JohanH Posted May 5, 2018 Posted May 5, 2018 Hi! Here is my little collection of finnish liberty crosses (Vapaudenristi). 1918 crosses. I still miss VR1 with swords, VR2 without swords, VR3 with red cross and VM1 with red cross. 1939 crosses. Still miss both VR1 with and without swords, VR2 without swords. The VM1 medal with red cross is awarded in 34 pieces! 1941 crosses I still need both VR1 with and without swords. As you can see I have the crosses with both homefront ribbon and war-ribbons. Crosses without year on reverse. Awarded after WW2. There are alot of these I miss in my Collection. VR1 with and without swords VR2 with swords and rosette VR3 with red cross (awarded 6 times) VR4 with swords and rosette VR4 without swords And variants of the medals. The breast star is awarded in only 7 pieces!
FRE_A_K Posted May 6, 2018 Posted May 6, 2018 Could you please post more detailed pictures..? (obverse/reverse) - VM 2 with Red Cross 1918 - VM 1 with Red Cross 1939 - Breast Star - Vili
JohanH Posted May 6, 2018 Author Posted May 6, 2018 Absolutely! The VM2 with red cross 1918 is awarded in 623 pieces but really hard to find. Bad pics but if you want I can take better ones tomorrow.
JohanH Posted May 6, 2018 Author Posted May 6, 2018 The 1 class breast star is only awarded 7 times after ww2. Extremely rare and as far as I know. Not a single piece have been for public sale ever.
FRE_A_K Posted May 6, 2018 Posted May 6, 2018 On 06/05/2018 at 10:33, JohanH said: Bad pics but if you want I can take better ones tomorrow. Expand Could you also post a picture of VM 1 without date (''URHEUDESTA'') Almost impossible to obtain as well... - V
JohanH Posted May 6, 2018 Author Posted May 6, 2018 Sure! VM 1 without year is awarded in 579 examples. It has taken me some years to get this collection... VM1 - Type 1 And VM1 - Type 2 This particular medal was awarded for service in Afghanistan.
JohanH Posted May 10, 2018 Author Posted May 10, 2018 (edited) Here is a very early and rare 1941 VR3 with oakleaves and swords. Made in 1939 style with raised numbers. Edited May 10, 2018 by JohanH
christerd Posted May 13, 2018 Posted May 13, 2018 Fantastic collection Johan Its nice to see a super collection of Finnish Awards Compare to collecting German 1939-45 Orders it is dirt cheap to collect Finnsh rare awards . an Knight Cross for example awarded more then 7000 times and manafactured in ? numbers 10 000?? cost probably 10-15 000 $ I suppose the only Finnish awards coming close to that price would be the super rare pieces like Grand Cross of Liberty cross 1918 , Grand Cross of LIberty Cross w/o Swords 1918 or 1 st Class Liberty Cross with Breast Star 1918 w/swords and 1 st Class Liberty Cross with Breast star w/o swords 1918 And then we are talking about 1-10 issued awards For example the rare 1918 3rd class Liberty Cross 1918 with Red Cross , awarded 22 !! times was sold 2016 for1400 Euro wich is about the same in $ ..... That would maybe get you a empty Knight Cross box
JohanH Posted May 15, 2018 Author Posted May 15, 2018 (edited) Hi Christer! Yes. The finnish medals are really cheap compared to german awards. But on the other hand alot more difficult to find since the few numbers awarded. I have been offered to buy a 1918 grandcross with breaststar with swords. But it was really expensive. You could buy several knights crosses for the same money. The VR3 red cross you are talking about, is it the one that got sold at Künker in Germany? If it is that one, I was one of the bidders. I had just started to collect finnish medals at that time and wasn´t sure about the prices. _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Nice medalbar Joanvara! Do you have the name of the person who received them? That red cross medal is awarded in 861 pieces, but I don´t know how many with red/white compared to yellow/red ribbon. Edited May 15, 2018 by JohanH
Paul R Posted May 15, 2018 Posted May 15, 2018 What a beautiful and focused collection. I love the mounted bar.
jovanmara Posted May 15, 2018 Posted May 15, 2018 I'm sorry, but I do not know , I bought it many years ago,I am collecting only red cross this is my Finland collection
JohanH Posted May 15, 2018 Author Posted May 15, 2018 Nice collection! Is that a VM2 1939 miniature? They are kind of rare. The liberty medals with red cross 1939 was only awarded VM1 in 34 pieces and VM2 in 241 pieces. But for some reason the VM1 miniature seem to be alot more common than VM2. I might have an extra VM2 1941 with document if you are interested? PM if you are.
jovanmara Posted May 15, 2018 Posted May 15, 2018 Yes the miniature is 1939 Could You send a foto my email is jovanmara@gmail.com Best regards Jovan
JohanH Posted May 16, 2018 Author Posted May 16, 2018 Liberty crosses without swords and with blue enamel is civilian crosses. Crosses with red cross is always awarded without swords. There are two exceptions that I know of. One VR2 1939 and one VR3 or VR4 (I don’t remember) without year that was awarded recently by mistake. It was supposed to be without swords but they didnt correct it for some reason.
Stormrider59 Posted May 17, 2018 Posted May 17, 2018 Beautiful collection Johan, it is nice to see so many Liberty Crosses on display! I am curious as to who manufactured your Grand Cross. Thanks!
JohanH Posted May 17, 2018 Author Posted May 17, 2018 Thank you stormrider! I have only collected the last there years or so. But I am fortunate enough to have good connections. I have no Idea who manufactured the grand crosses. If its german made or by A Tillander. The earliest Liberty crosses are made in german i think. The grand cross is not in my collection. They are way to expensive for me. I only have the medalj in the pictures. And some duplicates for trade/sale.
JohanH Posted May 17, 2018 Author Posted May 17, 2018 (edited) Hehe, thank you Hans! It´s getting more and more difficult (and more and more expensive) to get the ones I need to complete my collection... ___________________________________________________________________ Here is a really rare widow-cross from 1939 but made as a 1941 cross with engraved year. I have never before seen this variation. Edited May 17, 2018 by JohanH
Deruelle Posted May 26, 2018 Posted May 26, 2018 Hello What a collection, thanks for sharing it with us. congrats Christophe
JohanH Posted May 26, 2018 Author Posted May 26, 2018 Thanks Christophe! Here is my latest purchase! A medalbar awarded to a Swedish doctor. VR3 1941 with red cross, TsMM in iron for foreigners and contiunation war medal.
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