Imperial German China-Medal 1901

[Frank Heukemes]

I would like to get the opinion from Imperial collectors on this China Denkmünze. Although Imperial is not my special field in collecting awards, I am aware that this medal looks nothing like the pictures of originals that I have seen so far. What makes me wonder though is that this medal came with other (original) awards from a relative of the veteran who owned these medals. Is there a possibility that these medals were also produced on a nonofficial basis?
As you can see the detail is nice, but the wreath goes "over the edge" on the left top.
Please help me determine if this item which I own for quite some time is a fake.

Cheers, Frank (Munich)



[img]http://communities.msn.com/_Secure/0MQAAAH0RgapFskCAhk*3Qtx5D3Xqz28USHMZWBZwcQqSqK!iJ vHDZRBBfOxVrXIxcR3Q!kxvLVZPkQLmkNStIg/china1.jpg[/img]

[Rick Research]

Frank--except for the sloppy mis-alignment of the front edge, it looks fine to me--just a mis-struck die flaw.

These probably were produced over a long time. Steinhauer & Lu"ck was listing lapel miniatures in their January 1939 catalog. But how anyone could tell a piece's exact age--except for a lesser quality question like yours--I don't know. Yours has some slight differences (the eagle's closest wingtip, the height of the dragon's whiskers, laurel leaf vine on right side in mine, etc--but how can I say when mine was made, either?

Yours appears to be bronze and well gilt like the originals. I would think that 1920s-1930s wearing replacements would have been in a lesser base metal, some sort of white metal alloy, perhaps. Rick

Here are closeups of mine, obtained not half a mile from my house in 1973:



and reverse



If I had to guess, I would say that mine is older and yours is newer, only because the level of detail on mine is more "dainty" (NOT "worn") and yours looks like perhaps the die might have been reworked, with stronger, deeper, less subtle details. Or... ???

Who else has got one they can toss up here for comparison?

[ 21 November 2001: Message edited by: Rick Lundstrom ]

[Frank Heukemes]

Rick, thanks that sounds soothing. However, the picture of your early original again proves to me that a lot of details, well, basically everything is different, even the letters and numbers on the back. In addition and especially on the reverse, mine seems to be very "flat" the crown and wreath just drawn by lines, while yours has nice relief-type differences in height throughout the overall image.

Cheers, Frank

[Bill M]

--Ok
--Old, dainty AND worn from the looks of it - same batch as yours Rick, maybe not so much help here, but here it is...

[Rick Research]

Thanks Bill. Yours and mine match alright. Better rendered eagle than Frank's (except for the odd "clump" of feathers up by the dragon's tail on the upper near wing--but his eagle's head looks like "Gonzo" from the "Muppet Show."), though I must say I prefer his strong scaly dragon to our earthworm-like one.

Definitely prefer the better detail on the reverse of yours and mine too. But that still doesn't mean Frank's wasn't made by S&L or some other firm in the 1920s or 1930s.

More samples, please!

[eric]

Here is my contribution. This one is on a single Spange and is steel (noncombatant). Note the subtle differences in design. Particularly on the reverse.

[Frank Heukemes]

Thank you for your interesting contributions, gentlemen.

Cheers, Frank