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    My West German and 57 awards collection... Part 11:


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    Oh, nearly forgot this one. Not sure if it's supposed to represent the Doenitz special diamonds award (never reissued) or the standard Uboat badge with diamonds award... and I'm sure not an official issue in any case... but got it cheap and I love it! :love::jumping: If not an official issue... perhaps it should have been.

    Dan :cheers:

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    • 2 weeks later...

    Hi Paul,

    Sorry about the late reply my friend... between work, travel and computer problems I've been up to my ears. But things seem to be settling down for a bit at last. Now if only we don't get another blizzard...! :speechless1: A good friend of mine who is one of our towns two paramedics was just on a transport taking a patient from Carrington to the hospital over in Fargo. The weather took a nasty turn just outside Fargo and they ended up rolling in a ditch. The patient was pronounced dead at the hospital, the driver was okay but my friend has serious back injuries and had to be transported over to Minneapolis for surgery and treatment. He and his family are still over there and we're all worried sick. :unsure::( Just praying he'll be back to his old normal cheery self before too long.

    On the DDR pieces, they are indeed starting to show their age (except for the later to current production). As far as values, I can mostly speak on those I see on Ebay. Seems there are two or three sellers who always list the same pieces at what I feel are well beyond top dollar. But if you're careful and keep an eye out they pop up for cheap on occassion. Biggest problem is seeing good pics or pics of the reverse of the awards. And that especially tells the tale. So you have early (very desireable), middle (still very good and looked for) and later (many consider junk and not worth bothering with) production pieces and of course what they are still churning out.

    As I've said before, back in the day when I was into TR I only wish I'd gone with my instincts back then and bought up every 57 I could lay my hands on. They'd practically give them away as hardly anyone was intro'd. But those supposedly in the know kept saying they were junk, would never be worth anything and no one would want them kept me from diving in full force and getting all I could. :speechless: It's much more of a challenge to find really good deals now but over time anything is possible. :beer:

    Oh, before I forget I wanted to mention that the Uboat badge is definitely a fantasy piece. This one is very well made but still not an original production piece. They definitely didn't do the Uboat with diamonds... but had they done so this would have been a definite way to go! I would have stated this before but was not 100% positive about whether the Uboat diamonds had been reissued. Strange that they didn't as they kept making the diamonds re: the RK's (save the one in gold for Rudel). So now I'm keeping my eye out for the standard issue 57 Uboat badge.

    Dan :cheers:

    Edited by Hauptman
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    The KM Diamonds badges were in the gift of D?nitz and, as such, not official state awards whereas the Diamonds to the Knight's Cross were state awards, hence their inclusion in the post-1957 catalogues. Interesting to see the Anti-Partisan Warfare Badge. I always thought this was on the list of proscribed badges when the BRD started producing de-nazified Third Reich awards. It was seen as a "Nazi" award because of its association with the Waffen-SS but, of course, Wehrmacht and Police personnel received it as well.

    PK

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    Thanks PK. That's true... I'd forgotten that the Uboats with diamonds had not been considered "official" state awards. And I too was always amazed that they'd included the anti-partisan award as from what I've read most of the German troops at the time and since considered this to be more of a Waffen SS award than a general one. Those in the other branches who were awarded it often downplayed it or simply did not wear it, whereas those in the Waffen SS were extremely proud of the award and wore or displayed it at every opportunity. ;)

    Dan :cheers:

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    Like the new goodies Dan ,

    The CCC and the ostvolk and WW1 stickpins look beautiful :cheers:

    Many thanks my friend!!!! :jumping::jumping: Out of curiosity, what is the stickpin that looks liike it has the enameled red cross on it?

    Can't wait to see your para!!!! :beer:

    Dan :cheers:

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    Regarding the Bandenkampfabzeichen, Dan, some Wehrmacht recipients were proud of it, as this photo of a KM sailor wearing the BKA shows. Slightly deviating from the topic, I know, but I thought you'd be interested. Thanks for the clearer pics of your 1957 example. Never seen that before. I once saw an Infantry Assault Badge with a Weimar-cum-BDR-style eagle instead of the Nazi era bird. I was fifteen so it was in the mid-1970s. The badge was in the kind of kriegsmetall used for many wartime badges. I wish I had bought it. Never seen one like it since.

    PK

    Edited by PKeating
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    Very nice and many thanks for posting it. I'm guessing there couldn't have been many KM personnel who received that one. Great photo!!!! :jumping::jumping:

    Also guessing it depending on how the recipient felt... ie were they party members/supporters or not. If they were then the excesses went right along with their philosophy and would be more acceptible whereas those who didn't like the party or the SS would likely have not been very proud of that particular award.

    A shame you didn't get that IAB. May have been the vets original that he had altered in order to be able to wear it before the 57's were created/provided. Most seem to have just denazified in some way... cutting off the swaz, or filing it down, etc. Some I've seen were nicely done, probably by a jeweler but some seem to have gone that one step beyond. Would have been a great one to have. :beer:

    Dan :cheers:

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    The vast majority of Waffen-SS members were not party members. Coming back to the strange IAB, it wasn't denazified. It was an integral striking. The eagle really was like the old Weimar eagle or a rounder version of the BDR eagle, which is based on it. It wasn't the angular Third Reich eagle. I still kick myself for that one, more than thirty years later.

    PK

    Edited by PKeating
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    Hi all,

    Here's my newest. I took a chance on it... got it cheap and am hoping that perhaps it's original, though if so I'm assuming a later period piece. Here's the scoop. It was titled on the auction (Ebay) as a "German Iron Cross". As I say I got it cheap... figured it was worth the chance. I'd shown the auction to Grant and we both agreed it was worth the gamble if it went cheap enough. It looked like it had been in a fire or something... nearly totally black as you can see in these pics:

    The suspension of course is incorrect for sure so just ignore that.

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    I just received it today, did an initial cleaning and a set of pics to initially send over to Grant for his opinion. He thinks it looks good but can't tell for sure without having it in hand. So he suggest I put it up for general viewing and opinions. So here are the new pics. Again I apologize for the quality... I may have to just disconnect my scanner from down in the bunker and bring it up to use until all the weather problems/leaking, etc., are behind us.

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