Ost Medal: Amateur Analysis for Critique

[matt170]

Gentlemen,

I recently acquired an Ost Medal. Since it was so cheap, I figured I'd buy it to work on my analyzing skills (I figure learning by doing would be a good way to expand my experience). The following is a list of what I noticed (potentially both good and bad). If anyone could contribute their opinions, so I can see if I'm in the proper mindset, it would be greatly appreciated! (links to photos are at the bottom)

Notes:
Ribbon is soft and passes UV test
Have yet to see this ribbon "variant"
Medal doesn't seem to have "muddy" details
No seam running around the edge of the medal
Small parallel lines on medal's edge (sheer marks?)
No finish
No pits on the surface from bubbles
No maker's mark

My Conclusion (for what it's worth):
good? zinc medal
still unsure about ribbon

http://s1184.photobucket.com/albums/...=1327029310328

http://s1184.photobucket.com/albums/...t=IMG_2227.jpg

http://s1184.photobucket.com/albums/...3DIMG_2228.jpg

[all1knew]

Hello there,

Welcome to the forum!

You have a nice Ost medal in zinc in my opinion.

William Kramer

[Tom Yanacek]

Hello Matt and welcome!

I also feel that the medal is original but the ribbon looks like a reproduction.

Best regards,
Tom

[VonPeter]

No doubt about it, the ribbon is bad.

[luftkrieg]

The medal looks like an original zinc piece. I have to agree with the other on the ribbon though, a repro in my opinion.

Kind regards
Pierce

[hlynur76]

Always good to have a picture.
.

[AndyC]

As said before the medal is a good zink one and the ribbon is bad.
Its not difficult to find a original ribbon, just do a search on the net and you find one


Andy

[matt170]

Thank you all for the welcome and your valued opinions. Given what you gentlemen have shared, I consider this acquisition a partial success. On one hand I did not heed my suspicions about the ribbon and overly relied on the UV test, which is obviously fallible. I just hope the seller was ignorant, rather than a scammer (discovering that you inadvertently funded one of them is a kick in the gut, no matter how cheap/common the piece).

On the other hand, it is somewhat comforting that I had the suspicion about the ribbon in the first place. Also, thanks to your confirmations, it appears I was correct about the medal itself. Overall, I think this is a valuable learning experience (and believe me, I have a lot to learn).

Thanks again everyone for the input! I'll set about finding a ribbon that is worthy of the medal.