Best Reference

[PaulR]

Hello,

Compared to most of you, I am a very new collector of German WW2 items. Which in your opinion would be the best catch all references that best illustrates what to look for in badges and medals?

Thanks
Paul Reck

[Yuri D.]

Hello,

Compared to most of you, I am a very new collector of German WW2 items. Which in your opinion would be the best catch all references that best illustrates what to look for in badges and medals?

Thanks
Paul Reck

Paul,

As a general reference, Bender's Military Awards of the Third Reich, and Tucker's new book are the closest items to a "catch all" reference in English about the subject. But there are so many badge variations, you can write an entire book just about one badge. Also, the books I've mentioned have badges featured in them that are reproductions. These reproductions are represented as genuine, and you should be careful in general.

Yuri

[Philippe DB]

Hi Paul,

I completely agree with Yuri. There simply doesn't exist a good book on III reich badges that covers it all. The ones Yuri mentioned come closest but are far from complete.

In fact I don't think that it is possible to write a book that covers all makers, all badges and discusses every variant. On the positive side however you just found the best reference work arround. Ok it isn't a book but this site. Not only will you find 10x more info on this site than in all books put together but it also is updated constantly.

Best thing you can do is try to organize your one reference files and stuff them with info that can be found on this forum. In a couple of months you will have the best reference book ever writen on III reich badges on your own PC.

Don't forget to take a back up from time to time.

KR
Philippe

[Yuri D.]

Philippe,

That backup part is very important!!! I have over 1 GIG of Third Reich data and it's constantly growing. I make a backup of it approximately every 3 months. It would be disasterous if I lost it all.

Yuri

[Philippe DB]

Hi Yuri,

Don't tell me! I probably trust my PC even less then you do every Sunday morning it's backup time over here. I got copies laying in 3 different locations to make triple sure that I always will be able to retrieve my picture files. A little paranoia is absolutely necessary here. Really wouldn't know where to start if one day all this invaluable info would be gone.

KR
Philippe

[Brian S]

Hi Yuri,

Don't tell me! I probably trust my PC even less then you do every Sunday morning it's backup time over here. I got copies laying in 3 different locations to make triple sure that I always will be able to retrieve my picture files. A little paranoia is absolutely necessary here. Really wouldn't know where to start if one day all this invaluable info would be gone.

KR
Philippe

I thought I was the only one paranoid. Thank goodness for a built in CD writer.

[Yuri D.]

I thought I was the only one paranoid. Thank goodness for a built in CD writer.

I have data "mirrored" on multiple disks, and make an "online" copy once per week. The "offline" copy to CDs happens quarterly. I probably should do it more often.......just lazy I guess.

I have lots of images and data from the early days of the Internet, like 1995 and 1996, 1997 and 1998. Also a lot of images from the early days of the Forum (1999 / 2000). My number of posts is deceiving, I've been reset a few times.

Yuri

[PaulR]

Hello Yuri and Phillip,

I thank you for your help. I definatly see your point. I have purchased a few books already and was disappointed in the lack of content(especially for the price I paid). My best book is the Foremans Guide and that is borderline at best...especially seeing how the photos are not even in color!!

Have you all ever thought about marketing what you have in the way of archieves? I could see you all making several volumes. You have already done the difficult part...obtaining photos(color ones at that ). The rest should be easy! I would be your first customer when the books or CD ROM come out. I am just tired of wasting money on books that just confuse me when an unlisted variant of a certain badge or medal comes before me. I am also fed up with buying fakes...especially those that someone says is "a well known version". Not only are the above examples a waste of money, but it is very embarrassing as well!

Thanks
Paul Reck