Paratrooper medallion?

[Sebastian Bianchi]

Posted for Roberto, an Argentinean friend, who would like to know if this is authentic. Have you ever seen it before?

My thoughts are that it's a post-war veteran tinnie.

[Sebastian Bianchi]

2

[Willi Z.]

Hi Seba,

Every day on ebay you can see these coins being sold. Not sure who is making them, but they seem very common. It is popular right now to sell military coins, and have no other knowledge of the origin of these.

Willi

[dm5000]

Yes Post War...

These things are all over Ebay Germany. Along with Rommel coins. All clearly post war. Some look like they were just minted yesterday. Im inclined to think that they arent even vet related, just minted for collector interest.

Kinda like the German version of the Franklin Mint???

Dave

[Óscar G]

Fällschirmjäger rings

I know this is not directly the thread we´re focusing on, but what happens with Fallschirmjäger rings? I´ve seen the examples in Kurtz´s book... I don´t doubt that they are original items. A few days ago I saw another one claiming to be original...
What about those "strange" items? originals? a widespread custom by FJs?
Thanks in advance. Óscar

[Willi Z.]

There are generally two styles of FJ rings which can be traced back to the style being purchased by FJs. These rings usually exhibit the natural wear present on a silver ring. When these rings sell on the market they bring several hundred dollars. Ebay has rings coming out of the east on what seems a weekly basis. They are not original. I did buy an original ring on ebay and it had resulted in intense bidding. And, I bought a repro while in Athens a few years ago. Like many things in this hobby, when you see an original it makes all the others easy to figure out. The style I got is th same ones seen in the Kurz book, the silver ring that wears quickly. The other style is a ring with a base inlay, displaying the FJ badge. That ring is very rare and I have been trying to get one for years. Unsure as to how widespread FJs wore their rings. I think Chris Mason's "Soldat" book includes a nice photo of a FJ wearing a ring that matches the ones in the Kurz book. Rings could be purchased by FJs at their bases, where other small items could be purchased, such as postcards, etc.

Willi

[Óscar G]

Thanks for your helpful information. The style of the ring commented before is that showing the FJ badge (eagle and wreath), made in nickel silver aleation. You say it´s rare, difficult to find and probably very expensive... This last clue is what make me doubt about its originality (it costs only 175 euros).
Regards. Óscar

[Ardennes]

There is a guy on ebay from Florida that lists about a dozen of these a month. They are quite obviously freshly made.

A few years back (3 or so?) I saw one of these that actually had some age to it...whether authentic or faked, I do not know. But quite different than the versions out there today. I have handled one of these "new" ones and in hand, there is no question about it being a recent construction.

[Frank Heukemes]

Dave has hit the nail on the head. These are postwar collector´s/commemorative items, probably from Goede, which IS the "German Franklin MInt".

Besides that, there are some things that should tell your gut these are not period:
-the Ju 52 looks odd in shape, more like a cigar
-paratrooper looks (according to NS-aesthetics) "ungermanic", short legs, etc., in short, not the body of a hero more that of a farmer.

I cannot imagine these two points would have found applause pre 1945 with the people that ok´ed this design.

Cheers, Frank

[Chris]

A wartime version of this commemorative coin exists in two sizes. The one shown in this string is indeed a (poor) modern copy. The larger of the two original versions was made of an inexpensive white pot metal. The smaller original version has a high silver content in a nickel alloy. Both are extremely rare. I have see one of the larger and two of the smaller. GP had one of each is his collection, and a friend of mine in Germany who is a veteran of Crete has one of the smaller ones. The larger was quite corroded, both of the smaller ones were worn, one of them heavily. The smaller version is about the size of a US Kennedy half-dollar but thicker. It has one characteristic which I don't think the fakers will ever get (which anyone really interested in can ask me about sometime privately.)