Bulgaria Medal for International Brigades in Spain 1936-39

[christerd]

I think this medal has been discussed earlier in the forum so I just show some pics

Instituted May 1974 and awarded to people who participated in the War in Spain 1936-39 in the International Brigades

I have been told that a total of 473 medals was awarded which makes this a really rare medal.

Here is it with the orginal box

Christer

Edited July 21, 2008 by christerd

[christerd]

And the outside of the Box.

Christer

[Ed_Haynes]

Nice to see the box! See also http://gmic.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=1245&st=4 and the following post.

[christerd]

Nice to see the box! See also http://gmic.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=1245&st=4 and the following post.

Thanks Ed, I LOVE That Document

Christer

[Ed_Haynes]

Thanks Ed, I LOVE That Document

Christer

Let me get it and scan the document in detail (and legibly) here . . . .

[Stogieman]

Box? Fantastic.... first time I see the box!

[new world]

Christer,

sorry to disappoint you, but your "original box" is a fake.

William

[leigh kitchen]

My only Spanish Civil War item - a leaflet concerning the British Battalion:

http://gmic.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=23549&hl=spanish

[christerd]

Wow ! That was really bad news , if they are starting faking boxes worth almost nothing what will they do next Maybe this is the beginning of the end of Bulgarian awards collecting?

As interest raises everything will be like Soviet and Tr items , all crap and fakes

How does a real box look like?

And even more scary is the fact that even respected dealers now sell fakes

As usual you cant trust no one...

Thanks William

Christer

[Lapa]

Guys,

Talking about fakes, I was told by a reliable source that these (and a few other scarce ones) are being faked. Has anybody already encountered such fakes, or knows anything about their characteristics?

Marc

[Ed_Haynes]

A good question. For a medal that ought to be pretty uncommon, there do seem to be a lot of them about?

[new world]

Medal is uncommon because few were awarded, but there were many manufactured and never handed out to anyone. There are very limited numbers of medals with documents, they are very rare indeed.

The reason you see so many of these medals around - couple years ago Bulgarian Mint sold non-awarded orders and medals to dealers / collectors.

Spanish Brigades medal was one of them, including many other rare awards.

Then these fake boxes began to appear to accomodate non-awarded medals.

William

Edited August 7, 2008 by new world

[Ed_Haynes]

Makes sense, William. Thanks.

[bolgarin]

Absolutely right. This box is fake. Please look at the original variant.....

[bolgarin]

This is original document.....

[bolgarin]

:rolleyes:

[bolgarin]

:rolleyes:

[christerd]

:jumping:

Very Nice Bolgarin

I wonder how rare theese are ? 473 awarded I have heard, but in the last two year I have been offered or Seen 4

documented sets for sale. I wonder of there is fake documents out there

Christer

[bolgarin]

To answer this quastion - we must check and have big discussion about every new such komplect on the market......

[corvaton]

here is one more picture

[Stogieman]

I was excited to see this in the upcoming Ziege sale. But in studying the additional posted images I requested; I have a few concerns. I would appreciate opinions and thoughts before I take the plunge and bid.

To me, the document looks original, I like the entry for name, stamps, etc. But I do not like that the name is one ink and the medal itself is in a different ink and possibly penmanship?

The ribbon is very loose and not as tight as any official piece I have handled yet.

These two things have me hesitating. Your thoughts? Thanks!

[Stogieman]

Name page

[Stogieman]

Notice the differences here...

[eitze]

I don`t know, but perhaps he has good connections to the East.

But in the last years he has had some of this pairs in his auctions.

For that they are so rare, he offers them pretty often

But hey - I am no expert in Bulgarian ODM !

greetings

eitze

[bolgarin]

Interesting - the same 2-nd name DIMOV as in my booklet.....