Carpathian German Decoration

[TP Alexander]

I've been looking for one of these for a while, with no success. Here is a picture of what one looks like from Dodkins and Littlejohn's book-ORDERS, DECORATIONS, MEDALS and BADGES of the THIRD REICH. Does anyone have one that can show it on here, including the back side? Does anyone know where I might find one for sale or for trade?
Thanx,
Tim

[John T]

This has a straight round pin (like an early LW flak badge) that sits vertically on the badge from tip to tip.

Cheers,

John

[Grogidubnus]

Well, it took me over 15 years to find out what this medal was, but I own one.
Here's some pics of it.

[Don Scowen]

Weitze has one at the moment at 2,200 Euro https://www.weitze.net/detail/78/Ehr...i__136678.html , & Bill Shea recently sold one at a similar price. They've gone up in price considerably over the last couple of years.

I'm glad I got mine years ago....

Cheers
Don

[Don Scowen]

They have been faked but so far not very well. Now that the price has gone up I imagine they will get better.........

Here's the fake.

[TP Alexander]

I asked GROGIDUBNUS if he found his in Hawaii.
And this is the first time that I have seen a repro of the badge. Thanks Don.

[TP Alexander]

And.......... I believe that with Gro's, Don's & 3 others that I know of on the planet Earth, that makes these pretty rare birds! But as of 3 years ago, they were going for about $800 to $1100 at the SOS in Louisville.

[Grogidubnus]

lol, I'll explain how I got this medal. No, I didn't get it in Hawaii.

I started collecting WWII memorabilia when I was 11 years old. I'd take the $ my mom gave me for school lunch and spend it at the antique shop in my town. (i didn't eat lunch in favor of this obsession) When I was about 13 (my familiy all knew I was a collector at that point) my uncle gave me a couple items from his father's belongings that he brought back from WWII. A 1938 Italian Carcano, and the Carpathian German Decoration. I had no idea what it was then, but was certain it was an authentic medal due to it's features.
I took it to a few gun shows to try and get some idea of what it was to no avail. The first hint of it being an important piece was when I took it to the big annual Allentown PA gunshow. After showing it to many collectors, one of the people I showed it to said he had no idea what it was, but then quickly offered me a Knights Cross Iron Cross with presentation case for it. Of course I was suspicious at that point. "I have no idea what that is, but I'll trade this Knights Cross for it." was too much to blow off as random. I had a few collector friends of mine look over the Knights Cross and all agreed it was authentic. I still avoided the trade.
Over the span of about 15 years since then, I have randomly searched for any kind of info on this medal. A few weeks ago I made a big effort to find out exactly what I had. After posting the pics and questions about it on a forum, and sending an email to the owner of another WWII memorabilia forum, I got the answer from 2 different people within 1 day of each other. At that point, I searched online with the new info on it, and came across these forums.
The rest is history.

Hope this clarifies things a bit.

[TP Alexander]

Great story, but you should have taken the Knight's Cross in the case. They go for about 10K, as opposed to what Don said about someone currently offering one for $2200.
But as I said in an earlier post, it's obvious that these are far rarer.
The problem with rarity though, is that sometimes the particualr item isn't that desirable. These German Carpathian Decorations, for example, aren't looked for by a majority of German collectors because of the fact that they aren't from the Third Reich itself. Therefore, I really do think that you should allow me to relieve you of the stress of having a non-German item in your collection. I'll even pay the postage!

[Grogidubnus]

lol, I wasn't about to trade a medal that nobody knew anything about without first finding out what it was. Just didn't seem like a good idea.
€ 2,200.00 is around $2700 given the current exchange rate. Not that I'm willing to part with this medal. Sorry.

[TP Alexander]

Oops! My mistake. 2200 Euros! That is still a reasonable chunk of change.
I also have to confess that I have to change my little sidebar/signature under my name. I now own 2 of these. I'll try and do pictures.

[TP Alexander]

1

[TP Alexander]

I got these...one at the SOS and one right after, 2 years ago.

[RonR]

Another for comparison:

.....................

[John T]

That is a beautiful badge!

I know where two are locally but the buyers are not ready to sell yet,

J