What in Tarnation, is THIS?????????

[stogieman]

I mean, c'mon......... is this the new "lingo" for FAKE, REPRODUCTION, PIECE OF TURTLE DOO-DOO??? Really, now I suppose some WW1 veterans, in his 70's, was forced by the big, mean, West German Machine to replace all his pre-1945 WW1 awards as they might have been made by the hands of a GASP, Nazi?????????????????????????????????????????????

http://cgi.ebay.de/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?...item=722496223


RRRRRRRRRRRIIIIIIIIIIIIGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHTTTTTTTT TTT!

[JensF.]

Rick, I've mailed him for a pic of the back. But there ARE 1957 made ones of this cross!

[stogieman]

Yes, but

... I mean really?? Why on earth would there be 1957 issue, WW1 awards?? What the heck was wrong with the originals?

[Mike Dunn]

Hey Rick--what about that medal bar that had the 1914 EKII and Hindenburg Cross that was supposed to be mod 1957. Why on earth would they make those Mod 1957 medals and not this one? I aggree with you--WHY? It really makes no sense to me either. Mike

[Rick Research]

When I was a precocious child in the Age of Aquarius, I actually had catalogs (now long gone) from suppliers of M1957 WW2 decorations over there, and sure enough just about any WW1 award were on their lists. Average price was about 6 bucks, as I recall, which meant that in most cases my paper route money went further buying ORIGINALS locally than replacements from Germany.

There's always a certain amount of "veteran replacement" legitimate business decades after a war. I've seen that with our own Vietnam stuff, even WW2-- look how many of our WW2 veterans are only getting their medals NOW. Not the case, obviously, in Germany, but you'd have to assume a lot of then prospering 60-ish German veterans might have come home in '47 or '48 from POW camp with nothing but the clothes on their back and a smoking cellar hole for "home."

Astray of the nation of discussion, but relevant, I think to Late Replacement-- I got an ORIGINAL silk ribboned, heavy bronze suspension U.S. WW-ONE Victory Medal for my deceased grandfather-- in 1977! They actually still had some original immaculate mint contract pieces lying around after 57 years!

What I've always wondered is what did BRITISH WW1 veterans do, if they needed a new set in, say 1963?

[Dez H]

Hello all

Yep ’57 mod Prussian pilots badges, u-boat badges, supposedly S&L were still making PLM’s in the 50s. Rick L is quite correct, virtually any ww1 could be purchased in ’57 form. Quality like all other ’57 pieces was never as good as the originals.


Regards

Dez

[McCulloh]

Wot the Brits do/did

Rick:
The British MOD gave repalcement medals to vets from surviving stocks. Believe it or not my next door neighbor got his Pip,squek and Wilfred with "replacement' marked on the back reissued, after they were stolen in 1979. I own an unengrved 1914-1915 star original that was one of these "stocked" pieces.
Also, I just received my Grandfathers WW1 medal courtesy of my Senator, Susan Collins. It's alas, a Lordship one.
Cheers,
JeMc

[Eric Gaumann]

I've seen *lots* of German dealers selling stuff like this as "model 57". To me it's outright thievery, but then again I know that it's just a repro. If I need to fill a hole with a repro EA Cross I might go that route but I'm afraid that the suppliers to these guys are also selling to outright fake dealers. And at that stage it's just more fake crap that I have to wade through on my quest to fill up my Imperial collection.
It's a double edged sword: fairly decent quality mid-to-high end copies for those of us who don't have fat wallets versus junk that ends up driving prices higher and driving collector nuts.

<sigh> I shoulda been a WW1 hero and *won* all this stuff through bravery. Then I'd have saved all this money and aggravation....