Interested in DDR

[Carl Christense]

Hi everyone, I'm interested in getting into DDR medals. A few questions I was hoping for some input on.

1) Are there a lot of fakes?
2) What are good reference books?
3) What's a good place to pick up medals?

Thanks in advance.

Carl C

[vacollector]

1) it depends on the item. A lot of the fakes focus on items related to Die Fallschirmjager.

2) Ralph is a moderator here and has written many books on items related to the Stasi, those items cross over to the Nva.

3) Many collectors here will sell you surplus items from their sets. PM me if you would like to know my extra pieces.

[tony james]

Hi Carl,
welcome to the fourm. If you are interested in the four highest east german military awards i recommend " miltarische orden der deutschen demokratischen republik " by Klaus h feder.it covers the scharnhorst-order ,the kamporden ,the militarischer verdienstorden and the blutcher order .i would not buy one of these medals without having this book .it also shows the reproductions verses originals .also the author is a former officer of the east german army. for the lower medals and urkundes Ralph Pickards two stasi books are the best reference books on the subject to have .ebay.de is a good source for buying medals .

[uscob]

Also the Bartel Catalogues are a good source, especially to learn about the different Variations through the Years, like how long they used real silver or gold, Enamel or paint etc.

[Ralph P]

Carl - Thanks for taking the time to ask your question and glad to read about your interest with DDR collecting.

Just like any other collecting field, there are fakes out there. However, the DDR collecting field less then others. Like what others have said in their posts, get reference books and connect with fellow collectors and DDR dealers who can guide and assist you to broaden your DDR medal and award document collection.

Good luck and glad to read that there is another DDR medal collector.

[Gordon Craig]

Carl,

Welcome to the forum. For books that may help answer some questions on collecting in the DDR area you could go to this location at the top of this forum. That is if you have not already looked there.

http://dev.wehrmacht-awards.com/foru...d.php?t=582582

Regards,

Gordon

[torstenbel]

This here is also a very good and comprehensive thread that I had started some years ago on DDR reference books http://dev.wehrmacht-awards.com/foru...d.php?t=149840

Cheers, Torsten.