What do you have that's now worthless?!

[Luftmensch]

What do I have that's now worthless?

Well, I don't collect U.S. medals, but aviation collectors rarely get a chance to own an ace's rack. Ouch!

Is it legal to leave them to my girlfriend (someday wife) if I die? What if she doesn't want `em?

What if I dump her and form a homosexual civil union with another medal collector in Massachusetts and give them to him. Is that legal?

Is it legal to mail `em to Iraq to attach to a shell fired at the enemies of freedom so we don't have to fight them at home?

Can I track down the grandkids who sold these several years ago and beg them to take `em back in exchange for a lifetime of dental work or investment advice?

Is it legal to wear them when they plant me six feet under?

Rgds

Confused

[Guest Darrell]

Send 'em to me ... I'll keep them warm in CANADA

[Luftmensch]

Okay, you're next in line after my sister in Port Hope, Ontario...but I want an Xmas card every year without fail...

[Guest Darrell]

Okay, you're next in line after my sister in Port Hope, Ontario...but I want an Xmas card every year without fail...

Excellent

Are they named?

[Luftmensch]

Fortu...I mean, unfortunately, to Lt. Jacques Swaab, 22nd Aero...

He was downgraded from an MOH, otherwise I could be doing concurrent sentences someday...!!!

[Guest Darrell]

Fortu...I mean, unfortunately, to Lt. Jacques Swaab, 22nd Aero...

He was downgraded from an MOH, otherwise I could be doing concurrent sentences someday...!!!

I'll change my name ... just say you're sending them back to their "rightful" owner

Edited January 12, 2007 by Darrell

[Jacky]

nice grouping!!!

I would just keep them and hush up about it!!

It's a really nice grouping.

Kind regards,

Jacky

p.s especially the victory medal is nice, 3 clasps and 10 stars.

he even needs 2 batons on his ribbon bar, however, it bears only 3 stars each, so he might need 5 batons to denote every thing??

Could you tell me what the stars are denoting??

[hunyadi]

What do I have that's now worthless?

Give them to me!

Well, I don't collect U.S. medals, but aviation collectors rarely get a chance to own an ace's rack. Ouch!

Oh yes - they should be gievn away now because you could at any moment walk out into the steet and start telling tales of your exploits in WW1

Is it legal to leave them to my girlfriend (someday wife) if I die? What if she doesn't want `em?

Of course its not legal - that would be 'transporting' them to her. If she doenst want them - are you sure you want to marry her?

What if I dump her and form a homosexual civil union with another medal collector in Massachusetts and give them to him. Is that legal?

Oh we are on a dark path here - but at least he would apreacite them....

Is it legal to mail `em to Iraq to attach to a shell fired at the enemies of freedom so we don't have to fight them at home?

No! something with sharp metalic spikes will do just fine

Can I track down the grandkids who sold these several years ago and beg them to take `em back in exchange for a lifetime of dental work or investment advice?

Sure

Is it legal to wear them when they plant me six feet under?

No you would be exhumed and put on trial for "Stolen Valor"

Rgds

Confused

But really - a great goruping and you are probaly the best caretaker of this fragment of American history - defy the Law and take them to your local library or school and tell people about our heros of old, past and today.

ANd of course - the majority of my comments are in friendly jest - esp. the one about the girlfriend!

[Robin Lumsden]

What do I have that's now worthless?

Nothing!

Don't you know that prices skyrocket when there's a black market?

[Ed_Haynes]

And, while exporting this is (also) illegal, it'd bring a tidy price at auction in London, I'd suspect!

Lovely group, by the way!

[Luftmensch]

You guys are so nice...you can all testify at my trial...be character witnesses...and then go on a hunger strike!

The stars denote German planes shot down. 10 kills...10 stars.

On Swaab's first orientation flight over the lines, he got separated from the rest of the flight.

He tried to land at an enemy field thinking it was an allied field when a Fokker DVII surprised him. He surprised himself by managing to shoot it down. Before he could get out of there he was bounced by 10 more DVIIs. Swaab was grazed 3 times in the head, but still shot down 2 more enemy aircraft and drive the rest off before he lost consciousness and crashed.

He was shaking so bad after that first flight that Brooks sent him to a sanatarium...and checked himself in a week later when he lost some more newbies on another orientation flight. After several days they checked themselves out because they were depressed by all the shell-shock cases that came in. Brooks put him up for an MOH (Pershing recommended) but it was downgraded to DSC in 1919 in Washington. He didn't lobby congressmen like Rickenbacker for the next 15 years to keep the MOH. But he did go on to be high scorer of the 22nd.

http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/usa/swaab.php

Rgs

John

[Kev in Deva]

"Swaab" a good old Irish name I am sure, probably related to myself through 100 cousins 10 X 10 removed, I would glad to look after them for a long lost relation and proudly wear them on St.Pats day in Transylvania,

Kevin "avast there ye Swabb" in Deva. Transylvania (Irish Secction).

[Ed_Haynes]

. . . St.Pats day in Transylvania,

Quite a concept. Green Vulcan blood?

[Luftmensch]

Hmmmm...German Jew, I believe, settled in Pennsylvania--not Transylvania--but close! Differently spelled branch of the family but distantly related to Schwab brokerage family...lotsa money. Young Jacques and the family chauffeur built a biplane in the family garage.

After the war he was tech adviser on Hell's Angels and hung out with Jean Harlow.

Any resemblance? Claimants to paternity should email me family trees and copy the FBI

[Luftmensch]

Some close-ups:

DSC is numbered 6256.

Rgds

John

Edited January 12, 2007 by Luftmensch

[Daniel Cole]

So let's assume that since you can't sell this collection any longer you decide to donate it to the local non profit or museum for their new collection on WWI. Can you donate it and take a tax deduction for its value? Or does this fall under that vast umbrella of thou shallt not, sell, barter, get any monitary gain, blah, blah, blah.

I guess you could sell the Riker mount for $10K and forget to remove the contents due to oversight.

[Luftmensch]

Good question. I guess the amount you can write-off will take a hit if theoretically there is no market value. $10,000 riker? LIke the Pentagon's $10,000 hammer?

Rgds

[FLIEGERALDO]

Good question. I guess the amount you can write-off will take a hit if theoretically there is no market value. $10,000 riker? LIke the Pentagon's $10,000 hammer?

Rgds

Great grouping Mensch!! Vy dunt you LEASE the Group to me for 99 Years. Den you vont be zelling it to me, Hummm.

[Guest Darrell]

I really wonder how stringent the law is at this point. I see several named medals still on e-bay ... and they havent been pulled. I would say it could depend on how you word the materials inside the package. If the Feds are going to open EVERY single piece of luggage and packaging to find "stolen valor", then I think we have just found the ultimate Terrorist weapon. This would put the country on a standstill.

Good Lord ... ther HAS to be more important dangerous things going on in the world that require attention than THIS !!!

Edited January 12, 2007 by Darrell

[Luftmensch]

I think Herr Aldo has hit upon a wunderbares idea...you've heard of the bookmobile?

Why don't we do a Lending Library or a Timeshare of Valor!

Everyone who wants an aces group in their collection, leases it from me and we rotate among subscribers on a monthly basis. If you want it for haldf the year you buy 6 shares. But I would need the WHOLE value upfront from everybody as a security deposit!!!

Now we're starting to think like politicians!!!

[FLIEGERALDO]

I really wonder how stringent the law is at this point. I see several named medals still on e-bay ... and they havent been pulled. I would say it could depend on how you word the materials inside the package. If the Feds are going to open EVERY single piece of luggage and packaging to find "stolen valor", then I think we have just found the ultimate Terrorist weapon. This would put the country on a standstill.

Good Lord ... ther HAS to be more important dangerous things going on in the world that require attention than THIS !!!

Your right Darrell but who ever gave the Feds credit for being Bright. This is a "NOBODY will get hurt by busting the Collector of Valor Medals in opposition to a DRUG Bust Play" Let's see where this goes at say the next SOS show in Feb. I know I'll be there watching and waiting because I have a large investment in these types of medals. Also thought that I'd buy a few more but we'll wait and see.It will definitly have an effect on the market as we knew it. It surely is a double edge sword on how the pricing will go. Some will pay more because of " BLACK MARKET VALUING" some will ask less to divest. Again we'll see. I still want to LEASE the group from Luft-NUT.

[Kev in Deva]

Quite a concept. Green Vulcan blood?

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh! the garlic flavoured Guinness. . . . just like back in the old country

Kevin in Deva

[Luftmensch]

Kev, is this true? Count Dracula's castle is for sale? (On CNN today.) Can't you Transylvanians pass a "Stolen Vampires" Act?

Aldo, you gotta stop wearing them ears around your wife in the kitchen...

Edited January 12, 2007 by Luftmensch

[Guest Darrell]

....... I guess the amount you can write-off will take a hit if theoretically there is no market value. .........

This is the key. I would guess anyone who has the medals in the US may be screwed, but I would "think" that this would "raise" the value elsewhere. Considering the dent this may put into the US sale of US medals, it only means the ones held by people outside the states grow in value.

Look what has happened to the MOH. By having it's sale illegal south of the border, has made this item alot more rare and expensive for collectors elsewhere. At least it was that way last time I looked.

Now, considering how "What Goes Around - Comes Around". Canada and elsewhere maybe soon in the same boat

Edited January 12, 2007 by Darrell

[Kev in Deva]

Kev, is this true? Count Dracula's castle is for sale? (On CNN today.) Can't you Transylvanians pass a "Stolen Vampires" Act?

Aldo, you gotta stop wearing them ears around your wife in the kitchen...

Hi Luftmensch

with regards your post: and all this is

1. I am not a Transylvanian, only a blow-in from Ireland, my wife is a local Transylvanian lass.

2. The Castle of BRAN, is not technicaly in Transylvania, but located near Brasov, in the centre of the country but still in the mountains.

3. From a Romanian online Publication: "NINE O'CLOCK NEWS". by by Ion Slavescu published in issue 3848 page 5 at 2007-01-12

New hypothesis regarding Bran Castle?s rightful owner.

The return of the Bran Castle to the Habsburgs was illegal, as the real owner of the castle is an Orthodox monastery from Pennsylvania, real estate consultant Arthur Silvestri said during a TV show.

Bran Castle, which was built in 1378, was donated to Queen Maria by the people of Brasov in 1920, the analyst told Realitatea TV. Being a donation, the castle had to remain in the property of Queen Maria and the royal family only while the queen was alive, according to legal specialists. Thus, after her death, the castle had to return to the Brasov community and could not be claimed by anybody.

However, the castle was inherited by Princess Ileana after Maria?s death. Ileana, the mother of current heir Dominic of Habsburg, joined an Orthodox monastery in Pennsylvania and, according to the rules of the order, all the goods of a person who joins the order go into the monastery?s property, unless the person in question specifically leaves the goods in question to a third party, Silvestri explained.

As Princess Ileana did not do this, the castle rightfully belongs to the monastery and the Orthodox Archbishopric of the United States, he said.

Later yesterday, the royal family said in a press release that Princess Ileana, in her will, left all her belongings to her family.

Bran, which is also known as Dracula?s Castle and is currently a museum, attracting thousands of visitors every year, was given back to the Habsburgs seven months ago. Recently, Dominic of Habsburg offered to sell the castle to the Brasov County Council for EUR 60 Million. He also said that the castle would remain a museum for three more years, after which only ?the future will decide? its fate.

The head of the Brasov County Council, Aristotel Cancescu, who announced that he was made an offer to buy the castle, refused to give more details, saying only that he was studying the issue with the council?s legal specialists. He also said that the offer had to be taken seriously because the Bran Castle is one of the county?s most important tourism objectives.

However, Minister of Culture Adrian Iorgulescu rejected the offer, saying the amount requested by the royal heir is too big. Before the return of the castle to the Habsburgs, the Culture Ministry evaluated the castle at about EUR 25 M.

According to legal experts, the offer should have been first sent to the Culture Ministry, under current legal provisions. The fact that the offer was sent to Cancescu, who announced that he was considering it, made it impossible for the ministry to reject or even negotiate the amount, parts of the media suggested.

According to Silvestri, it is very hard to do a real estate assessment of the castle, because there are no terms for a comparison. Cancescu shares the same opinion. The head of the Brasov County Council announced that he is planning to contract an international team of experts to assess the value of the property. He also said he was going to ask for a loan from an Austrian bank to buy the castle. Yesterday, Cancescu told Rompres news agency that representatives of the Austrian bank will come to Brasov next week to negotiate the loan.

If the castle is sold for the amount requested by the Habsburgs, it would become the most expensive castle in the world, according to Hotnews. The most expensive castle sold until now is an Italian castle, twice as big as Bran, who was sold for EUR 23 M.

END OF ARTICLE:- - - - - -

I think if they get 60 Million for it, then who ever buys it will be looking for another 60 million for repairs and renovations of the EU Heritage Fund

Kevin in Deva