medal bar question

[Montgomery Burns]

well ,,,I seen a lot off medal bars trou the years Here on WAF
and that did not make me want them Moore or made me an expert

but,,,

there is a thing that surprises me every time ...

often a bar is presented with worn medals on it and dark patina and rust

as the ribbons on the bar are looking brand new ....?

often,,,, or most off the time theyre wohw''d and OK'd as being original ....

but the ribbon should show the same worn state as the medal ?

isn't it ?????????

so strange ,,,how dos that work ???

[saschaw]

Rust is nothing that develops from wear, but from humidity. Ribbons do not always suffer from it, while the awards do.

[Montgomery Burns]

aha ,,,thanks fore the info

but wy do loose ek ribbons do show to be time influenced ?











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[VtwinVince]

Sascha is right, wear is a very subjective thing, depending on storage conditions and amount of time worn. I have bars which are pristine and original, and others which look like they were worn by the Samsonite Gorilla. I just picked up a Naval Observer badge which looks like it survived a couple of crash landings. It's salty, but has character.

[Montgomery Burns]

well ,,,I take you're word on it ,,,,but I think it is strange ..

and I must be honest,,,the loose ek ribbons often are good to
(look''d upon them with the general info we have ,,,)

but holding them ,,almost factory new ,,and that is strange ...

I know full rolls off ribbon coming from jewellers storage after the war
collected and stored by collectors all the way in to the 1990's even ,

but I have become doubtful about the whole theories behind it ...

and looking at them with an micros coop didn't made things look any better

that is WY I ask

but thanks fore you're replies

regards kay

[McCulloh]

I agree with your caution. 15 years ago the individual medal was the collected piece. Jeff Floyd has terrifying stories of medals being ripped apart at shows for the individual medals.
Then along came the WAF and Rick Lundstrom, myself, Stogie, Claudio and a few others of the "old Guard" and we started a whole discussion on the historical validity of these bars. When we started talking @ 1997-98, the bars were still basically the price of the individual medals. Now they are not! As one German collector noted, there is now a "spangenbonus".
Lots of ribbon rolls appeared on eBay about a decade ago-and I saw them for prices I thought too steep (Oh-fool was I) at gun fairs. Now they have all evaporated and I do note the consistent availability of "older " medals on newer ribbons.
Having said that, EK2 ribbons-especially WW1 ones (silk) seem to really suffer. I have navy bars I have owned for 40 years that have hobble wear on the EK2 and almost no wear at all on the other medals. This wear pattern seems to hold true on US bars I own as well.
Over time however, the older ribbons seem to dry out.