Why Third Reich ?

[don]

I just collect wound badges and the odd medal bar now.You really have to be on your toes

I think someone over at waf once said.....IT'S like walking through a minefield with

snow shoes on.But,you can get through.You just have to figure out the best way for yourself.

don

[Tiger-pie]

I think the attraction is the workmanship and potent symbology, both make for very attractive collectors items. The only drawback with TR items is they are hard to trace back to an owner unless you can source them direct from a veteran or an estate. Unless you have a unique grouping/medal bar, it is almost impossible to name them. I no longer collect TR, though I do still have some TR emphera and personal items.

I have gone back to my first collecting passion, Australian medal groups and singles and Kiwi groups. The Aussie medals are easy to trace and I can relate to them, that is to say they are my history, the medals belong here, the prior owners come from places I have been to and I have walked the battlefields they fought across. So for me there is a personal connection.

Regards;

Johnsy

[Butch]

It sure beats collecting Salt and Pepper shakers! Butch

[Brian Wolfe]

Hello Everyone,

I used to collect TR many decades ago as a youth but had to sell due to financial problems later on. I have never gotten back into the collecting of TR but have retained my interest in that period of history. I think if I had more cash and time I would dive right back in.

Now I collect Imperial German, Canadian and British WW I as well as the Republic of India and Pakistan. As you can imagine collecting in too many fields means there is little money to go around. I think the question "why collect TR" could be asked of any area of collecting. To hold any piece of history in your hands brings history to life for me. What soldiers went through during any war and on any side is something that makes one pause and think. At least I hope it make one think.

I don't believe any time in modern history has witnessed the pageantry and awe inspiring spectical of the TR. I once asked a former member of the SS who joined after his country fell to the Germans why he would do such a thing. He told me that unless you had witnessed the German Army marching through your village, their jack booted goose-steps literally making the ground shake, that you have no idea what a great impression it had on a young man. This lad who seldom saw a gas powered vechicle in his village experienced tanks and columns of soldiers that seemingly went on forever leaving him with the impression that this was the most powerful force that had ever and would ever be. There's a lot more to his story and his decision but I think you get the point.

Well history sure pulled the plug on old Adolf and his 1000 year dream. If the other collectors are anything like me we each have our small private military museums where history, TR and others, lives on for future generations of collectors.

Good hunting.

Cheers

Brian

[hagwalther]

I used to have a quite wide selection of TR badges and medals but have narrowed this down to a few Kreigsmarine, IAB/GAB/PAB and a few Iron Crosses.

These though are top quality, excellent/mint items and follow Prospers

Quality v's Quantity

statement.

Since the age of 14 I have collected British Army Staybrite cap badges and have about 400 different items.

These were (and probably still are) considered rubbish by more established cap badge collectors but many are days becoming more expensive that their pre-staybrite variants. However, with the rise in most Queens Crown badges being faked and sold as 're-strikes' this market is very dodgy to say the least for a new collector to enter.

Staybrites though are also starting to be faked and sold off by 'established' staybrite commentators so beware of fakes here too.

It seems that anything collectible is now faked so you need to know your area very well and have good expert backup to help before purchase.

Regards ...

[Paul C]

As with others I started collection TR, and then moved the Imperial German. I find the quality to be so much better with Imperial and the research possibilities are endless. It is so much more interesting to my an Imperial medal bar and trace it back to its origianl owner. I also keep my hands in TR when I can get items directly from a Vet or from the german soldiers family. Yes it is still possible. Several years ago I bought a German Cross in Gold and Honor Rolls Clasp group directly from the officers daughter.

[Edgar Estrada]

Knowledge is power!

Dave

Hi Dave!!

The bad thing is that the faker can have the same power. If they know what the collectors know about the medals, badges, etc. the fakes would be as good as the originals. Or not? what do you think?

Regards

Edgar

PS: Still looking for an KC 57!!