Bundesrepublik My West German and 57 awards collection... Part 6:

[Hauptmann]

I'm not sure of the history on this next one. Looks nearly identical to the WWII Fire Cross except for the center shield. Would love to hear any thoughts on this one.

Onward ever onward...

Dan

[Grant Broadhurst]

Hi Dan ,

This isn't a 1957 piece it,s a postwar fire award from the state of Baden i think , i,m sure someone will correct me if i,m wrong .

The fire awards are tough to find as 1957,s and seller,s usually want top dollar for them , they look exactly like their WW2 brother,s except they have the disc with the swastika missing in the centre .

Here is the first class :

[Hauptmann]

Hi Dan ,

This isn't a 1957 piece it,s a postwar fire award from the state of Baden i think , i,m sure someone will correct me if i,m wrong .

Hi Grant,

Many thanks on this one! Knew it wasn't the 57 reissue... felt it was a state award... just didn't know which state it was from so much appreciate that bit of info!

Now the question is... is this anything "good"? This is another one that I can't remember where it came from as it's been over twenty years since I got it... but it looked so much like the WWII issue I couldn't resist. Probably didn't pay much for it either and that always helps. And I don't have the foggiest idea of what it's worth now either... I'm in that boat with quite a number of the things I've picked up over time. To tell you the truth I was so out of the loop for so long that as far as things like TR awards, it was like I'd gone to sleep twenty years ago then woke up and saw how much they'd gone up... I was floored!

And as I've been going through the posts here I've sooooo regretted letting certain things go over the years... although at the time it sounded like a good idea. Made some trades for some Soviet awards and such a number of years ago... and don't get me wrong, I'm very happy with what I got and I'm glad I got it all... just wish I hadn't traded off certain key things.

And this award reminds me of one of them... I had a WWII medal bar which had the WWI IC 2nd, a Hindenburg cross, a 25 year Faithful Service and and a WWII Fire Cross. Was a "very" nice court mounted bar and even had the makers label sewn on the back although for the life of me I can't remember what it said. Had another, a WWII IC 2nd, a Social Welfare and another 25 year Faithful Service... nowhere near as fancy a bar but when I see the nice bars on here I wish I still had them. But as they say, you can't keep it all... you want to... you just can't!

Well, off visit with more of your posts.

Thanks,

Dan

[Grant Broadhurst]

Hi Dan ,

It looks a nice early piece but i,ve no idea what it would be worth sorry !

Yep we all have regrets about stuff we have parted with , but i,m glad i,m not mixed up in the third reich stuff anymore there are just too many fakes about , mind you the fakers are creeping into the 1957 stuff now !

[Hauptmann]

Hi Dan ,

It looks a nice early piece but i,ve no idea what it would be worth sorry !

Yep we all have regrets about stuff we have parted with , but i,m glad i,m not mixed up in the third reich stuff anymore there are just too many fakes about , mind you the fakers are creeping into the 1957 stuff now !

That's okay. I'm ahead of the game now just knowing it's Baden, thanks to you! Perhaps one of the other members will come along and be able to fill in the rest of the blanks.

And know how you feel about the TR stuff re: fakes. I mean, I'm so torn on the whole subject. I see the need for "space fillers" for really expensive or impossible to get stuff. But not as far as they've taken it in TR. I mean they fake the most common stuff.

It's like some of the Soviet pieces I need/want... I know full well I'll never be able to get or afford many of them and even if I could I probably wouldn't want that kind of money sitting there collecting dust. I look at that and then look at wanting so many things for the house, a special collector car (someday... me hopes! ), TV series I want on DVD sets, new computer stuff I need, scanner, etc. The list goes on and on.

But I detest folks who put fake stuff out there and take the unknowing masses for their hard earned money. But on the other side of the coin you can't say that there's not an abundance of reference material out there, both for free on the web (like here ) and in books, magazines, etc. But I've even known dealers who don't research their stuff. In a way I feel like anyone who isn't willing to do the brain work before spending their money deserves what they get.

I can't count the amount of money I've spent (not as much as I'd have liked to) on obtaining reference materials, nor the amount of time studying all that, all that's on the web, visiting museums, other collectors, etc. in order to learn all I could. I have an unquencheable thirst for knowledge when it comes to these things and only wish I could buy every book and resource out there.

The problem comes in when folks want to skip the necessary steps and when they get greedy... Oh, Rommel's Knights Cross, cased with document, cassette, etc. for $800... Then they find out they got stuck big time and they get upset! But it's partially their own fault for thinking they can get a great piece for cheap. It takes two to tango as they say and of course the dishonest fakers couldn't function without the lazy, uninformed and greedy who are in essence willing to be taken advantage of, however unconscience it is on their part.

I go with Stalin's philosophy: "I trust no one... not even myself!" I'm actually not quite that bad but I do joke about it. But I do research things to death. Better to do that than be sorry. Perfect example. We were just considering buying a diner here in town. Great business with tons of potential and an owner who "hates" management and just wants out. Problem is the owner of the building who has not kept it up as well as he should and is in a hurry to unload it and be done with it. We had an inspection done after thoroughly checking out the business itself and doing all we could to check the building. It came back saying that right off the bat the furnace and the range hood have to be replaced... to the tune of as much as the building is going to cost us. We decided to pass. Figure all it cost us was a little time and effort but not one thin dime did we spend on it. I'm sad to now see it close down just because the buildings owner is being the way he is... it's a complicated situation. But I'm glad we didn't get hooked up in it.

Well, got to run for now. More posts to do. I'm making up for lost time!

Thanks,

Dan