INTERNATIONAL MEDAL COLLECTOR - Magazine for all !

[Dietrich Maerz]

Well, I think overall I am the one looking a little bit deeper than some others. That has to do with the fact that I can read and understand German and in my humble opinion this is a conditio sine qua non for serious research of certain aspects of the hobby. We just saw that above .....

I am also far more sceptical than others when it comes to "stories" .... the more so since quite a substantial amount of those has been proven to be - using your expression - BS.
That is why I like Tom's forensic approach very much since it is a perfect aspect of what we try to do here: to give the collector the very best knowledge based on reproduceable facts, not on something that "might have been" or based on nice word twisting games.

Originality is not a result of semantic skills, it is something inherent to the piece itself.

[Leroy]

Congratulations.

I'm sorry you must think I'm part of a "revisionist trend" in this hobby. If I am, I have been so since 1958.

You must also think I engage in "nice word twisting games". When you say, however, that "Originality is not a result of semantic skills, it is something inherent to the piece itself " I would agree completely. I'm sure that must be confusing.

Good luck.

[Nordmark]

That is why it is imperative more now than ever to prove something is wartime rather than the other way around. It is a bad trend to see people starting to give more credence to any weird badge or cross that pops up on the forum these days. Trying to find ways that something "could" be original or "maybe wartime" since it cannot be proven without a shadow of doubt its a fake!

Hello Tom,


right back at you, the same goes for these absurd maker connections. If you demand this approach in regard to postwar production, I would really wish this would count for the "forensics" as well. But this does not seem to be the case.


Regards,


Daniel

[Dietrich Maerz]

I'm sorry you must think I'm part of a "revisionist trend" in this hobby. If I am, I have been so since 1958.

You are twisting my words! Here is what I wrote: " that I am also told by "many others' who are very sceptical of the trend "that it needs to be proven a fake, otherwise it might be an original."
It is clearly seen as a revisionist movement, back to the times when "everything is real" that came from a Vet, looked old, or was in a collection of a "advanced collector"."

Where did I write that this is my thinking? The word twisting games, well ...

[Thomas Durante]

right back at you, the same goes for these absurd maker connections. If you demand this approach in regard to postwar production, I would really wish this would count for the "forensics" as well. But this does not seem to be the case.

Hi Daniel,

In each and every maker connection case, evidence it provided to support the connection. Whether you think "enough" evidence is shown is up to you, and it doesn't need to be said that every collector's threshold for "enough evidence" is different.

There is very little in our hobby that can be proven 100% without a doubt. So if you are looking for 100% proof on each and every maker connection, then I think that will be a long wait. Unfortunately we are almost always going off of partial information and only pieces of the puzzle.....

None of us were around in 1945 right at the end of the war, so we have to go on pieced-together information from vets, books and period documentation. I have long suspected that fake production began soon after the end of the war and doubtful of the claim it didn't start until 1950 or later. It was said there was "very little demand at that time" or "Germans just wanted to get on with their lives" or "no one would dare make fakes so soon because the war was still raw and swastika was hated", etc. And maybe all that is correct, but part of me has always doubted that take simply because if there was a demand for such things, then some entrepreneur will always come along to supply it. These documents shed a little more light on this timeframe and I personally feel it supports the contention of fake production in the immediate postwar period.

Is it 100% proof? No. But is it a piece of the puzzle and tangible evidence that fake production was going on in 1946 and there was indeed a collector market for such things? The answer is Yes, in my opinion.

Tom

[Guripa250]

Hi Dietrich, I received the magazine great article about the original Spanish manufactures about the German Medals from the veterans of the Spanish Blue Division. It is a great article to know this RARE pieces for collectors.

Good work, thanks

RS

[Guripa250]

Blue Division article in IMC

In the Magazine International Militaria Collector, Volume 5th , No. 2 December 2014 has published an article by Angel G. Pinilla on German decorations manufactured in Spain who used the veterans of the Blue Division (Spanish -made German War Decorations ) . The article consists of nine pages where a small historical review of the Spanish unit then becomes , first , in full-color photographs , reflected these typical decorations next to a sheet of each. Originals models of the Iron Crosses 1st and 2nd class War Merit crosses with equally swords 1st and 2nd Class Medals , Winter Medal 41/42 , Adward Infantry Assault and Order of the German Eagle appear in it. This prestigious US magazine militate first presented an article on the Spanish Blue Division . It is important as it will release more internationally about the Glorious Blue Division unit in the history of the WWII in Rusia.

To order that magazine you can find it on their website www.ironcross1939.com

Thanks Dietrich and Angel for this great contribution to the history and the collector who clarifies regarding these rare medals of Spanish manufacture.

RS

[Dietrich Maerz]

The next issue of the International Militaria Collector goes to the printer next week. It is another issue with previously unpublished material - from Michael Wittmann to the Anti Partisan Badge.

[hkusp40]

I can't wait for the next issue. Thanks for continuing to make a great magazine. -Ger

[jmathis965]

that is a great magazine

[ironcross13]

can we get this in the UK?

who owns M. Wittmann Knights Cross? did some one buy it?

Martin

[Dietrich Maerz]

There is no distributor in the UK. You can buy a subscription here: http://bdpublish.com/epages/4d7f6574...Products/Sub-3

[lakesidetrader]

Excellent article on the AP badge by one of our own!
Great Mag!

[ironcross13]

okay thanks

[jaguwar]

Just subscribed. Sorry it has taken me so long (been out of the loop in Afghanistan and Iraq). I am looking forward to receiving my first copy and getting back into the swing of collecting.