I am no expert on NSDAP LS medals, but the construction and patina look good. The zinc / t ombak reaction to oxygen and the bronze looks ok. the ribbons and backing look pristine and almost new, but if the ribbons are dry and rigid, or even better brittle, well you have a civilian winner. Exactly the sort of bar a Blockleiter would have worn once or twice a year during the war.
This medal bar would not be for me. I believe it is a modern put-together using a mixture of real and reproduction parts. The medals all seem to be okay, as do the ribbons for the War Merit and Social Welfare Medals. From what I can see of the 10-Year NSDAP ribbon, it looks to be modern. Maybe a better picture would help, but I don't like the look of the looped weave on the edges of that ribbon. I am also leery of medal bars that use the double wrap ribbon furl, yet lack ribbon rosettes. There are a few exceptions, but ribbons wrapped in this manner will almost always have rosettes at the bottom. I believe that this medal bar utilizes a backing plate not original to the period. The bare steel pin and catch are certainly reminiscent of many fake assemblies that I have seen. And the roughly clipped ends are not a good sign.
Ok, you convinced me. The backing is definitely From Vienna, same pinking shears and cloth length, same stitching pattern, although I reckon he is now doing a Haken and rebuilding medal bars. The rust under the catch was also a good sign I thought, although not with a pristine backing. I figured someone had just replaced it.
I wonder if it began life with an HKx instead of a Volkspflege medal.
The patina on the WMM from the NSDAP cross I still reckon is real.
The austrian faker recently worked well on his production line : several medal bars, very similar to this one (no rosette, same wool on the back side, same construction...) are on sale on a famous german auction site for militaria (and it is noted that the seller is from Austria...). Beware...
regards
loren
Hi guys, can someone explain what the "rosettes" are?
Thanks in advance, steve
Hi Steve,
Rosettes are where the ribbons are furled in a semi-circular fashion at the lower part of the bar and the medals will rest atop of the rosettes, either partially or completely.
Here is an example of a medal bar with small rosettes: the medals only rest partially atop these rosettes.
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