New to the hobby needs help

[general1900]

Hi. I am new to the hobby and i really enjoy it. But i need some more knowledge regarding ww2 german medals and badges. I have recently received Robin Lumsdens book Detecting the Fakes and i really liked it. If you know books that descride ALL medals(history,construction,achievements needed to be issued etc) of the third reich era plz tell me. Could you also plz tell me how to undestand if a medal is made of zinc or other kinds of metal?Thanks for any help.

[fknorr]

I do not believe there is a single book out there to fill your request.

For Fuhrer and Fatherland is an old standard but has some limitations. You'd be better off picking a "badge" and purchasing a concise book on that single award.

[JustinG]

As said, there are tons of references. One that I like is the Detlev Niemann price guide. It has examples and variations. A good one to quickly look over hardware and such of manufacturers and it gives a pretty accurate description and a current price for the items. Many dealers use his book as a refrence as far as pricing.

Robin's books are nice. Gordon Williamson, John Angolia, Christopher Alisby are good.

[U]A Collector's Guide to: World War 2 German Medals and Political Awards[U] By Christopher Ailsby is a great start and a good starting place as you find your specialized niche.

Best of luck. Seems like you found the forums. These people are very helpful and many will help steer you in the right direction as far as genuine and authentic vs. forgery or cast fake.

2dresq907

[general1900]

...

Thank you quys. Will check the books you mentioned.

[Adrian]

Robin's book was good when it came out but (I'm sure he won't mind me saying) it is a little outdated now. Still a useful book to own but doesn't cover the quality of fakes out there now. Saying that though, Robin writes some great SS reference books.
Gordon Williamson has some good Iron Cross reference books out there and many forum members have written excellent reference books on their chosen field, Marc Garlasco (Flak88) - Flak badges, Tom Durante - the Close Combat Clasp.
I would say the same as fknoor and advise you to pick an area of the hobby, be it helmets, tinnies, uniforms, Luft badges and study that area.
Keep up to date on the forum also as this is probably the best reference guide for you and is updated daily, all the fakes usually end up being discussed here as well as there being a vast amount of original material to browse through and learn from.
Good Luck!

[militaria.no]

A Collector's Guide to: World War 2 German Medals and Political Awards By Christopher Ailsby is a great start and a good starting place as you find your specialized niche.
2dresq907

I agree, this one is great and helped me a lot when I started collecting.

Take a look here:

http://www.amazon.com/Collectors-Gui.../dp/0711021465

Good luck and happy collecting

[general1900]

Thank you all for the help given. After some net search im thinking of ordering A Collector's Guide to: World War 2 German Medals and Political Awards and A Colletor's Guide to Third Reich Militaria after i pass my school exams.

[Robin Lumsden]

Good luck with the exams!

[general1900]

Thanks Robin.

[Hartigan]

Hi general and welcome to the club
IMO Robins book is nice for a complete novice just to give you some basic directions-it was the first reference book I got when I started collecting more seriously, which was a couple of months ago.
This forum is a great source of information about how to judge an item. For example if you like EK II and you visit regularly the "Crosses of the Wehrmacht" you can see how very experienced collectors judge the various medals that are posted. Here you also have the option to interact with fellow collectors and learn things in a more dynamic way.
You can also find nice guides about German equipment (uniforms, field-gear etc) in various Osprey's publications such as
http://www.amazon.co.uk/German-Army-...pd_cart_recs_1
(I do not think they give info about how to distinguish a fake from a real though)

[general1900]

Thank you Hartigan. Yes Robins books are very good for starters like me. I found this forum as i was searching the net for information regarding ww2 german medals and i feel very lucky. Hartigan be sure i will check the Ospreys publications books.