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Messe Kassel Herbst 2019

Für mich begann die Messe erst am 27.11.2019 gegen 12:00 Uhr. Das war die Zeit als ich endlich in Kassel angekommen bin. Die Aussteller hatten schon am Dienstag angefangen aufzubauen und alles herzurichten, damit am Mittwoch schon das eine oder andere gezeigt werden konnte.

Wie immer war ich am Stand von Dennis Suitner mit Trave Militaria als Unterstützer vor Ort und konnte mich mit den Ausländischen Kunden auseinandersetzten.

Der Mittwoch gestaltete sich als entspannter Tag bei dem schon einiges über den Ladentisch ging und Hauptsächlich die Händler durch die Gänge streiften. Ein paar tolle Nachlässe wurden gezeigt und es wurde viel über die Szene gesprochen. Ich hatte Glück und konnte noch Christian von Eicke und Phillipe de Bock begrüßen, bevor die sich wieder auf den Heimweg machten.

An den Händlerständen von Thomas Huss und Helmut Weitze sowie Ratisbons gab es immer was zu reden und man fühlte die professionelle aber auch herzliche Atmosphäre die unter den Militaria Leuten herrscht.

Am Donnerstag kam dann der erste Großkampftag wo sich die Tore für den Sammler öffneten. Ich denke um 400 Leute standen um 10:00 Uhr vor der Tür und wollten rein, sicherlich am ganzen Tag dann noch viel mehr. Es war wirklich voll und man kam kaum zum sitzen oder Kaffee trinken.

Es machte auch viel Spaß mit den Sammlern zu fachsimpeln oder die verschiedenen Meinungen zu den Stücken zu hören. Auch hatte man Leute am Stand die komplett keine Ahnung von ordne und Ehrenzeichen hatten aber dort mit einer Kaufintension beraten werden wollten.

 Es wurde viel gekauft und auch verkauft, ein ewiges hin und her. Gegen Mittag war es so voll da man nicht einmal mehr in der Futterecke etwas essen konnte. Da musste dann doch ein Würstchen auf die Hand reichen.

Am Freitag kamen dann viele Bekannte Sammler die auch viel zu erzählen und auch schöne Dinge mitbrachten. Einiges zum Schauen und auch einiges das verkauft werden sollte.

Aber ich muss auch sagen das man nach 2 Tagen Militaria schon eine gewisse Überflutung merkt. Man weiß gar nicht mehr wo man hinschauen soll, überall Orden, Uniformen und Blankwaffen.

Man konnte auch bei einigen Bereichen einen klaren Trend feststellen. Der Sammler überlegt schon wofür er sein Geld ausgibt.

Bei den Kampfabzeichen ging es wieder klar um Buntmetall Stücke und seltene Hersteller. Bei den EK`s war für die Einkäufer dann nur der Preis wichtig. Da wurden gleich 20 Stück gekauft, wenn der Preis akzeptabel war.

Die Sammler suchten dann schon beim EK 2 und EK 1 nach bestimmten Herstellern und Varianten.  Dann durfte ein EK 2 mit L/55 Stempel schon mal eine paar Euro mehr kosten.

Ritterkreuze und Deutsche Kreuze waren nicht so begehrt aber wurden dann doch hier und da gekauft. Bei den Papieren waren viele Urkundensammler da die aber doch sehr wählerisch waren. Kann man auch verstehen, Urkundengruppen sollten schon komplett sein.

Bei den Blankwaffen ging alles nur über den Preis und dann hauptsächlich an ausländische Sammler oder Händler. Kopfbedeckungen wurden kaum gesucht und bei Uniformen nur die seltenen Stücke wie Feldblusen 1944 oder bestimmte Einheiten.

Es wurden aber auch wirklich tolle Sachen gezeigt die man sonst nicht häufig oder überhaupt nicht zu sehen bekommt. Ich hatte einen Stahlhelm die Kriegsmarine in der Hand, diverse hochwertige Dolche und natürlich seltene Orden. Als dann aber drei Ritterkreuzmappen vor mir lagen konnte ich es nicht recht glauben. So hat man mal einen Vergleich wie unterschiedlich die Stücke doch sein können. Da muss man sich schon wirklich mit auskennen um da nichts falsch zu deuten. Und man kann wieder was lernen.

Was mich wirklich immer wieder erschüttert sind die ganzen Kopien die mutwillig verkauft werden. So viel Gurkenkram auf vielen Tischen war tatsächlich unheimlich. Ich bin entspannt durchgegangenen habe für meine Sammlung nach einem Lorient Schild und einer Ehrentafelspange der Kriegsmarine geschaut. Schilde waren zu 70% falsch und bei den Spangen….die paar die man gefunden hat konnte man die Hälfte getrost liegen lassen.

Für 2020 wurden schon die neuen Termine bekannt gegeben. Hier muss ich sagen das die Frühjahrsmesse im April schon passt allerdings ist die Herbstmesse in den Oktober vorverlegt worden (die Veranstalter hatte da keinen Spielraum habe ich mir sagen lassen). Da muss man wirklich schauen ob die Aussteller die Zeit haben (bzw. die Angestellten mit Kindern aufgrund der Ferienzeit)  

Ob die Gespräche, das Networking und auch neue Leute kennen zu lernen ist wichtig. Der Lerneffekt ist auch nicht zu unterschätzen, da man dort auch viel vergleichen kann.

Am Freitagabend ging es wieder Richtung Heimat.

Mein Fazit: Kassel ist immer eine Reise wert! 

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Neuigkeiten

Tag Leute,
es ist momentan doch etwas ruhiger hier im Blog da ich mich momentan mit einer Richtungsänderung befasse.
Hintergrund ist die Sprache in der ich hier schreibe……
Angefangen habe ich alles in Englisch zu schrieben um auch international die Sammler abzuholen.
Ich merke aber anhand der You Tube Videos auch, dass die Deutsche Sammlerszene doch mehr Interesse an dem Sachverhalt hat als die Sammler aus den europäischen Nachbarländern oder den USA.
Also werde ich in Zukunft meine Videos und den Blog in Deutsch verfassen.
Weiterhin werde ich Anfangen die Zensur der Hoheitszeichen einzuführen.
Wir leben als Sammler ja schon lange damit und es stört keinen von uns, da wir das Kreuz als Teil der Geschichte wahrnehmen und nicht den politischen Gedanken dahinter verfolgen.
Trotzdem sollte man auf der sicheren Seite unterwegs sein.
Weiterhin werde ich versuchen den Bereich „Opas Zigarrenkiste“ mehr in den Blog einzubinden, den es gibt so viele Interessante Nachlässe die es auf jeden Fall verdient haben, vorgestellt zu werden.
Über die Sammlerszene werde ich nach der großen Messe in Kassel wieder etwas schreiben, da man dort dann am Puls der Zeit viele Informationen bekommen kann.
Wer auch dort ist kann mich ab Mittwoch den 27.11.2019 so gegen 13:00 Uhr bei Stand I-4 Halle 1 Trave Militaria finden. Dort werde ich unterstützen und wenn es die Zeit erlaubt auch das eine oder andere Fachgespräch führen.
Sollte Ihr Orden zu Bewertung / Begutachtung mitbringen oder andere Sachen die ich mir anschauen soll, dann werden wir dafür auch sicher die Zeit finden.
 Bis dahin
Viel Sammlerglück
Sascha

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Militaria Börse Lübeck II /2019

Tag Leute, wie schon im MFF beschrieben hier nochmal im Blog erläutert.

Objektiv beleuchtet war die zweite Börse in Lübeck in den Räumen des Auktionshauses HanseArt kein Erfolg….wobei man den Erfolg immer unterschiedlich messen sollte. Also was war passiert…… Vorangegangen war ja die Börse im März 2019 als Pilot oder Versuchsobjekt, ob solch eine Veranstaltung überhaupt die Resonanz findet die man sich wünscht. Fazit der ersten Börse war sehr positiv: 20 Aussteller / Händler / Sammler hatte sich gemeldet und Tische gebucht. Über 100 Sammler aus ganz Europa kamen vorbei und es wurde wirklich viel gehandelt und gefachsimpelt. Aus diesem Grunde wurde überhaupt erst über eine weitere Veranstaltung in diesem Jahr nachgedacht. Bei der Planung wurden dann Dinge wie Dorfmark, Sammlertreffen DGO und andere Börsen betrachtetet um nicht in eine Konkurrenzveranstaltung hinein zu planen. Der Termin 20. Oktober schien auch mit den Terminen des Auktionshauses keine Überschneidungen zu haben. Erst später wurde mir zugetragen, dass es parallel doch noch die Börse in Berlin geben sollte. War nun nicht mehr zu ändern….. Wie auch immer stellte sich heraus das es „nur 15“ Anmeldungen von Händlertischen gab und am Börsentag 2 Händler nicht erschienen sind und 3 Händler sich eine Woche vor der Börse abmeldeten. Nun gut, das ist ärgerlich…. vor allen Dingen weil man Ausstellertische von einem Eventausstatter anmieten muss. Also ging es am Börsentag schon nicht so gut los, aber trotzdem waren alle hoch motiviert. Leider kamen dann nur 30-40 Sammler vorbei, was für die Verkäufer dann auch nicht so gut war. Einiges wechselte den Besitzer aber unterm Strich blieb es doch stark unter den Erwartungen. Gegen 12:00 Uhr wurde dann abgebaut. Gegen 14:00 Uhr waren wir dann final fertig und das Auktionshaus war wieder in dem Zustand wie es für den Tagesbetrieb sein sollte. Einige Sammler fragten mich (und auch in den Foren) warum man denn so einen hohen Eintritt (10,- Euro – mit DGO Ausweis 5,- Euro) zahlen musste. Dazu kurz erklärt was es an Kosten so gibt. Man muss Personal bezahlen, Verpflegung, Tische und Stühle anmieten und eigentlich auch Miete für die Räumlichkeiten entrichten. Das alles zusammen soll / muss der Eintritt abdecken. Bei der März Börse war man noch mit 400,- Euro Minus in der Kasse stehen geblieben. Diesmal kam man wenigstens ins Plus, da die Miete für den Tag im Auktionshaus nicht berechnet wurde. Für mich persönlich war es dann doch sehr positiv, dass man die alten Haudegen und Sammlerfreunde traf und bei einer Tasse Kaffee mal etwas plaudern konnte. Die Fragen die einen nun beschäftigen: War die Werbung nicht weit genug gestreut? Ist der Bedarf in Norddeutschland für Börsen nicht da? War der Termin nicht gut gewählt? Sollte man es im Frühjahr 2020 noch einmal versuchen? Mit diesen Fragen Ende ich hier vorerst und bedanke mich bei allen Händlern und Sammlern die dort waren und „die Fahne“ hochgehalten haben.

Gruß Sascha

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Iron Cross 2nd Class 1939 / Original vs Fake



Hi Gents,
it took me a while to get back to the keyboard and write something on my blog. As you might know I am really working hard to get the new auction house „Auktionshaus Hanseart“ really going. Together with my normal job for the German Navy that all takes a lot of time.

Also, the videos on my you tube channel are not easy to make and sometimes there is not much time left to sit down and write.

Anyway, with the videos and blog posts on fakes I try to give the new collectors in our hobby a hand in the minefiled of fakes.

The real problem I see here is that I don’t have so many fakes in my collection to show them in comparison. Please feel free to send me your copies, so I can help others.

But let’s start with basics on the Iron cross 2nd class 1939. I have really no idea why some people making fakes or copies on that cross. That is not so expensive…we talk about 70,- euro for a good one in a normal condition. Yes, special makers or special versions are much more expensive but to fake the normal ones…..don`t think you can make much money with them.

Well I picked a copy I found in my „junk box“ and an original unmarked Wächter & Lange cross (100) to show the difference.

See picture 1, different shapes on the cross itself and the cross arms are not the same.

Picture 1 Frontside Copy and Original

Go deeper into the shape and you will see at picture 2 that the loop for the ribbon and the little ring which holds the ribbon loop are different. The copy shows smaller material and there is no rest of the „frozen coating“ you have on unworn crosses.

Picture 2 Ribbon loop and upper side

See picture 3 for the edges. Here you can clearly see the different shape and the deep cut in the corner were the upper and lower part meets. Thats so wrong….Also, at the picture you can see that the ribbon loop is open….that’s a big red flag on an Iron cross 2nd class.

Picture 3 Edges

At picture 4 you can see the space between the swastika and the frame. No space with the original and a lot of space on the copy. Remarkable is the black color for the cores. Different here, too.

Picture 4 Front view core


At picture 5 you see the backside of the copy and the original, totally different.

Picture 5 Back view core


With picture 6 I give you a close up on the corners of the frames. Again the deep cut where the meeting point is and again you can see that the shape is nice with the original and not nice on the copy.

Picture 6 Corners

Picture 7 will show you the number oft he year 1939. That can be a point to identify a fake cross but the number differs from maker to maker. So not the best indicator to spot a fake.

Picture 7 Numbers

Last picture a full backside view and here again is clearly to see that the shape of the whole cross is not right compared to the original.

Last Picture Backside

That’s about it tot he iron cross second class 1939  and with the pictures and some basics you will easy spot a fake if somebody offers it to you or you see it on a flea market.

Hope that might help a little !

So all the bst and GOOD HUNTING !!

If you like what your read, give me a like on Facebook

Take care

Best

Sascha

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Copyright 2019 : Alle Rechte bei dem Verfasser Sascha Ulderup






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Expensive Cardboard ;-)

 Happy new year to you all and may all your collector dreams come true 😉

After the dust of Kassel Fair settled down it is time to study again in our hobby.

Between X-Mas and new year I had some time to try out the You Tube possibilities. That way, I will try to make it more interesting for collectors and also for young collectors to come into our hobby. But I am just starting and there are a lot of things to think about. So if you like check that out and leave a feedback it would be very helpful. The first videos are in German language but I am working on English versions….so please be patient.

My Channel 

Reflecting all the things I saw at the Kassel fair I wondered about very expensive cardboard……

Yes, that’s right. Cardboard boxes which were used 70 years back to wrap or protect a medal case or a document is on one side hard to find and sometimes very expensive 😉

But I want to go deeper in a cardboard mytery because you might never see one in real nor bringing it into your collection.

Red Map Top Con (3)

Let’s go a few years back when I had the chance to buy my first Knight’s Cross Red Leather Folder or Knights’ Cross Map. As far as my information are right there should be only 420 Maps out there!!!

Here is the story:

A gentlemen called me and asked me if I want to buy a KC Map from a higher ranking officer of the Army. My hands got sweaty and I said that I am interested, depends on the price he asked for. The price was OK and he sent me pictures via Email. Nice Map, all how it should be an we made an appointment close to Hamburg. Two days before the meeting he called and asked if I like also the cardboard protection for it…..Well I told him that it would be just great to have it too. So I checked the net to get an idea how a cardboard for the KC Map looks like and what I have to check before I finally buy it.

Red Map Top Con (6)

The ”purchase” day came and I went all the way to Hamburg to meet the seller. It was a nice little restaurant were we had lunch and later on we were planning to make the deal in a room away from the guests.

He had a big bag where the “holy grail” was inside. Unpacking it I was disappointed. Yes, it was a nice KC Map in a good condition, but the cardboard was only a painters cardboard of the size where a  KC Map fits in.

Red Map Top Con (2)

Well, no problem. I bought the Map and brought it all home.

Nice one, pretty good condition and nice to have. But as you all know….you cannot keep everything. So I sold it a few years later. I told myself that I can`t keep one without the cardboard ;-))….had to let it go!

Red Map Top Con (4)

Scanning the net for nice KC Maps you can find one from time to time with the cardboard together. More expensive but very interesting to see. That time I asked myself if the cardboard cases are all made the same way, with the green corner protections and the writing on it……Yes they should all be the same.

Lucky me, a few months ago I got a big fat KC Map in my hand to study it and here you see what it looks like.

Red Map Top Con (9)

My plan was to give you all the measurements and the weight and so on and so on. But a good friend told me (and he is so right with is). If I give all the data, the forgers will start doing fake cardboard boxes for the Maps…..

So if a big Red Map is offered to you and it is in a cardboard, just drop me a line via email and I give the measurements to you. That way we can be sure you don’t get recycled crap in your hand.

But before come to the end the historical background to the Knights Crosses for you:

Red Map Top Con (5)

On March 10th, 1813, Prussian King Friedrich Wilhelm III established the Iron Cross as a temporary gallantry award for bestowal during times of war. Originally the Iron Cross was introduced in three grades with a Grand Cross intended for award to Senior Commanders for successfully leading troops in combat and the First and Second classes for award to all ranks for bravery or merit in action. The Iron Crosses were reinstituted by King Wilhelm I on July 19th, 1870 for award during the Franco-Prussian War and again on August 5th, 1914, by King Wilhelm II for award during WWI. On September 1st, 1939 Hitler once more reinstituted the Iron Cross series of awards in the First, Second and Grand Cross Classes and established the new Knight’s Cross of the Iron Cross. Hitler reserved the right to personally authorize bestowal of the Knight’s Cross and all ranks were eligible for the award. Originally the criteria for bestowal of the Knight’s Cross was outstanding personal bravery or decisive leadership in combat but this was later expanded to include personnel who had continually demonstrated exceptional acts of courage or an extremely high success rate on the battlefield. The Knight’s Cross of the Iron Cross was the most coveted award of the Third Reich period and those presented with it were elevated to the status of a national hero. In total it is estimated that roughly 7,360 Knight’s Crosses were awarded during WWII, a relatively small number when one considers the amount of troops fielded and the magnitude of the war. Due to the prestige of the award personnel who could afford it would opt to buy a jeweler’s copy for everyday wear with the actual award being put away for safe keeping. Of Note: The LDO, Leistungsgemeinschaft der Deutschen Ordenshersteller, (Administration of German Medal Manufacturers), began regulating the manufacture of German awards in March 1941 as a quality control agent for awards that were intended for retail sale and manufacturers were to use an assigned LDO, „L“, code on their products destined for retail sales. Awards that were to be bestowed by the government were also issued an official numerical government contract code known as a, Lieferantnummer, (Contractors Number), that was issued by the Präsidialkanzlei des Führers, (Presidential Council of the Führers), for formally approved manufacturers. The manufacturing firms that were licenced by both the Präsidialkanzlei des Führers and the LDO and would have used the same dies to stamp both the official issue and retail sales types of awards making them virtually indistinguishable from one another except for the markings. Regulations of November 1st, 1941 prohibited further manufacturing of the Knight’s Cross for retail sale. Of Note: On June 3rd, 1940 a higher echelon of the Knight’s Cross was established with the introduction of the Knight’s Cross with Oak-Leaves and on July 15th, 1941 an additional two higher grades of the Knight’s Cross with Oak-Leaves were introduced with the establishment of the Knight’s Cross with Oak-Leaves and Swords and the Knight’s Cross with Oak-Leaves, Swords and Diamonds. Finally on December 29th, 1944 Hitler established the final grade of the Knight’s Cross with the Golden Oak-Leaves, Swords and Diamonds. Also of Note: The Grand Cross of the Knight’s Cross was only awarded once to Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring and the Knight’s Cross with Golden Oak-Leaves, Swords and Diamonds was also only awarded once to Oberstleutnant Hans-Ulrich Rudel.

 

Franziska Kobell, the graphic artist whose calligraphy & gilding graced the Knight’s Cross documents.

 

Frieda Thiersch, the bookbinder who was responsible for the design & production of the folders, frames & cassettes for the Knight’s Cross documents, seen here holding a fine example of her craftmanship

 

Here we have also another example how the Maps were delivered, wrapped in protective paper and in the cardboard box. Picture came from Frank Scholz /Scholz Militaria. Thanks Frank !!

 

F. Scholz Militaria

F. Scholz Militaria

F. Scholz Militaria

F. Scholz Militaria

 

Finally I foud some pictures of Reporduction cardboards, so here you have an idea what they look like.

Reproduction 2

Reproduction 1

 

So all the bst and GOOD HUNTING !!

 

If you like what your read, give me a like on Facebook

Take care

Best

Sascha

 

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Copyright 2019 : Alle Rechte bei dem Verfasser Sascha Ulderup
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Kassel Show Autumn 2018

Hello Collector friends,

after a busy weekend with the first auction of our new project „Auktionshaus Hanseart “and the whole week of the Kassel Show November 2018, it is time for me to bring my ship in calm waters.

But let’s start at the beginning. This year my schedule for the week 27th of November until 2nd of December was really packed. Not because of my hobby….more because of the political poker in Europe and the position of the armed forces. Anyway, somehow I managed it to get a few days of duty to attend the Kassel fair.

The whole Team around Dennis Suitner from Trave Militaria left on Tuesday morning for Kassel with all the stuff you need for a good Kassel Show (coffee and candy’s).

Trave Militaria Team

So they started to build up their sales corner at I-4 in the Hall number 1. Some dealers were already there and as usual there were some deals made and some nice groupings changed the owner.

They gave me a cell phone “Heads up” on Tuesday evening, so I knew what to expect on Wednesday morning.

It took me about a 5 hours’ drive to Kassel and I arrived at 11:00 o`clock on Wednesday at the parking lot.

Well, you can’t get inside without a dealer`s card, so Peggy came outside, brought me my card and I went inside.

 

On the way to our corner I met a few dealers and it was really great to see that so much people were happy to see me 😉 (or they were just afraid and tried to “smile” that away).

In our sales both I met Dennis (the Boss of Trave Militaria), Christian (first man for Medals and badges, Specialist for paperwork’s) Max (second man for Medals and badges, Specialist for Kriegsmarine Awards) and Peggy our sweetie who does the paperwork, tells us how to do things and takes care that we got enough calories to survive the day.

 

 

After checking all the stuff we have for sale I did some talking with the boys and shortly after a lot of customers attacked our tables.

In the afternoon a lot of collectors came to see me. I was so happy to meet some guys first time in person. You have to understand that, because of my old company emeredato, my work in different online forums and my blog, I have contact all over the world via email. But to meet somebody in Person is not an easy task because of the distance. A pleasure to meet Malcolm, Grzegorz and Jon first time and we had a really good talk about collecting medals.

 

 

On Wednesday were a lot of dealers and collectors in the area. Philippe de Bock (German Combat Awards) and Giel Van Wassenhove (Giels Militaria) stopped by for a chit chat, Christan von Eicke (Militaria Berlin) and Frank Scholz (Militaria Scholz) had some interesting new from the collector’s scene. Mr. Thomas Huss was also there and he had some nice Kriegsmarine awards on his table.

Mr. Helmut Weitze took some time and we talked about the German Navy (he is a former navy sailor) and we also talked about some development in the collector’s world. Collecting is always learning, so I changed some interesting facts about combat awards with Mr. Andreas Dorn from the Weitze Team.

 

 

It was about my time to sneak around the other dealer`s tables. Sadly I found a lot of high end fakes on different tables. I checked for Cholm Shields and Lorient Shields and what can I say….. 80% were fakes…..So I switched to cuff titles….at least 50 % were fakes. That was not good to see. But what scared me the most was another thing. I am not really in Uniforms, but a good friend of mine collects them for 25 years. He got only one good SS Tunic in all the years and only one Panzer Wrapper without any insignia….in 25 years running around fleamarkets, checking antic stores, advertising in the newspaper……And here on the fair I found 20 Panzer Wrappers and about 100 SS Tunics……no comment.

 

 

Finally I found nice badges from the Army and Navy, good and rare Luftwaffen badges in nice cases and some good Knights Crosses and German Crosses. Prices were high but almost everywhere was a chance to talk it down a little bit.

All the collectors who stopped by showed me their “prey” and some of them made a pretty good deal.

About 18:00 O´clock we headed to the Hotel for a nice dinner and later on some beer in the hotel bar.

 

 

Next morning, we were ready to take care of all the collectors who wanted the best medals and badges for the best prices. Again no much time for me to go around to see the other guys. But I got a few minutes and I met Andreas and Michael from Ratisbon and also the guys of Hermann Historica.

I checked the area of Mr. Carsten Baldes (Baldes Militaria) and found a lot of nice Luftwaffe Badges. Mr. Thies had his presentation corner with really nice WW1 and WW 2 items on display. I found myself more than once close to Helmut Weitze`s badges area to have a close look on ultra-rare badges, cuff titles and even Knight’s Cross Maps. Always good to see it live and that way you learn a little bit every day.

 

 

That day, collectors from all over the world stopped by and met me at our sales corner. From Italy, Poland, Russia, Sweden, Abu Dhabi, France, Austria, Denmark and so on. Short but good talks, kind words for my “blog work” and some guys brought nice stuff to look it over. Lot of guys from the MFF (special helmet collectors) and from other collecting areas.

 

 

My coffee break with Malcolm was very good, a collector with a passion…normally we need days to talk it all over but on the fair it’s not easy….but next time we meet at another place with more time 😉

Time flew by and later that day we headed back to our Hotel. Getting older you need more time to load your battery, so after some long drinks with Dennis, Christian, Max and Peggy I went to bed early.

For Friday we expected not so much collectors, but a big wave came towards us and we had a lot of work with buying and selling.

 

 

The Guys from the You Tube Channel “WarStory.ru”, Alex and Ivan asked me if they can do an Interview with me. So they interviewed my about medals and badges and also some facts about the collector’s scene. I was a little bit nervous so if I said something wrong about the production time frame in which Otto Schickle produced medals and badges……forgive me that and let me live ;-). Maybe they changed it but if not……I let you know as soon as the interview is online.

 

 

Frankie, Gerd and Karl came to us with nice awards. Really funny with them and they wanted to hit the Hotel Bar with us that night. It was a sad thing for me that I had to go home that day. But that´s my job and if the navy calls, I got to go.

So I said goodbye to all the dealers and collector friends and drove home. Again 5 hours and Friday night around midnight I was home.

 

 

Bottom line: One of the best Kassel Fairs in years, good talks, good medals and badges, good information’s on the military scene and some good meetings with friends.

 

Hope to see you all in 2019

Best

Sascha

 

 

 

 

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New Project is ONLINE

 

Hello dear readers and collector friends,

this time it is nothing about research or new information about a badges or medals.

That post here today is only to show you, what we have done in the last month.

We took some money and rented a 300m2 big shop in the town Lübeck up in the norther part of Germany.

There we founded new auction house with a big hall for presence auctions. We hired some specialists for antiques and arts and put in our own knowledge for “high end” watches and expensive jewelry and also military items.

We started our new business on September 15, 2018 and now (after a lot of blood and sweat) we have our first auction going on.

Here you see pictures of some nice military Items we have in our first auction. All over we have about 500 items !!!!!

D-Day is the 24th of November 2018, but right know you can sneak in and check the highlights.

Here is the Link for the website:

https://www.auktionshaus-hanseart.de/

And the special corner military:

https://www.auktionshaus-hanseart.de/de/objekte/ac-33/militaria_historika?Astatus=2&Lstatus=0

I hope you like it and now you know why my “BLOG WORK” was not that good the last month.

If you have some questions about it, feel free to Email me or the website of HanseArt itself.

All the best

Sascha

 

 

 

 

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Honor Roll Clasp of the Army and SS / Makers ?

Hi Gents,

winter time is coming and that is always the beginning of bringing your nose close to the books for research and reading interesting stuff about our hobby. I can tell you that the last three months were like a ride on I ship in stormy weather. Having a full time Job and besides starting a new business with my friend and partner Dennis is not so easy.

For those of you who are thinking about starting an Auction House with a real building where you can sit down and raise your hand to get something you are looking for, don’t do it……;-)

So much work and money to get it going…..incredible to tell you all the problems you can find on your way to the finish line. But if it works it will be somethings special.

From working on lights and electronics up to the right software for your frontend and backend is pure horror. Little things like getting somebody to work on you outside signs or get all the paperwork together in the local town hall making you crazy.

A really positive thing is that we found the best employee’s you can wish for. Finding people who love what they are doing is a pleasure to work with.

The workload and my duty time in the German Navy left not much time to study badges and write something about it on the BLOG.

About four weeks ago I wanted to do a special on the honor clasp of the army, but I did not find the time. Finally, I put the story of Feldwebels Theodor Kurpisz in the blog which was close to the topic honor roll clasps.

Enough wailing, let`s get it on.

I had the opportunity to look over the information what the WAF Member “Honor” brought together.

Honor Roll Clasp / Ehrenblattspange

I don’t want to steal it all, so I tried to get in touch with him. The idea was that he writes something about the Honor Roll Claps here on the blog. But no chance to get in contact with him. So all I put in here is 80% from HONOR, so all the credits to him and not to me. “Thanks buddy for the very good research on that topic”.

Also “Norm F” from Canada and “90th Light” from New Zealand did a good job putting even more information together. Also a big credit to them for the great work.

With that much of data and pictures I put it all together in a more “light” information blog on that topic. I don’t want to go THAT deep in it because my friend Brian Razkauskas works actually on a book about clasps.

So if you read this and you like what you see, do the next step and buy his book as soon as it is on the market. I will let you know asap.

Ok, let`s start with some historical background on the honor roll clasp itself:

The „Ehrenblatt der deutschen Heeres“, (Honor Roll of the German Army) was established in July 1941. These lists were created as a record of honor to register the names and heroic actions of personnel who performed extraordinary service in combat. Although considered a great honor to be registered on these lists there was no insignia awarded to the personnel as a visible sign that they were listed on the honor roll. This was remedied by the army on January 30th, 1944 by creation of the „Ehrenblatt-Spange des Heeres“, (Honor Roll Clasp of the Army). The clasp was designed to recognize heroic acts by those who already held the Iron Cross 1st and 2nd classes, but for which the German Cross in Gold or the Knight’s Cross would not be suitable. The Honor Roll Clasps were worn mounted on an Iron Cross 2nd class ribbon and worn inserted through the second top front closure button hole of the field-blouse and service tunic. It is estimated that the army awarded just over 4,500 clasp in total before war end.

For me as a medal and badges collector it is always the goal to get one from the army, one from the Luftwaffe and one from the Kriegsmarine (by the way the Kriegsmarine has not an Ehrenblattspange, there it was the Ehrentafelspange).

 

 

But to be honest I did not buy one in the last five years for my collection. Always when somebody offered a nice one, I passed it and spent my small collector money for other awards.

But looking closely to the honor Roll claps of the Army, you can see some different ways they were manufactured. That is good to know if somebody offers a nice one to you but you have no idea that this is a real one made by a different maker and you pass on it.

Using HONOR´s Information and some other sources we have actually FOUR different Honor Roll claps of the Army /SS.

  1. Two-piece Construction, massive Swastika molded to the outer circular oak-leaf wreath. Pins are round wire and sharp at the end. Arms of the swastika are granulated /grainy. Maker is the company Otto Klein, Hanau.
  2. Two-piece Construction, massive Swastika molded to the outer circular oak-leaf wreath. Pins are round wire and sharp at the end. Arms of the swastika are NOT granulated /grainy. Maker unknown. Possible Juncker made clasp.
  3. Hand cut out, one-piece construction, hollow swastika in a hollow circular oak leaf wreath. Pins are flat wire short and sharp at the end. You see that swastika is cut out by hand! Possible Juncker made Clasp.
  4. Trimming Stamp one-piece construction, hollow swastika in a hollow circular oak leaf wreath. Pins are flat wire long and not sharp at the end. Possible Juncker made Clasp

We go through the different models so you can actually see the differences in shape and also production details.

Let`s start with the most common Honor Roll Clasp Army / SS – to short it only HRC.

The maker is the company Otto Klein from Hanau, Germany. Always a two-piece construction which comes in a black case with a white inlet. The cross is massive and moldered to the wreath. Surface of the cross front side is flat and not “grainy”.

Picture 1 Two Piece Construction Maker Klein

 

The second one also a two-piece construction. Massive cross in a hollow wreath, round wire prongs and you can see the “hand work” on the cross itself. The surface of the cross is “grainy”. As far as I can say that one was made by Juncker and it comes in a blue case with blue inlet.

Picture 2 Two Piece Construction Possible Juncker

 

The third one is hollow made one piece HRC with short flat wire prongs on the backside. That one is a hand cut piece because you see the way the trimming tool was used to cut out the cross itself. Also possible Juncker made and found in a blue case with blue inlet.

Picture 3 One Piece Hand Cut Possible Juncker

 

The last one is also a hollow made one piece HRC with flat wire long prongs on the backside. That one was made with a trimming stamp and there are no signs of hand work for the finish.

Also possible Juncker made and found in a blue case with blue inlet

Picture 4 Trimming Stamp Possible Juncker

 

Here you can see the difference between trimming stamp and hand cut HRC, Zoom in for Details !

Picture 5 Left – Trimming stamp , Right Hand – Cut

 

Finally, the backside picture to get an idea of short and long prongs.

Picture 6 Hand Cut Short Prongs, Trimming Stamp Long Prongs

 

I think that might be deep enough to get an idea of the different models. Anything else like details on cases, packages and paperwork you will find in Brian’s book.

If you like what your read, give me a like on Facebook

Take care

Best

Sascha

 

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Copyright 2018 : Alle Rechte bei dem Verfasser Sascha Ulderup
Veröffentlicht am 2 Kommentare

Schickle Knight`s Cross and some questions

Hi Gents, the days passing by and a lot of things happen in the world of collecting. Surfing through the different areas of WAF, GCA  and MFF I found very interesting items. Some are so interesting that I asked the collectors if I can use the material for the BLOG…..Sometimes I get an answer and sometimes not.

Well that’s the way it is. Interesting thing for me as, somebody who is actually not that deep in the field of Knight`s Crosses involved, are the pictures the user Ludwig posted on WAF showing his outstanding Otto Schickle Knight’s Cross of the Iron Cross in a really rare LDO case. I asked him to bring it on “Bacuffz.com” and he gave me a thumbs up.

Schickle in LDO Case by Ludwig Typ 1 no marker

Looking at this nice set you will see that there is no marker on the cross but you have the LDO sign on the case. Ludwig made clear that an LDO cased has to have a marked Knight`s Cross inside to follow the regulations. Whatever brought the set together is a secret of the veteran who had this cross during the time of the war.

Schickle in LDO Case by Ludwig 4

While researching a little bit I found the interesting story that Otto Schickle from Pforzheim in Germany has indeed manufactured Knight`s Crosses but only a short time from May 1940 until July 1941. The first 5 month they produced without L/15 marker, after that they put the marker on the loop. Something happened but nobody knows what it was, but Schickle lost his rights to produce Knight`s Crosses anymore. So that way there are only few Knight`s Crosses made by Schickle on the market.

After more and more hours on that topic I learned that there are two different Schickle Knight`s Crosses around the collector`s world.

Let´s call them Type 1 and Type 2 for better understanding.

First we have to get into the history of the Knight`s Cross before we get into details of Schickle Crosses….

Schickle Type 1 A.jpg

 

On March 10th, 1813, Prussian King Friedrich Wilhelm III established the Iron Cross as a temporary gallantry award for bestowal during times of war. Originally the Iron Cross was introduced in three grades with a Grand Cross intended for award to Senior Commanders for successfully leading troops in combat and the First and Second classes for award to all ranks for bravery or merit in action. The Iron Cross were reinstituted by King Wilhelm I on July 19TH 1870 for award during the Franco-Prussian War and again on August 5th, 1914, by King Wilhelm II for award during WWI. On September 1st, 1939 Hitler once more reinstituted the Iron Cross series of awards in the First, Second and Grand Cross Classes and established the new Knight’s Cross of the Iron Cross. Hitler reserved the right to personally authorize bestowal of the Knight’s Cross and all ranks were eligible for the award. Originally the criteria for bestowal of the Knight’s Cross was outstanding personal bravery or decisive leadership in combat but this was later expanded to include personnel who had continually demonstrated exceptional acts of courage or an extremely high success rate on the battlefield.

Schickle Cross with maker L 15 Ludwig Collection

The Knight’s Cross of the Iron Cross was the most coveted award of the Third Reich period and those presented with it were elevated to the status of a national hero. In total it is estimated that roughly 7,360 Knight’s Crosses were awarded during WWII, a relatively small number when one considers the amount of troops fielded and the magnitude of the war. Due to the prestige of the award personnel who could afford it would opt to buy a jeweler’s copy for everyday wear with the actual award being put away for safe keeping. Of Note: The LDO, “Leistungsgemeinschaft der Deutschen Ordenshersteller”, (Administration of German Medal Manufacturers), began regulating the manufacture of German awards in March 1941 as a quality control agent for awards that were intended for retail sale and manufacturers were to use an assigned LDO, „L“, code on their products destined for retail sales. Awards that were to be bestowed by the government were also issued an official numerical government contract code known as a, “Lieferantnummer”, (Contractors Number), that was issued by the “Präsidialkanzlei des Führers”, (Presidential Council of the Führers), for formally approved manufacturers. The manufacturing firms that were licensed by both the “Präsidialkanzlei des Führers” and the LDO and would have used the same dies to stamp both the official issue and retail sales types of awards making them virtually indistinguishable from one another except for the markings. Regulations of November 1st, 1941 prohibited further manufacturing of the Knight’s Cross for retail sale. Of Note: On June 3rd 1940 a higher echelon of the Knight’s Cross was established with the introduction of the Knight’s Cross with Oak-Leaves and on July 15th 1941 an additional two higher grades of the Knight’s Cross with Oak-Leaves were introduced with the establishment of the Knight’s Cross with Oak-Leaves and Swords and the Knight’s Cross with Oak-Leaves, Swords and Diamonds. Finally, on December 29th, 1944 Hitler established the final grade of the Knight’s Cross with the Golden Oak-Leaves, Swords and Diamonds. Also of Note: The Grand Cross of the Knight’s Cross was only awarded once to Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring and the Knight’s Cross with Golden Oak-Leaves, Swords and Diamonds was also only awarded once to Oberstleutnant Hans-Ulrich Rudel.

 

Back to Otto Schickle from Pforzheim and what he manufactured that days. As a member of LDO (you have seen that above) his company got the LDO Number 15. So if you see something with L/15 it is made by Schickle and normally the value is higher than other badges without marker on the backside. But there are also Schickle made medals and badges out there without L/15 marker……

Let us jump in on the different types of Knight`s Crosses from Schickle and what the collector`s scene says about it.

I have to make clear that I put only opinions in this Schickle report without stepping on one side. Mostly information`s are from experts which are known as experts on the subject. You might know the name Daniel Grünbaum who is an expert on Otto Schickle badges and also very deep in Knight`s Crosses pre 1945 and post 1945. There are a lot of good information from him we have to think about or put a second thought on it….but finally you have to make up your mind for your final opinion. Also I learned a lot from Mr. Dietrich Maerz who wrote books about that topic which are one of the best on the market.

OK let`s put some facts together and see where the road will lead us to.

All the Schickle Crosses have the same loop on the Top of the frame, some with the marker L/15 and some without L/15. At the collectors market we have seen fake crosses with the marker L/15 on the loop or for example a Juncker Knights Cross with an L/15 marker on it to pimp it……well that did not work. So there might be somebody out there with the right stamping tool L/15 but with not enough knowledge to put that marker on the right cross. So that’s an easy one to spot.

Schickle Cross with maker L 15 Ludwig Collection II

Fake marker

 

Also all the Schickle crosses have a die struck mistake in the frame which can be found on every cross which is offered. In the 9 – 12 area of the front frame there you can find it.

 

Fail in Frame Typ 1

Now we move to type one and type two.

Look at the pictures from Ludwig`s grouping and on the very clear embossed numbers on the front and the back.  Also on that Cross you can see the angle of the number 3 upper part in 1939 which “hits the head of the 9” if you draw a line in that direction. Better explained with the following picture here.

hitting the 9

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bottom Line for a type 1 Schickle Knight`s cross:

Right size and shape of the loop

Die flaw in the frame 9-12 o`clock area

Clear embossed numbers front and back

Number 3 hits the number 9 (line check)

 

Let`s look at the Type 2 cross.

Here we see almost the same indications like on type 2. You have the same loop on the top of the frame. You have the die flaw on the 9-12 O´clock area on the front frame.

not hitting the 9 Typ 2

Now let`s check the numbers, not the same clear embossed numbers like type 1…….and if you do the line test from the number 3 to the number 9……it is a different angle.

 

That tells me as a none KC experts that we have two different cores in the same frames!

Looking back to the short amount of time Schickle produced their Knight Crosses. Why did they change the design of the core but not the frame? Even if the frame had a “problem” ….

If you look closely on the type 2 core you can see a similarity to the post war crosses made by Steinhauer und Lück. How can that be?

Postwar KC with core Schickle Typ 2

Thoughts (and only thoughts) bringing me to some “Maybe” points.

Maybe it is the truth that Schickle stopped producing type 1 Knight`s Crosses someday and started to produce type 2 until they have to stop it by “whatever” reason.

Maybe Schickle stopped the production of Knight´s Crosses 1941 and after the war all the “unused” frames were sold to anybody who put in a post war core and sold them after May 1945 to the veterans who lost their Crosses during the war.

Maybe Schickle sold their overproduced Schickle frames in 1941 to somebody who made actually Knight`s Crosses during World War 2. So type 2 is a Schickle Knights Cross but not produced by Schickle.

Maybe Schickle`s die tool for manufacturing the cores were getting bad and the numbers weren`t that clear anymore. So there is a possibility that they produced 500 cores with bad number design and put them aside for later. Somebody found them after the war together with other parts from different company’s and started building another version of Schickle crosses.

 

 

But the manufacturer list for Knights Crosses is short. There we have only these companies:

C.E.Juncker, Berlin
Steinhauer & Lück, Lüdenscheid,
Otto Schickle, Pforzheim,
C.F.Zimmermann, Pforzheim,
Gebrüder Godet, Berlin,
Klein & Quenzer, Idar-Oberstein,
Unbekannter Hersteller der frühen Form „Dreiviertel-Öse-Ritterkreuz“ (evtl. Deumer, Lüdenscheid)

As far as Daniel Grünbaum refers is Steinhauer und Lück the only company where you can find nearly identical cores in post war Crosses like type 2 Schickle cores……that’s also a fact to think about.

Theres  also a possibility that Sedlatzek, Schiffer or Souval bought all the rest of different manufacturers and started producing after May 1945.

 

A lot of questions and maybe a good start for more research on the topic.

 

I wonder about the price of Schickle Typ 1 Knight`s Crosses.  The price for a Schickle Cross is far higher than for other crosses. I can remember that a Schickle Type 1 was sold shortly for 10.500,-  Euro without any case, only the cross with ribbon. On the collector’s guild you will find a type 1 for 13925,- US Dollar and on Christian von Eickes Web shop a cross was sold for nearly 13.455,- Euro. Well that’s  a lot of money…….

Schickle Cross to identfy in wear (sadly cant remeber who posted it on WAF)

 

Hope some of the KC Collectors out there will come up with more information on the different types so we can clear out some “maybe`s”.

If you have any other facts and thoughts please let me know and I will be happy to put them down in this report.

If you like what your read, give me a like on Facebook

Take care

Best

Sascha

 

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Veröffentlicht am Schreib einen Kommentar

Black Afrika Cuff Title

 

Hi Gents, the days passing by and a lot of things happened in the world of collecting. Surfing trough the different areas of WAF, GCA and MFF I found very interesting items. Some are so interesting, that I asked the collectors if I can use the material for the BLOG…..Sometimes I get an answer and sometimes not. As you might know I am a little bit into cuff titles. On the MFF submerged a picture with a soldier wearing a special version of the Afrika cuff title on his sleeve. That one was the missing link….. I have that Afrika cuff title version in one of my books (and in my collection). Till that day there was no picture of that special cuff title on a uniform available and so nobody was sure if it was for tank crews or not. I asked the owner of the picture, Max Miller, if I can use it in my blog and he gave me a thumbs up!!

But let`s step back to the standard Afrika version first:

The cuff title Afrika was awarded by the Wehrmacht in World War II. It was founded by Adolf Hitler on January 15th, 1943. The cuff title Afrika should not be confused with the sleeve stripe „Afrika Korps“, which was awarded as a sign to all members of the German Afrika Korps.

Afrika Cuff Title Collection Author

Creation date Army: January 15th, 1943

Creation date Navy: December 29th, 1942

Creation date Air Force: Jan. 28th, 1943

The cuff title Africa was awarded approximately 30,000 times. The awarding authority began from the battalion commander and the next higher ranking officer.

Afrika Cuff Title Standard Version Collection Author Backside

Closing date for the ceremony was  October 31st, 1944.

3.1 Background

 

In February 1941, the German Afrika Korps (DAK) was formed in Libya within  the “Operation Sunflower”. The DAK was created to stabilize the recent African campaign of the Italian troops and support them against the British army. From 1941, to October 1942, the DAK got hold of large parts of Libya, Tunisia and Egypt under Field Marshal Erwin Rommel. After that the DAK was stopped and driven back to El Alamein. In January 1943, the DAK had to clear Libya under the pressure from the Allies.The last German units in Africa capitulated May 13th, 1943.

Afrika Cuff Title Standard Version on Tank Tunic Collection Dirk Schneider

 

Basically the cuff title Africa could awarded to members of the armed forces, after the ceremony provisions of January 15th,  1943.  Soldiers who served  directly in the air, on land or at sea in Africa. Even members of the “Heeresgefolges” or in the immediate order of the army employed persons, also non-Wehrmacht soldiers who report to the Air Force or were active in their immediate contract, could be awarded.

 

 

Army

– Duty for six months on African soil

– Wounded in this operation

– Illness  which led to the loss of full or conditional ability to serve in the tropicsice.

Navy

The same rules are applied in the Navy as in the army. For the crews of ships:

At least six months of operations at sea from bases in Africa.

Air force

For the Air Force were the same rules as in the Navy applied.

1st change of the provisions ceremony (Army on May 20th, 1943/ Air Force  on  July 1st, 1943). Members of the Army Group Africa, who took part in the final battle on African soil, on May 6th, 1943 honorably, the cuff title Afrika could be awarded after four months of service in Africa.

 

2nd change of the award provisions (December 14th, 1943)

The cuff title Afrika could now be awarded regardless of the operating time, provided that the soldier himself earned a bravery award during the fighting in Africa such as the Iron Cross, German Cross in Gold, mention in the Honor Roll,…

The cuff title (approximately 450 mm by 36 mm) was made of camel hair fabric. The lettering Afrika was mounted in white rayon embroidery centered. It has been enclosed on the top and bottom of the sleeve a strip of white is also about 3 mm wide strand. The cuff title Afrika was worn on the left forearm above the cuff.

Here it comes !

Afrika Black Cuff Title on Luftwaffen Tunic Collection Max Miller

Finally we have the proff with the help of Max Miller that the black Afrika cuff title was a version used by the Luftwaffe and not by tank crews. An we have also proof that is a time period cuff title. Against the regulations but anyway used by some soldiers of the Luftwaffe.

Afrika Cuff Title Black Version Collection Author

 

Black Afrika Cuff Title Collection Author Close Up

Sometimes it takes a little bit time but if you stay on it, some mysterys will be solved

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Take care

Best

Sascha

 

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Copyright 2018 : Alle Rechte bei dem Verfasser Sascha Ulderup