Memellands Annexation Medal

[stevo4361]

Hi Mr. Anderson,

Did your packet come with the Memel medal as well?

Kind Regards,

Steve

Edited November 30, 2005 by stevo4361

[Jason]

Hello gents

Just spotted this thread and thought I'd contribute to it. I picked up this cased Memel medal many years ago as part of a swap and is one of the few 3rd Reich pieces I have left. I'll try and get some better scans of the obverse and reverse, as the picture I'm adding here was taken with a cheap digital camera a while back.

The case is identical to the Sudetenland one I have, namely maroon with a gold eagle embossed on the front.

cheers Jason

[Inspector Krogh]

Hi Mr. Anderson,

Did your packet come with the Memel medal as well?

Kind Regards,

Steve

Here you go Steve.

Please call me Greg!

http://www.wehrmacht-awards.com/forums/sho...ad.php?t=105911

[stevo4361]

Thanks Greg! My Memel is a "straight G" as well, like your's and Marcus'. The debate on these seems to go on for a long time...

Kind Regards,

Steve

Edited December 1, 2005 by stevo4361

[Brian R]

Bringin' this thread back to life. I can offer two examples that I am convinced are genuine as they are mounted on period bars. Here is one that fits the descrition of "type 3" that Steve posted earlier in the thread. It has the straight G so I think that way of determining real/fake is nonsense.

[Brian R]

Here is the bar it belongs to... a rare six place 3rd Reich era bar to a Russian Front/Crimea vet (the EK is a "Round 3")

[Paul R]

Now that is an amazing bar!

Paul

[Brian R]

Here is another - this one seems to be the more commonly accepted type - with the small M and angled G. It is just like the "Type 2" that Steve shows earlier.

[Brian R]

...and the interesting thing about this medal is that it is maker marked. I have seen this appear faintly in other images before. I tried to take a picture of it through my loupe - it is a bit blurry ('cause the mark is so damn small) but you can definitely see it. It appears to be an H. followed by something else - perhaps an S. - maybe someone else can show a close up example. I also tried to capture the image with my scanner but just couldn't get it.

This may shed some light on these medals. Who could this maker have been?

[Brian R]

Here is the bar. It belonged to Maschinenmaaten Gerhard Muswick. I have photocopies of his award documents - they are as follows...

Spanish Cross in Bronze - 6. Juni, 1939

Wehrmacht Long Service Cross 4th Class - 1. Juli, 1939

Memel Medal - 26. Oktober, 1939

Iron Cross 2nd Class - 29. August, 1940

Minesweeper Badge - 1. February, 1941

Edited March 10, 2007 by Brian R

[Guest Darrell]

Brian that large bar is a beauty

And the writing on the reverse of the Memel is very unusual. I don't think I've seen one quite like that before. Maybe ALL the others are fake and this is how they are supposed to look

Great piece.

Edited March 10, 2007 by Darrell

[TerryG]

Old thread indeed and much confusion. Isn't the size of the "podium" another indication of fake (i.e. if the podium touches the rim of the medal)? This seems to be a feature that appears with the curevd M....

[Hauptmann]

Hi all,

Opinions on mine?

[Hauptmann]

[Hauptmann]

Thanks!

Dan

[TerryG]

Hi all,

Opinions on mine?

Curved "m" ????

[mike75]

I`ve got this one

[mike75]

Revers

[Hauptmann]

Curved "m" ????

Hi Terry,

So does this indicate it's bad? I'm not up on all the theories and controversies surrounding this one. Got it twenty some odd years ago, stuck it with the other two cased medals in the set and there it's sat over the years.

I don't have alot in it as I recall so no major disaster if it's bad... just want to be sure for my own piece of mind. And so I can put in a note stating if it's bad so others will know when my time comes to move on.

Thanks!

Dan

[Guest Darrell]

Mike, yours is what almost everyone is comfortable with. However, I'm sure there are a few different variations due to the volume of these stamped out.

[TerryG]

I am no specialist in these. I have read plenty and participated in a few threads on the WAF and I am still learning. I think Detlev Niemann did show a fake at some point.

PS. Here it is

Edited March 14, 2007 by TerryG

[TerryG]

.....

[stevo4361]

Hey Terry,

Not an expert by any means, but I think when looking at the Detlev Memel fake you have illustrated it doesn't necessarily spell fake for the "straight-G" type of Memels. The COPY labeled Memel Detlev has shown has the straight-G, but what spells fake to me in the picture is the color of the medal, and especially the outer rim being uneven when comparing the obverse to reverse. (Obverse side is much thinner) While I would agree that the COPY one is a fake, I don't think it spells out fake for all the "straight-Gs," especially those whose other attributes (even rim, general quality, ect) point to it being an original, as well as there are "straight-G" examples that have provinence. Just my take on it,

Kind Regards,

Steve

Edited March 14, 2007 by stevo4361

[Hauptmann]

Hi all,

Okay... I'm still flying in the dark. Is mine good, bad or "unsure"? Just totally confused on all this as it seems to go in all different directions.

Dan

[stevo4361]

Hey Dan,

Not an expert by any means, but the texture of your Memel medal that you posted just strikes me as "off." Very pitted, with rough detail, almost like it was cast, or something along those lines? The "design" itself doesn't necessarily make it a bad one, the overall quality though looks lacking to me, and I don't like it. Just my opinion man,

Kind Regards,

Steve

Edited March 14, 2007 by stevo4361