Yugoslavia Warning - possible fake medals!

[Valter]

There were rumors before about fake yugoslav medals and some orders, but now some more specific information emerged on one slovenian forum. Preseted is (supposed to be) fake medal for spanish civil war volunteers:

http://wehrmacht-odlikovanja.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=6824

the difference is in some details, but also weight: originals should be 17-18+ grams, and fakes 15+ grams (without ribbon). The sign of fake is also two little holes on the edge of reverse, above O and between J and S in word VOJSKE (see picture). The debate is not over yet, so I cannot tell for sure if the example shown is really fake or not, but caution is necessary.

The "candidates" for faking are also other rare yugoslav medals: medal for merit, medal for travel to India & Burma and probably Danube bridge too. There are well known fakes of first type of orders of military merit (in a form of a medal with soldier in greatcoat), but these are quite easy to spot due to very poor details and shiny (almost crome-like) finish.

There are also a debate about fake partisan stars 2nd grade (Russian type), but opinions are inconclusive. I'll post more when we find more information.

[Zhukov]

It is things loke this that sadden me, these people will destroy our enjoyment.

[SasaYU]

Valter, can you post some details and detailed pictures ?

Also, forum can't be entered via link you posted.

[Valter]

Valter, can you post some details and detailed pictures ?

Also, forum can't be entered via link you posted.

Saša, I can enter the forum via link, no problem - maybe you should be registered (it's free):

http://wehrmacht-odlikovanja.com

anyway, here are links to high qualitiy pics of what is more-or-less considered as fake (weight about 15 g):

http://postimage.org/image/1bpndxp2c/

http://postimage.org/image/1bpp1h1k4/

http://www.shrani.si.../1/dscn1923.jpg

http://www.shrani.si...YL/dscn1924.jpg (note dents/holes on the edge at "VOJSKE")

http://www.shrani.si...vz/dscn1929.jpg (there is also distinctive vertical line going over the flag and soldier's hand on the left side)

http://www.shrani.si...TI/dscn1930.jpg (dent on the edge, again)

These are considered original (weight about 18g or more):

http://www.shrani.si...dU1y/sb-005.jpg (note better details on averse)

http://www.shrani.si...EVXd/sb-006.jpg (no dents on reverse)

http://www.shrani.si...EJYM/sb-012.jpg

People say fake ribbon is made of some sintetic material (often artificially aged), but original should be of cloth. If the original ribbon glows under black light, I don't know.

Additional information: there is rumor that about 500 of these fake medals were ordered by "famous slovenian dealer" (or two of them) in company Heledis, Celje (former Aurea)It is distinctive, that these medals didn't appear on market for years (only 250 awarded!) but recently there's plenty of them for sale. The faker's story is these medals were recently found in some army warehouse. But this is unlikely IMHO, as spanish medals were produced for a closed group of recipients and there were no need for additional awardings (and the recipients were mostly too old to serve in army), not like partisan stars and other decorations, that were sometimes found in army storages, as the later were supposed to be awarded in future war (what is not the case with spanish medal).

On 4th of December was a numismatics fair in Belgrade and it's said there were several spanish volunteer's medals for sale, most of them with distinctive holes above VOJSKE. There were also plenty of partisan stars 2nd grade for sale for 80-120 euros, although they were scarce years before and went for well over 200 euros. The debate and comparison of fake partisan stars is not over yet (I'll post about these, when we get some more conclusions).

Edited December 9, 2010 by Valter