Saxe-Altenburg Bravery Medal Question??

[Mike Huxley]

Fellow Imperialists, your knowledge would be appreciated in order to answer a few questions that I have on this medal.
I recently bought this piece from a well known British dealer, for what I thought was a reasonable price, £45 or $71. Now I'm really confussed Iv'e now seen this medal advertised on both a German and an overpriced U.S dealers sites for amounts of €400 and $350. What's going on?? Is this medal a hard one to find, hence the high overseas dealer prices, has the U.K dealer underestimated the value or could this be a fake?

The medal measures 30mm across and has a bright Bronze finish. I do have a feeling that the ribbon is wrong.

Pic of obverse.

[Mike Huxley]

A pic of the reverse side.

[Mike Huxley]

Overall view with ribbon.

[Klaus O.]

Tapferkeitsmedaille

Mike,

It all depends if the medal is made of zinc with a finish of bronze or if it is solid bronze. According the Orden & Ehrenzeichen catalogue there is quite a big difference of value between the two material. The one in Bronze is listed on my Nimmergut's catalogue 2001/2002 for Euro 281.-, the zinc one for Eur 51.-.

Here an extrait of the "Ehrenzeichen des Herzogtums Sachsen-Altenburg, 1814-1918"

Ciao,

Claudio

[Rick Research]

Bear in mind (lean closer to your monitor)

some dealers are QWAZEE !!!!

[Mike Huxley]

Claudio,

Thanks for the reply. As far as I can tell the medal is solid bronze. I was also going by the attachment at the top, as the zink type seem to have a loop at the top of the medal which the jump ring passes through, opposed to the small ring attached to the top, as my piece has.

Thanks for the extract from the "Ehrenzeichen des Herzogtums Sachsen-Altenburg, 1814-1918". Unfortunately my German is very poor, but the pictures are great A translation would help!! The medal does in fact measure 31mm across and not the 30mm that I first stated.

[Mike Huxley]

Rick, I know that some are more "QWAZEE" than others, but $330 more? Is this hobby going mad??