Another Westwall Medal

[RonR]

Nice patina on this guy......


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[RonR]

34

[bytown]

Yup. Fine looking award.

Wayne

[Rommel1933]

Very nice Ron!

[Jean-Claude]

Hi Ron,

Nice Westwall medal but I'm not sure about the ribbon ... As far as I know the edges of the ribbon should be like the attached pict but do wait for someone more knowledgeable to comment on this

Best regards

JC

[jack1]

I would not have medal or ribbon in my collection at all.
Not for me.

[RonR]

I would not have medal or ribbon in my collection at all.
Not for me.

As most know, I almost never defend an item.

Preferring the item to speak for itself.

However in this case, I will present a few facts about this one.

It was acquired directly from a veteran on March 29, 2013 along with some buckles and other items that were in a typical cigar box, plus a SA dagger.

Picture of this aquisition attached.

Also the medal was previously reviewed on July 18, 2013....

http://dev.wehrmacht-awards.com/foru...d.php?t=682649

Thank you!

[Jean-Claude]

As most know, I almost never defend an item.

Preferring the item to speak for itself.

However in this case, I will present a few facts about this one.

It was acquired directly from a veteran on March 29, 2013 along with some buckles and other items that were in a typical cigar box, plus a SA dagger.

Picture of this aquisition attached.

Also the medal was previously reviewed on July 18, 2013....

http://dev.wehrmacht-awards.com/foru...d.php?t=682649

Thank you!

Hi Ron

Great news for me Ron! Ever since I've joined the forum I have seen threads where medals with ribbons with different edges than the typical "looped edges" were deemed repro/replacement ribbons. As a result, I moved what I had always considered to be a very nice EK II single mount before but, with ribbon edges like your Westwall, to my junk box

Further to your statement on the Westwall I'll take better pictures and repost it for opinions

Thanks

JC

[Sevrin]

Edge

I thought the edges looked odd as well.

Following that link Ron posted, you can see there are looped edges there, just not sure why the ends looked sewn-over like that.

loopededge.jpg

[Ian Hulley]

Hi Ron,

Nice Westwall medal but I'm not sure about the ribbon ... As far as I know the edges of the ribbon should be like the attached pict but do wait for someone more knowledgeable to comment on this

Best regards

JC

Original ribbons



They lack the 'whip stitch' which binds the edges on post war ribbons.

Ian

[RonR]

Thank you Ian.

If anybody needs some ribbon.....

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[RonR]

Closer of the ribbon on the original medal that started the thread......

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[Ian Hulley]

I'm very sorry my friend I don't see a clear weft thread ...

Ian

[RonR]

Ian,


Thank you.

It is not a problem for me since it was a direct veteran acquisition as posted above.

Best regards,

[Gardereiter]

Please tell me that somebody other than member "Jack1" is skeptical about this medal. It is a SCREAMING die-cast piece... and I mean SCREAMING. This thing never got struck by a stamping die!!

The medal was slightly darkened in selenious and phosphoric acid and then dipped in copper acetate a few times to produce the speckled (not natural-looking) "Verde Gris" finish. This process helps to make less obvious the identifying characteristics of a die-cast piece... porosity, unsharp edges/inside corners, casting seams, etc.

I recognize this kind of finish because I used to do this stuff in our metal finishing shop!

I spent most of my adult life going to WW2 veterans' estate auctions and honestly... these guys picked up all kinds of crap at flea markets and gun shows in the 60s and 70s and 80s and then told their grandkids it was their war booty "fightin' them nazis."

Being able to distinguish die-stamped pieces from die-cast pieces is absolutely rudimentary to collecting medals, orders and decorations.