Fake Axis Entry into Afrika medal Fake

[Alex K]

This is a medal in my collection, Identified on other forums as a fake, (Unless someone can tell me different,) It seems that this was only ever made in bronze. I'm not certain if this is supposed to be a "Silver" version. on one side where the surface finish has come of there appears to be the a grey material from which it is made

[Kev in Deva]

Hallo Alex K,

the cast bubbly apperance of this medal would make me have second thoughts as well, unless it can be verified that its a "late war" model and keeping in mind that once the Italians went over to the Alies, Hitler ordered this and any other Italian decoration being worn to be removed imediately from German uniforms.

There is a silver version, apparently because it was made by a different manufacturer than the bronze one, the silver has been called second class, but there never was any class with this medal "One size fits all"

I am sure other more knowing members will contribute shortly

Kevin in Deva.

[Alex K]

Hi kev, thanks for the info. Its interesting that you say there was a silver/silvered version, I always assumed that genuine examples had the "Brass" look. The surface bubbling I've seen on other decorations, mostly later pieces where the finish reacts over time with the base metal used for the award. It does feel lighter in weight than I would imagine a bronze version to weigh, Perhaps I should keep an open mind as to its authenticity until proven one way or another

regards

Alex

Edited April 23, 2007 by Alex K

[Kev in Deva]

Hi kev, thanks for the info. Its interesting that you say there was a silver/silvered version, I always assumed that genuine examples had the "Brass" look. The surface bubbling I've seen on other decorations, mostly later pieces where the finish reacts over time with the base metal used for the award. It does feel lighter in weight than I would imagine a bronze version to weigh, Perhaps I should keep an open mind as to its authenticity until proven one way or another

regards Alex

Hallo Alex K,

If you can get your hands on;

A Collectors Guide to: GERMAN WORLD WAR 2, MEDALS & POLITICAL AWARDS,

"THE SATELITE STATES" ISBN 0-7110-2852-4.

by Mr. Christopher Ailsby.

Page 114 to 116 there is a section on:

The Italo-German Campaign Medal In Africa, Silver Type, March / April 1942.

The Italo-German Campaign Medal In Africa, Bronze Type, March / April 1942.

Which states there was a silver version almost completely identical to the bronze version.

Material used in construction of the medal:

Intially in Bronze.Later in Grey alloy war metal, which was bronze plated.

And finaly in war metal that was silver plated.

Diameters:

Early bronze form 30.5mm.

Silver form 31.5mm

Kevin in Deva

[Alex K]

Kev excellent, really useful, as I have said in my post that a small piece of the surface finish has come off and there is a grey (War metal?) finish underneath and explain why it feels lighter, I'll try to locate the book, and check the dimensions of mine, maybe the other forums are wrong after all!! better dig it out of the dustbin!

regards

Alex

Edited April 23, 2007 by Alex K

[Kev in Deva]

Hallo Alex,

even if it turns out to be a dud ( I sincerely hope not) its better to hang onto it for reference purposes and also to post pictures with relavent info in the FAKE section of the forum, we all get stung, my dud was a Luft Para Badge bought in Germany a few years ago.

Kevin in Deva

[Alex K]

Kevin I do actually keep all my duds for that very reason

regards

[Elmar Lang]

Hello,

I've just seen the discussion related to the "Campagna Italo-Tedesca in Africa", or "Italian-German Campaign in Africa".

The piece shown is an original piece.

These medals were made in Italy: early pieces were struck in bronze and bear the artist's signature and manufacturer's logo; later, it was made in "Zama" (the italian name for war metal) as the piece here discussed. The "bubbly" surface is one of the signs of this metal alloy.

The ribbon has a rather "soft" appearance, but it could be for having been preserved at a high relative humidity.

Best wishes,

Elmar Lang

[Brian Wolfe]

Here's a good example for new members who get upset when their questions are not answered straight away.

The initial post by Alex was 22 April 2007 and here we are nearly three years later and the answer has been posted.

It's also a good point for keeping an open mind as Alex mentioned earlier.

Thanks for the information Elmar, I would have passed one like this by thinking it was a fake.

Regards

Brian

[Elmar Lang]

Hello Brian,

perhaps, the rapidity with which we obtain data while searching thhrough the Web, allow many people to think that a question should receive a proper answer in the same time needed to open a Google page.

I'm old enough to remember the time needed to send a letter to the US and feel happy when the reply arrived in Europe after 3-4 weeks.

A late reply, like in the case of the Italy/Germany African Campaign Medal, is simply due to the fact that being myself a collector of Imperial Austrian awards (living in Italy), I rarely look through the pages devoted to the III Reich (of which I was a collector, many years ago, though). I've searched in the fake-decorations room to help a friend of mine and *hop*, I jumped in this discussion. I thought that it would have been helpful to fellow collectors, knowing a little more about this medal.

Experience taught us to be suspicious before spending our money... especially when buying III Reich items, but I agree that being as much open-minded as possible, would help us better to identify dangerous pieces and enjoy original ones.

Best wishes,

Enzo (Elmar Lang)

[Brian Wolfe]

Hi Enzo,

What a coincidence, a post I made in December 09 just got a reply.

That's just one of the great benifits of the GMIC, with new members and seasoned members looking through past posts you just never know when you will get an answer to a query.

Yes, we have come to expect instant gratification. I recall the days when if you had a "pen-pal" you'd wait for weeks to get a reply. Now Insta-Messaging and Skype have done away with the long wait and, sadly, pensmanship.

Regards

Brian

[Elmar Lang]

"penmanship"... right.

I often feel myself sad, because I use my fountain pen less and less times, lately.

It's civilization, maybe.

Oh, well, excuse me the off-topic,

Enzo

Edited August 27, 2010 by Elmar Lang