Ribbon question...

[Ralph P]

Hello all - To follow up from my last post. I am posting the rest of the ribbon bar. This ribbon bar is of East German origin and is part of an stasi grouping.

Thanks again and I hope you enjoy the post...

[Christophe]

Congrats Ralph, This is a very nice ribbon bar!!!!

Cheers.

Ch.

[PaulR]

I agree! A nice and impressive bar to a high ranking member of the organization! It looks to be a worn example as well.

A general question here.

I do have a question about these... how can we tell when this type of bar was made? Are they easily made/assembled?

[Ralph P]

Hey Paul - Thanks for the comments much appreciated. This person was a senior officer and he used the ribbon bar in the 1980s. The ribbons themselves are made of paper except for the one cloth ribbon (The Long Service Medal in Fighting Groups of Working Class). The one shown next to the SNB ribbon. A good question about when a ribbon bar was made of which I can't answer at this time. But it would be a good question you may want to ask in the DDR forums. As for the assembly, it would be easy from the stand point of adding new paper ribbons, but if adding a new ribbon row that would take some work to do. But it can be done.

I agree! A nice and impressive bar to a high ranking member of the organization! It looks to be a worn example as well.

A general question here.

I do have a question about these... how can we tell when this type of bar was made? Are they easily made/assembled?

[Mike G.]

Hi Ralph,

Very nice. I've been following this thread with interest, and am impressed. I should have known the ribbon was going to have something to do with State Security for whatever country of origin it is associated with, given that it was you that initiated the thread.

Paul,

Roles of DDR paper award ribbons with respect to the lower awards are quite easy to procure, assemble and make. But some of the higher awards are almost impossible to find (ribbon roles) and awards from non-DDR countries have to be fabricated.

That does not mean however that people can't buy ribbon bars off ebay for example, take them apart, scan them, and then reproduce them via a computer and printer. But they of course would be new looking, and you would still need to buy the plastic cases in which they were encased. The older the set, the more patina there will be to the plastic. Brand new ones are going to look brand new.

[Ralph P]

Mike - Thanks for your comments and for the follow up to Paul.