interest investigation fore waf members

[Wild Card]

As you see above, there are several members, such as gregM, who have some wonderful miniatures.

[Wild Card]

So, you see, things are spread thinly. Sure, there is a lot of glitz and glitter out there; but sometimes it just isn’t as interesting.

Regards,

Wild Card

[Montgomery Burns]

nice items ,,,i love them

aim missing a pinned thread about what more is out there
and pictures offcourse.


bars are also schown not often enouch i think

what about schowing all halskruize there are , or commanders crosses.

the last item jou schown is maybe not so interesting fore others

becouse collectors here are not active enouch to keep info about them alive.

seen the prices ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, theyre a good investment
looking at the craftmenschip,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, theyre equal to plm's and ek's.
if it comes to rarety ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,theyre often more rare then most ek's.

are they collectors off a different mentality,,,?????
not so keen on schowing newcommers.>>>>??

i wonder

[CSForrester]

At first thanks for the rare items shown, a miniature for the Verdienste um das Militärbrieftaubenwesen .......... may be the only one i will ever see i my life

The craftmenship: an iron cross is assembled from 5 single parts, nice. A prussian crown order 3rd class as shown above is assembled from 17 (!) single parts if i count correctly ! Comletely hollow and all parts genuine gold 14 karat.
I newcomer gets interested in more than iron crosses he should look for more informations around. I first impression about may give a website like this:

www.medalnet.com

Then he should buy a cheap catalogue to get an overview how many different decorations, classes, additions, variants exist ....... and he will be shocked. The prussian Roter Adler-Orden existed in approx. 150 different classes attributes like oak, leaves, swords, jubelee-numbers, ribbon-bow, swords on ring, swords and swords on the ring ............. and only a handfull you can buy for less than 1000 Euro, the other 145 get higher and higher ..........

So i think german or other houseorders are not the best area to start collecting. May be iron crosses, wound badges, commemorative warmedals ...... that are fields were can every month a nice new piece for your colletion for small money.
Beside that you should learn more about the other decorations, after the catalogue you should decide to buy a good book about you field of interest. Learn about the relation between history and orders, the system of awarding orders ...............

A pinned thread with houseorders ......... yes, a nice idea, but i think it should have the structure of a database with seperate countries, orders, classes aso to become a usefull tool for collector. That is a lot of work and will take a lot of time to fill all areas with life.
Experienced collectors realy dont show all their beautys, some more, some less. I would never present other pics of the 1866-eagle because i work on a publication for the german BDOS journal and will show it there at first. Other collectors have fear that it is to dangerous to show the expensive pieces, next weekend their house could be robbed out.

My tip for you: use any chance on militaria-fairs, collectors meetings to hold other decorations in your hand, perhaps you sould enter in one of the collectors societys and learn from the journals. And buy books. The www is not the first source for the serious collectors. All basic informations you get here from more experienced collectors come from printed sources and many of them are still working to get more information from the origine sources.

Collect what you like, what you can buy with your money, be interested in other fields and you will find your real special interest when the time has come.

Regards
Markus

At least a simple silvermedal, a prussian general honor-badge/Allgemeines Ehrenzeichen .... or not ?

[VtwinVince]

Wild Card, do you have a shot of the reverse of your HOHX star? Great piece.

[Carl Christense]

Additional Pinned Threads

I also agree that some pinned threads would be very useful as a collector's tool. I have gotten a lot of use of the pinned EK thread as an evaluation tool.

I would find pinned threads for "lower level" awards such as state specific EK equivalents, red eagle 4th and 3rd class, etc. very useful. I currently use the forum search engines to try to find threads and posts with the information, specifically pictures, that I am looking for. Having a pinned thread with verified original pieces would be much more convenient and efficient.

Just my thoughts.

Regards

Carl C

[Wild Card]

Wild Card, do you have a shot of the reverse of your HOHX star? Great piece.

Thank you for the compliment.

Here is a picture.

[regular122]

Beautiful stuff Wild Card. I love the many surprises you give us to tease us with each new thread. Thanks for taking the time to post some of these fantastic pieces. And Markus, too. Steve

[Don D.]

It just goes to show how HUGE the Imperial collecting field is. Think of all the subforums that could be created.

[Wild Card]

...what about schowing all halskruize there are , or commanders crosses.

the last item jou schown is maybe not so interesting fore others

becouse collectors here are not active enouch to keep info about them alive.

seen the prices ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, theyre a good investment
looking at the craftmenschip,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, theyre equal to plm's and ek's.
if it comes to rarety ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,theyre often more rare then most ek's.

are they collectors off a different mentality,,,?????
not so keen on schowing newcommers.>>>>??

i wonder

Again, you raise some good points and questions. I will try to provide some views and answers; but I must emphasize that I speak as an individual, and not for others.

Indeed I have noticed the prices. As a matter of fact I have been noticing them for over thirty years; and yes, I suppose that they do indicate “a good investment”. That, however, is not the point of my collecting interest in that I consider myself a collector, not an investor and not a dealer. Over the past ten years, I have seen the “investor mentality” virtually destroy the Imperial Russian and Soviet collecting communities (more on this in a moment); and pray that Imperial German collecting will not suffer the same fate.

Yes, the Imperial German craftsmanship is truly outstanding - in my opinion second only to Imperial Russian. As an aside, some of the early Soviet and (get ready for this) early Mongolian pieces, which were were made in Russia, exhibit some of he finest enamel work ever.

Rarity is a concept that has only recently, say within the past ten years or so, come into it’s own. Rare pieces, regardless of their significance are rightfully beginning to gain recognition and command premium prices; but this can be taken to extremes. Related to this is a new appreciation for award documents and presentation cases, which are now going for thousands of dollars at the high end.

What might appear to be an imbalance of prices with regard to EK’s is simply a result of good old “Economics 101” - supply and demand. As a result of this, among other things, we see rare variations and pieces by small manufacturers going for premium prices. In a parallel case, fifteen years ago, shoe boxes full of Soviet Red Banners were offered at shows with the individual pieces going for less than $50. Over time interest developed in “variations” and other characteristics. As a result, as I write this, one of the top dealers is offering Red Banners ranging from $495 to $49,000. No, the piece being offered for $49,000 was not awarded to Marshal Zhukov, but it is “...probably an official duplicate award issued in 1940 in exchange for the lost or damaged "Mirror Reverse". In all fairness, there are other factors indicating rarity; but in the end, decide for yourself.

As to why, collectors of high end pieces such as commander’s crosses do not readily post them, I do not think that it has anything to do with their mentality. All I know is that I rarely have much of my modest little collection in my home at any one time; and if I were fortunate enough to have a collection of such high end items as commander’s crosses, I would not be inclined to advertise it to the world on the internet via The Forum. Sorry, but such are times in which we live.

[Wild Card]

Beautiful stuff Wild Card. I love the many surprises you give us to tease us with each new thread. Thanks for taking the time to post some of these fantastic pieces. And Markus, too. Steve

Thank you.

[Wild Card]

It just goes to show how HUGE the Imperial collecting field is. Think of all the subforums that could be created.

Absolutely true, and as such, as I tried to illustrate in posts #12-#17 it offers so many approaches to collecting. In a way, this is a blessing in that it creates some protection from the abuses suffered by the Imperial Russian and Soviet areas.

Also, I completely agree with your suggestion regarding sub forums, but to a very limited degree. Actually, I have long considered proposing a sub fourm for EK’s. This could encompass all EK’s, which would include Third Reich, or be confined to those of the Imperial era. I see advantages to both approaches; but, not being an EK collector, would defer, on this point, to those with more of an interest in this area. At the same time, I would caution against diluting The Imperial Militaria Forum too much; and for now would confine this effort to the issue of EK’s.

Fellow members, how do you feel about this?

[PaulChep]

When viewed as a whole the collecting community in the US seems to be stuck in the Third Reich and with the Iron Cross. There is not a large interest, in the US, in Imperial orders and decorations. I think part of the reason is a lack of reference material in general and the lack of reference material written in English.

My collecting interests are Imperial/TR medal bars and ribbon bars that I can trace back to the original owner. While I have over 20 bars that I have traced I am not in this for the investment. I think that there are to many factors that affect prices to make investing in orders and decorations to risky, expecially fakes. When you introduce the investment side of collecting I think that you remove the fun part of it. That is the reason I collect, for the fun and the challenge of the research.

[CSForrester]

A lot of very good, true and wise statements.
To fill a database for german imperial awards splitted up in the german states, houseorders, medals etc. is hopeless, an endless story.
A subforum for Iron Crosses makes sense in my eyes, but i would exclude the 1939/1957 series and would keep them in the WAF-area above.
Instead of subforums or a splitted database i think about two thinks who may fill a litte the lack of good, comprehensive material in english:
a) a pinned thread with articles who show the decorations of each german state in comprehensive style with some pics for the decorations, a little bit more than a price-guide, an overview with a short presentation of the historical development. I would write one or two, but need help to translate it in english.
b) like the well known ribbon charts designed charts with decorations and short subtitles, for example one or two charts with the Iron Cross-equivalents from Anhalt to Wuerttemberg. So not all the commanders crosses are needed, to show a Knights Cross is enough to recognize the decoration.
Just brainstorming.
Regards
Markus

[Noor]

Hi,

I started around 2 years ago with imperial single awards.... then focused (all the Weimar and commemorative stuff went over the board), then focusing more to the ribbon bars and medal bars around year ago.... this year I decided to collect only ribbon bars and medal bars with some foreign awards on it. Ribbon bars area great - actually they are groups with some high end awards, interesting to research and try to link them with states, units, periods, etc. And cheaper to get!

Some of my ribbon bars:



and one medal bar with great foreign awards (Belgium!!, Siam)



next thing of my "collection evolution".... everything imperial is great to compare. Here is one shot from Russo Japanese war 1904-1905 period... bouth sides war commemorative medals.