Hey guys,
I've had a lot of questions by PM about my large collection of ribbons: where it came from and what exactly is in it.
Here is every ribbon that is currently left in the collection: RIBBON COLLECTION
Here is everything I know about it:
At the SOS it was contained in two binders on a table. I asked the seller if he would sell me two Prussian ribbons I was interested in and he said he only wanted to sell the entire collection. He said he'd bought it from an old collector from upstate NY who had just recently died, and that he didn't know anything about Imperial German ribbons, so he had no idea how to price any of the individual ribbons, but that someone had estimated the value of the entire collection for him, and that he was selling it as one lot for this price.
I paid close to his price and took the two binders, which I later combined into one huge binder. As I began to go through the ribbons, I realized that a) there was a ton of Oldenburg ribbons, and b) that many of the ribbons were wrapped around a business card. I guess this is card identifies the guy who assembled the collection:
IMG_9934.JPG
Gordon Arnold from Rochester, specialist in Oldenburg awards.
He seems to have assembled this collection from three different sources: Many are original, period Imperial ribbons. These vary a lot in width, length and amount of wear. He also seems to have bought a large collection of Third Reich-era medalbar wrap. Many of the Third Reich-era medalbar wrap ribbons are 25mm, which is the standard width for mounting medalbars in the German style. Then, at some point he added a batch of postwar replacement ribbons. I believe these are mostly from the same manufacturer since their weave is distinctive. It reminds me of authentic British medal ribbons and I suspect they may have been woven in the UK shortly after the war.
Many were labeled for sale, so he obviously sold them here and there, but they were not labeled by period of manufacture. Therefore I went through the collection and labeled each ribbon by its period of manufacture, estimating very conservatively.
Here's a sense of what the binder looks like. Sort of half-organized by State, but not at all by period of manufacture or width:
IMG_9936.jpg
That's it! Now when someone asks me this question, I can point to this thread.
I've had a lot of questions by PM about my large collection of ribbons: where it came from and what exactly is in it.
Here is every ribbon that is currently left in the collection: RIBBON COLLECTION
Here is everything I know about it:
At the SOS it was contained in two binders on a table. I asked the seller if he would sell me two Prussian ribbons I was interested in and he said he only wanted to sell the entire collection. He said he'd bought it from an old collector from upstate NY who had just recently died, and that he didn't know anything about Imperial German ribbons, so he had no idea how to price any of the individual ribbons, but that someone had estimated the value of the entire collection for him, and that he was selling it as one lot for this price.
I paid close to his price and took the two binders, which I later combined into one huge binder. As I began to go through the ribbons, I realized that a) there was a ton of Oldenburg ribbons, and b) that many of the ribbons were wrapped around a business card. I guess this is card identifies the guy who assembled the collection:
IMG_9934.JPG
Gordon Arnold from Rochester, specialist in Oldenburg awards.
He seems to have assembled this collection from three different sources: Many are original, period Imperial ribbons. These vary a lot in width, length and amount of wear. He also seems to have bought a large collection of Third Reich-era medalbar wrap. Many of the Third Reich-era medalbar wrap ribbons are 25mm, which is the standard width for mounting medalbars in the German style. Then, at some point he added a batch of postwar replacement ribbons. I believe these are mostly from the same manufacturer since their weave is distinctive. It reminds me of authentic British medal ribbons and I suspect they may have been woven in the UK shortly after the war.
Many were labeled for sale, so he obviously sold them here and there, but they were not labeled by period of manufacture. Therefore I went through the collection and labeled each ribbon by its period of manufacture, estimating very conservatively.
Here's a sense of what the binder looks like. Sort of half-organized by State, but not at all by period of manufacture or width:
IMG_9936.jpg
That's it! Now when someone asks me this question, I can point to this thread.
Comment