Zollgrenzschutz Medal - Opinion????

[Tom Yanacek]

Is this another gem from marisca lrommel?

Edit: yes it is and it was called a fake already before the sale.
http://dev.wehrmacht-awards.com/foru...d.php?t=522287

Good eye, Peter!

The medal that started this thread is indeed the exact same one from the earlier thread that you linked. They look different in the two photos with different light and camera settings, but the points of comparison are proof beyond a doubt, in my opinion, that they are in fact the same. Blemishes to the finish, nicks, and scratch marks are identical. The ribbon is obviously a reproduction also.

Best regards,
Tom

[Tom Yanacek]

Yes, they did make a plated or washed version at the later stages of the war and I have obtained from veterans ones that exhibit this grey colored metal base as the bronze coating fades. I much prefer the solid bronze model, but the other one did exist and were period originals.

The close up views do not show this is a cast copy. There aren´t evidences of tipical copy-casting process on the surfance. No bubbles do exist and the micro lines in the edges are showing a die-cast procedure, similar to other late war medals.
The zink version did exist in the last years of the war. In zink made badges, natural oxidation after 75 years could give this soft look to details.
No copies made of zink of this cross had been seen before.
I don´t dare to say if it´s original thru this pictures, but neither if it´s a copy.
Maybe the other members are saying that this is a copy basicly cause they are comparing this medal with the well known and nicer bronze one.
Could you post please a close up pic of the ring?.

Hello Ron & Greg,

If possible, could you please post pictures of a Customs Service Decoration in zinc that is original? If originals in zinc do exist, wouldn't they have an integral suspension eyelet rather than a separately-applied eyelet? In my opinion, the eyelet would have to be like we see on zinc NSDAP Decorations, zinc KVKs, zinc Social Welfare Medals, zinc Westwalls, etc. All of these late war medals in zinc had integral eyelets because it is just about impossible to solder a tiny eyelet to the rim of a zinc medal.

Best regards,
Tom

[Silesien]

Gregorio, apparently you have never ever seen the Rudolf Souval reproductions of the Customs Cross, they were an ugly greyish thicker than normal zinc with weak details, & the fake as posted surely looks like one of those. Souval made some very nice reproductions, but their Customs Cross repro was a real dog.

[Gregorio Torres]

I didn´t know the story of this item, and basicaly I was trying to say that it must not be comdemed only because it´s zinc made or because is uglier than the bronze one.
I was talking in general about this kind of crosses more than about this one posted to start the thread.
Unfortunately I haven´t one of these original bronzed zinker Zoll medals now, but I had them with proveneance. They do exist and was made by a die-cast process.
The reason why I ask in my last post for a close up view of the ring is just because the loop must be integral, and I want to be sure than this one is or not. Zinker zoll medals that I´ve seen have an integral fat loop.
Silesien, I haven´t seen the Souval´s fake of this cross, but I suspect than they was not made by a tipical casting-copy procedure. Could you to post some pics of these fakes if posible, please?

[Silesien]

No I can't post pics of the Souval Zoll Cross as I don't keep things like that around. The Souval catalog of their fakery did not show pictures of their wares. I was telling you what I saw as I remember exactly how they looked at the time.

[Tom Yanacek]

Hi guys,

I would still like to see pictures of an original Customs Service Decoration in zinc, if someone out there has one. If they do exist in zinc, they are probably a very rare thing to find. I would think that the initial production runs of these medals in 1939 & 1940 would have produced a more than adequate surplus that there would have been no need to produce more in the later years of the war. There were a lot more Faithful Service Decorations awarded than Customs Service Decorations yet you never see those made of zinc.

Best regards,
Tom

[Tom Yanacek]

Some other medals that you don't seem to find in zinc.

Also, if someone has a Police Long Service Decoration or Wehrmacht Long Service Decoration in zinc that they believe is original, I would like to see pictures of those as well.

I'm not denying the possibility that there could be some originals in zinc; only that, if they do exist, I have never seen any. And please don't just say, "they do exist because I've had several over the years that I got from veterans with provenance." I would like to see some pictures, please.

Best regards,
Tom