Two Ostmedailles, early and midwar

[Angel Farré]

Obeverse

Angel

[Angel Farré]

Left is midwar production and his marked in the ring with a 117 (Hugo Lang, Wiesenthal a.N.)

Right one is an early production piece marked with a 51 (Eduard Görlach & Söhne, Gablonz/N.)

Angel

[Angel Farré]

Mark on the packets, unafortunately just the early one matches with the maker of the medal.

Angel

[AWwaterhouse]

I find these awards quite attractive in their simple design yet symbolic design, can you please explain how you determine the date these pieces are constructed?

Das Ostmedaille is die struck, so from a production point of view, later pieces might reveal stresses and tiny cracks, due to extreme pressures and excessive use placed on the tooling. Let's remember that over 3 million men lined up in '41 alone for Barbarossa, even the next of kin got the awards for KIA, so you will encounter vartiants due to the large number of firms that produced this award. Or do you refer to the metals and finishing products used in the production.

Just trying to learn and share my observations.

[Angel Farré]

I mean construction materials and finish, look at the shine early one and how the finish is faded and how looks the other due the material used.

Angel

[Inspector Krogh]

Good stuff Angel.
G.

[Chet Sowersby]

Angel,
This award is usually found in a much more "used" condition reguarless of the time frame. Both yours are quite nice.

Chet

[mrg]

Hi Angel both awards and packets in very good condition. Nice . All the best

[Scott C.]

Weren't the very first issue types in a quality metal while shortly after they were made in zink, hence the grey & bubbling finish on them?

Scott