Hauptmann

Ring detail:

Obverse enamel damage detail:

Reverse enamel damage detail:

Reverse:

Obverse center detail:

Hi all,

I'm hoping one of our members may be able to help out with this one. I happened to spot it on Ebay a week or so ago, lucked out and won it for what I think is a very good price and I'm just hoping it's a good one. But as I've not specialized in Red Cross awards and only have a couple of copies so far the only thing I have to compare it to is reference books as I could not find one of this type either here at GMIC or on-line in general.

It matches the pic and information in John Angolia's For Fuhrer and Fatherland Political and Civil Awards of the Third Reich, page 109 and in fact physically fits the picture to a T size wise.

I've just received it in todays mail and just finished doing scans on my trusty Epson (Hi Rick! ) so I'm hoping the pics will tell the tale:

Obverse:

Here's another addition... a cased Reservists medal in bronze. No biggie... except instead of being in the usual plastic case it's in one of the older style presentation cases. I don't remember seeing them in these. Does anyone know more about this. Also did they put each grade in the same type of case or is each case a different color?

I also just added another full set of these Reservist medals in bronze, silver and gold. Plus I have another bronze coming so I've no got at least three full sets plus this extra cased bronze. Funny thing is I never really thought much of these until I saw one in person. Guess I got hooked as just like my OGPW's they're breeding.

Dan

Hi all,

Here's one of my latest... the Medal for Merit in Peoples Control in Gold (Medaille f?r Verdienste in der Volkskontrolle der DDR):

With luck I'll be able to finish the set some day.

Here's a couple of better pics I found on the web including the reverse:

Also, seems there's an earlier type:

Dan

Assuming there are several other pages to post... just have to wait till I have it in hand. I especially love the nice leatherette binding with the gold inscription and insignia... and the photos of the officers with their decorations.

Does anyone else have similar albums (yearbooks) in their collections? If so I for one would love to see them.

Dan

Does anyone know which academy badge would be the match to the one pictured here? I may already have it... if not I'd love to get one to put with the album.

Hi all,

Been waiting to get this one for just over a month. It's off Ebay and when it was originally listed I didn't have the extra $$'s to spare. I wrote the seller and asked if they were planning to relist it and after a few days they finally said they were. So I waited... and waited... and waited. Finally I wrote again and I get the impression they'd forgotten all about it. But they popped it back on auction. Waited another week and finally it came up early this afternoon. I'd have gotten it even cheaper but of course someone just had to pop on in the last second and make a bid... (and I know... it's the name of the game) so went up a bit but still got it for a steal I think.

These are the sellers (AAG International) photos. I'm guessing it'll be here early this coming week but wanted to go ahead and post for comments. So now, without further ado...

Dan,

Definetly a case worth keeping. Only the early cases are marked with the makers name. Someday you will find out what goes in it! Here is another view of the interior of the case with the rest of the things associated with this award that you might want to look out for.

Cheers,

Gordon

Hi Gordon,

Many thanks for you help on this. And yes, I'm always keeping my eyes peeled for any of the miniatures, ribbon bars, button hole ribbon devices, etc. In fact I'm assuming the smaller device I got with my neck Order is for a button hole ribbon but is missing the ribbon itself. At least that's my guess.

Is that book specifically on the Merit Crosses or on West German awards in general or what? Are they still available and for roughly how much? I'd be thrilled if I could just get a decent reference on the Merit Cross series from the medal on up with pics that good. In English would be ideal but at this point anything would be an improvement over what I have. But that's a great pic and much appreciated!!!!

Hoping one of these days to be able to find the rest of what I need as well as more of the accessories, the medal and dream of dreams some of the higher classes with the breast stars... although those are definitely not cheap!

Mucho thanks my friend!

Dan

At this point if I returned it I'd be out the shipping both ways which is overseas to England and I got it so cheap I'm guessing it's better to just hang onto it and perhaps down the road it'll come in handy. Many thanks to Red for calling this one... and also to Gordon for some behind the scenes help.

Sigh... back to the hunt.

Dan

And here's the rest of the case:

Hi all,

Okay, here are the pics of the case I got. Agreed it's definitely not for the neck Order. So I'm once again back on the hunt for one for that. Looks pretty much identical to my 2nd class case... but appears the base was taken out and replaced with this one:

Black flocking covering what appears to be two pieces of hard stock cardboard... leaving a section at the top for a ribbon the width of a neck Order ribbon, and the cutout for the award itself... which in this case is just off from an IC 2nd... definitely nothing bigger than that.

Here's the interior of the case itself:

It's got a small strip of cardstock material in a matching color to the rest of the interior base... not sure what it's purpose is.

Just for reference... here's the type I'm eventually shooting for:

Dan

Hi all,

Well, good news! I've finally managed to purchase a case for the neck Order. Picked it up for a song just this afternoon in fact.

I'm hoping eventually to be able to find one of the wider more squared off presentation cases for it as that's my preference but for now this will certainly do the trick. Now I'm on the hunt for a case for my 1st class and still trying to locate the suspension loop for the neck Order.

But I'm thrilled to finally be moving in the right direction on these again. As soon as the case arrives I'll pop in the old girl and take some new pics.

Dan

Pics are Zsolt's and used with his very kind permission. Many thanks my friend!

Dan

Hi all,

My latest addition to my presentation sets... this one being of the arms of service of the Hungarian military:

Hoping to have it in about a week or so as it's on it's way from Hungary. Can't wait to see it in person.

Again many thanks to Zsolt for providing yet another beautiful addition to my Hungarian collection.

Dan

Hi all,

Here's my latest acquisition... a presentation set of badges representing the different branches of service of the Hungarian military (the pics are Zsolt's and used with his kind permission... mucho thanks my friend! ):

The photos from the Olympic Arms site:

With standard grips:

With standard grips and flash suppressor:

And with the wood grips and flash suppressor:

It comes in the case with gun lock and key, manual, etc.

Needless to say I love it. It's very light weight, a natural pointer like the Luger and I cannot wait to take her up and run some rounds through her. I only wish Olympic Arms had moved quicker as far as shipping and I hope they're better at the rest of the customer service. I'll have to see when I order the other accessories.

One of these days I'll have to try to locate and purchase one of the originals for comparison.

Dan

In the case (included) with the wood grips:

Hi all,

Though not military just wanted to share my latest. Kim and I went to our towns annual gun show a few weeks ago and although I saw a Bersa we liked (.22 for plinking and she likes Bersa's) I decided to come home that night and research it before we jumped. She'd offered to get it for me but again I wanted to make sure about it. While checking them out I accidently came across a reference to this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whitney_Wolverine

That's just a brief article as there's a good bit more info out on the web on these. Anyhow I checked out the Olympic Arms site:

http://www.olyarms.com/index.php?page=shop...t&Itemid=37

and fell in love. I think it's got a great space age design even now. As you can see they've added the vent rib and also offer in their accessories an additional site and a holster (will have to go for those at some point) and wood grips and flash suppressor (which I ordered with mine).

Anyhow I went to my local gun store which happens to be right next to one of the places I work and ordered it that Monday right after the gun show (although they didn't actually put the order in till Tuesday). I have to say that according to the owner of the gun shop all his suppliers he deals with ship via UPS or a similar carrier and either overnight or two day everything. Olympic Arms apparently told him when he ordered it that it would go right out. We waited. Nothing for several days. Finally he called and they said they only ship on Fridays so it would go out then... via USPS ie: the U.S. Snail! Arrrrrrgh! More waiting... pace, pace, pace. Then he called again only to find out they'd still not shipped it but it was going out early this week. Yet more waiting. Sigh. Well, here it is Saturday and it finally arrived. So I ran over, did the paperwork for transfer, they ran the check and it's now all mine.

Gordon - my condolances.

Gordon did a great explination on the two outter medals. These were the type issued in 1964 as long service medals to individuals in uniform. The following year a new design was created and a Gordon explained this type was set for civilian contractors in the ministry of defense.

THe silver police medal looks to be a nice early type with hot enamel on the prismatic star. As Dan pointed out this is the silver type: issued for 15 years of service in the police forces.

Lastly you have the 'Service to the Fatherland' medal in bronze. This was the first medal designed and issued by decree of the Ministry of Defense (boefre it had been the council of ministers or the presidents council who created medals and orders) in 1956, just a month before the October 23rd revolution... Though after the revolution of 1956 the medal was continued. Though in my opinion one of the most honorable looking medals - it was only awarded for a 'good job' - 'pat on the back' type of medal. The bronze being the lowest grade.

Hi Charles,

Many thanks for popping in to the rescue... on these and on the book you sent over. I deeply appreciate all the hard work that went into that and hope to chat with you about it in the next day or two. I know it will be a big help to me in learning all I need to know.

Dan

Hipnos, Dan,

I didn't answer this question re the medals as I was leaving for Canada due to a death in the family. I thought that Charles would probably answer it but since he hasn't I'll make a stab from memory as my books are at home. The 15 year medal on the left and the ten year medal on the right were long service awards. In 1965 they were discontinued as a military award as a new design had been ceated for the military long service awards. When presented to the military these medals were blank on the reverse. When these medals were discontinued for the military it was decided that they should be awarded for long service to civilians working for the armed forces. To differentiate them from the earlier military awards there were two lines of printing added to the back. If memory serves me right, this was something like "Hondvedelmi Erdemerem". Since it would take some time to produce these long service awards with the raised lettering on the back surplus awards with a plain back had the wording engraved on the backs for approximately one year when sufficient stocks of the new medal became available and were issued. Therefore, these medals come in three different variations as explained above. I believe the ribbons on these two medals are correct.

I'll leave a response on the other two medals for later.

Regards,

Gordon

Hi Gordon,

My sincere and deep condolences my friend. Hope everyone is doing okay. Many thanks for jumping in on this one. You and Charles both tend to give much more informed answers on these although Charles kindly sent over some info to me which I received today which will help a great deal. So much to learn and so little time these days... not to mention brain power. I feel like I've been running on fumes for months. But I'm off for the next two days to hoping that will help.

Dan