and the flag with state seal at the top of the wreath.

Well, that's it for now. I do have some extras, field guard, insignia, uniforms, caps, etc. but as far as awards this pretty well does it for this post.

If anyone has any additional information on anything I've posted please feel free to post it. I'm always open to learning more about anything I have.

I hope to add more to my DDR collection over time but for now I've been trying to concentrate on my Soviet awards and flag/finial collections.

Thanks for looking and I hope you've enjoyed the show.

Dan

Next is the DDR Police Highest Honor medal. This one is also known as the "Grim Reaper" for obvious reasons.

[attachmentid=41333]

[attachmentid=41334]

Two police academy graduation badges... I believe one is for the NCO academy and the other for officers:

[attachmentid=41336]

And a set of K9 badges:

[attachmentid=41337]

Here are some more miscellaneous pins and badges:

[attachmentid=41329]

[attachmentid=41330]

And some stickpins, mini's and some miniature and stickpin versions of the sports badges as well as several variations of same including one with an A on it (the kind of stout looking one in bronze off to the left):

[attachmentid=41331]

And a Border Guard qualification badge:

[attachmentid=41332]

This one is the Gold Honor Pin for Merit in the Socialist Education Program. I believe there is also a silver and bronze level for this award.

[attachmentid=41322]

A cased Meine Heimat (My Homeland) pin:

[attachmentid=41323]

A badge for active work:

[attachmentid=41324]

[attachmentid=41325]

I don't know the exact title of this one... have seen it a gazillion times.

[attachmentid=41326]

[attachmentid=41327]

Next is my full cased set of Ernst Schneller medals. I understand the gold is a bit hard to find so I'm glad I have all of them... one less thing to hunt down.

I'm not quite sure what they were awarded for but they're nice looking medals.

[attachmentid=41318]

[attachmentid=41319]

And a Young Activist medal:

[attachmentid=41320]

[attachmentid=41321]

Here are my cased Army Reserve medals. I ended up with an extra silver and hope to complete a second set someday.

[attachmentid=41314]

[attachmentid=41315]

And my Leistungsabzeichen:

[attachmentid=41316]

[attachmentid=41317]

There are seven levels of this award and I would love to have a complete set someday.

Now for my full cased set of the Banner der Arbeit (Banner of Labor):

[attachmentid=41311]

And my Service Medal of the DDR. This is the "official" civilian version but there is an "unofficial" military version... only difference is in the ribbon. Same ribbon but the "military" version is mounted on the standard DDR Soviet style five sided ribbon minus the metal attachment.

[attachmentid=41312]

[attachmentid=41313]

Next is my full set of cased Army loyal service medals:

[attachmentid=41307]

[attachmentid=41308]

[attachmentid=41309]

[attachmentid=41310]

These are for 5, 10, 15 and 20 years loyal service in the NVA.

These medals also have the same variants I mentioned on the Army service medals with the additional variant concerning the state seal on the flag pictured on the obverse of these medals. One has an outer ring while the other does not have the ring.

Again, these are ready made for collectors who love to obtain different types and variations.

And each individual medal.

The Gold:

[attachmentid=41304]

The Silver:

[attachmentid=41305]

The Bronze:

[attachmentid=41306]

I hope to someday add some of the variations and especially the serial numbered examples. I also would love to obtain some document sets, preferably issued, and, dream of dreams... an award of this medal to a collective... although a full set of them awarded as such would be even better.

Next up are my Service Medals of the National Peoples Army. For some reason these are my favorite DDR medals. The first time I saw one was in, funny enough my first Soviet awards reference... Russian And Soviet Military Awards by V.A. Durov. Pictured on page 102 is a silver version of one of these medals. At the time, many years ago, I didn't even know for sure if it was only issued in silver or if it followed the traditional bronze, silver and gold pattern for most German awards. Needless to say I'm quite happy that it did.

I don't know why but I just feel this is one of the best designed of the DDR awards. I've completed one set and am working on the second. I still need another complete silver set and a ribbon for the extra bronze.

[attachmentid=41301]

[attachmentid=41302]

I'd like to point out that there are several variations both of the awards themselves as well as their Urkunden which also come in several styles. I've even seen an example that was awarded to a Kollectiv. It's very impressive with the Urkunde itself on the left hand side and the actual medal mounted on the right inside a cassette not unlike those used for Knight's Crosses during the Third Reich albeit far less elaborate than those.

There are medals that have serial numbers located at the top of the wreath on the reverse.

There are medals which have a silver content of 900 marked at the base of the wreath on the reverse. There are at least five variations with the number placed below the wreath stems and one which has it placed above the wreath stems.

There are also at least two varieties of the wording on the reverse... one having hyphens on either side of the UND.

And there are at least two varieties in the smaller wreaths on the state seal surrounding the compass... one being a more open design.

And as if this was not enough for one medal... there are at least two varieties of the obverse. One has a dot on either side between the words at the top "Fur Hervorragende Verdienste" and the words at the bottom "Nationale Volksarmee"... the other version has no dots.

There are at least five variations of the Urkunden plus the one for Kollectiv awards.

What more can a collector ask for?

I have one other DDR award with the Urkunde set. It's for the ten year Kampfgruppen Service medal. I've also seen this referred to as the "Brandenburg Gate" medal.

First the full Urkunde:

[attachmentid=41295]

The closeup of the award illustration:

[attachmentid=41296]

Closeup of the Urkunde:

[attachmentid=41297]

The cased award:

[attachmentid=41298]

[attachmentid=41299]

And my full group of these medals from the riker mount display. I hope to someday have document sets for the full group.

[attachmentid=41300]

And the 25 year awards cased:

[attachmentid=41293]

[attachmentid=41294]

Note that the left example does have a lighter shade of gold as well as a lighter shade of the gold on the ribbons and the device than does the example on the right. Could be a manufacturer variation or simply a later version of the one on the right.

And now the smaller of the two sets.

The folder:

[attachmentid=41288]

The full Urkunde:

[attachmentid=41289]

Closeup of the award illustration:

[attachmentid=41290]

Closeup of the Urkunde:

[attachmentid=41291]

The end page:

[attachmentid=41292]