Happy Easter!    

First off, I'll mention why this blog, guides, & reviews have been inactive for about 1/2 year.....(besides my work load being overwealming).    The attacks against reviews and guides got out of hand with the constant negativity.   Read the discussions in the eBay community to see the history on this issue.  It was really too far out with the malicious attacks against eBay members so I took them down as a protest to the system.    To further drive home the point, all sales stopped as well as most activity on eBay.   During this time, I was monitoring eBay to see the trends.    It appears that it's improving a bit so I'm re-activating the guides, blog, reviews, and participation in eBay.   A number of eBayers wrote to indicate support and understanding....  thanks!

We'll see how this goes..... eBay community values are supposed to be respected and this can be an excellent site for all, even those who may have conflicting opinions.

 

ebay just released (May 2007) it's newest venture in Germany - ebay MAGAZIN  (€2,50).  I don't know that there's equivalents around the world yet, but I suppose they won't be long.  It was fairly interesting to see the different articles and even more so to know that ebay employees would be reading it.  The major articles covered community, buying, selling, trends, and service - it was quite an eye-opener to note that ebay was actually aware of many of the smaller topics which are often mentioned on the Discussion Boards.  Of particular interest was an article on the 1st (German) documentary film about ebay - Trader's Dreams - which is scheduled for release on 28 June 2007.  Another interesting article was about ebayer's names and how/why they are selected - pretty funny and entertaining info!  Truthfully, I expected the magazine to be loaded with a lot of pro-ebay propaganda but it actually seems to be relatively well-rounded in it's approach and definately attacks some of the problems seen on ebay.  While the 1st issue wasn't fantastic, it was interesting and it'll probably improve. 

There are many similar magazines in Germany and I guess I read most of them.  The vast majority are flea market oriented but often have ebay stories or mentions within articles.  The main theme recently seems to be that ebay is currently a buyers market.  The magazines regularly document that the final bid on ebay is often about 40%-80% of the flea market price, which is still far below the normal retail price.  From the studies I've done on military medals that have recently appeared on ebay, this may very well be true.  Normally, I bid on British Empire colonial-era medals (which generally hold fairly steady on price) but the Imperial German medals are currently at prices on ebay that you can't ignore.  I've really been surprised at what some of them have sold for and most of the sellers are quite fair and easy to work with - if you can read/write German.  Most of them have basic English knowledge but it's really best to conduct business in their language to avoid any misunderstandings.  If you can't, try to keep your sentences short and simple until they indicate their level of understanding. 

I'm still participating in the ebay protest about guides and reviews and none are displayed.  They're still being written though and most of the recent ones are about pre-WWI German orders, decorations, and medals.  In most of the guides, recent prices are noted as well as any trivia which may assist the collector in bidding or passing on a particular medal.  I encourage you to join the protest so that the guides are displayed as ebay agreed to.  As an aside, I support the elimination of voting on guides and reviews.  Voting on knowledge only creates an atmosphere where opinion becomes accepted as fact and this is not healthy for civilization. 

If possible, take a minute to remember the military forces who have served throughout the world on Memorial Day.  They served their country whether they agreed or not. 

Earlier today, I posted a new Guide as outlined below.  Regular readers of my blog know that I do not sell items which are mentioned in my Guides and therefore have no financial interest in writing them.  They are simply for improving the medal collecting community.  As with any Review, there will be those who agree and disagree.  The eBay R&G system is broke and needs to be fixed, there has been sufficient time - measured in months.

eBay has not acted upon the monthly concerns voiced by writers of Guides, Reviews, and Blogs.  To quote eBay member boxtoes:   ...we have legitimate complaints about the R&G system: the related search feature, the unfair voting procedures, rampant violations, etc., but they've done nothing to address these problems.  As a result, many of us have decided to PROTEST eBay's inaction and prevent them from benefiting further off our work until something is done..

Please leave 1 Guide or Review active or you will lose your Reviewer rating.  (If you do not, then your Reviewer rank will drop to 0 and not retain your ranking - your displayed ranking may be important for eBay statistics in dealing with this.)  My single remaining guide is the Reviews & Guides Protest guide http://reviews.ebay.com/Reviews-amp-Guides-Protest-guide_W0QQugidZ10000000003410464.  The Guides I'd written represented about 1/2 of all Guides in the Militaria Category and they have been removed.  As the second ranked First Time Reviewer and a Top 1000 Reviewer, all Reviews have been removed.  To me, the question is not about ranking but providing information to other eBay members.  You can still write Guides and Reviews during this period, just place them in the do not display status and you should be able to display them later - assuming eBay correct many of the problems that have been addressed. 

• Please go to the eBay Discussion Boards and find:
• Reviews & Guides Forum, then scan down a bit until you find the discussion:
• R&G writers PROTEST: Turn them OFF til eBay takes action! (boxtoes)
• http://forums.ebay.com/db2/thread.jspa?threadID=1000472587&tstart=0&mod=1176473218608

I encourage you to express your opinion.

This is not meant to endorse or recommend any particular seller or auction but to point out items that I found interesting that you may also be interested in.  Medals in German flea markets have almost disappeared but that's fairly typical for this time of year.  The German online sells are also fairly flat but there's usually something of interest. 

Germany:  Many fine groups and individual medals are currently available on ebay or well-under market prices.  Of particular interest is the pre-WWI medals which appear to be up for sell due to the current economic situation in many countries.  The German medals are starting to be hit fairly hard by copy medals where the seller doesn't mention this and leaves you with the implication that they're genuine (although they rarely actually state this - it's more of "this is for sell and look at the photo").  I've encountered a couple of excellent German sellers lately that are tops (of particular note is the seller in Magdeburg - absolutely 1st Class! ).

United Kingdom and Commonwealth:  The market seems to have leveled out a bit after the Holiday season but some good single medals are always available.  Unfortunately, most of the ones I'm interested in accept only British Pounds (and charge extra for using Paypal!!) or the seller makes me cautious with their very detailed terms of selling.  The Australian medal market seems to have a few sellers that offer suspicius medals but most are good.  Where's the New Zealanders?  They usually offer fantastic medals (you don't really get a bargain but they offer good medals at realistic prices).  A few of the Canadian sellers I know personally are not offering much now.  Locally, I saw a 1914-15 Star trio to a soldier from the Yukon that was interesting but I thought it was overpriced and let it go - plus I usually collect prior to WWI. 

France:  The medals generally continue to be severely overpriced and represented incorrecly.  If I really wanted current copies of the old medals, I can drive to France and back in the morning with a carload of them at well under 1/2 the price on ebay - with a few contemporary issues thrown in for good measure. 

Netherlands:  There's a few excellent medals being offered and a few colonial clasps.  Really interesting and highly under-rated!  Dutch medals are not copied often because of the small demand so collectors are relatively safe.  

Belgium:  Excellent medals are being offered at bargain prices.  Unfortunately, most go unsold or at a fraction of their actual value.  This really illustrates supply and demand.  The most interesting ones I've found date in the very late-1800s.

China:  Quite a few more are up for sell.  Some are fantasy items, some are in poor condition, but theres a few that are interesting.  However, you really need a good reference book to sort out these medals.  It seems that the price is a little steep or way too low for me to take most of these serious. 

USA:  Some good and some bad.  Get out the reference books and do your research on each item.  Research the seller to make sure they know what they're talking about and have experience with medals.  Overall, fairly slow with nothing of major interest to me although there are quite a few excellent items being offered. 

If you haven't done so, look at my medal guides.  After you've read a couple, please let me know what you think about how I can improve them.  As you know, there's a length limitation so it's close to impossible to cover each topic as I would like.  Or even better - write one yourself and share your knowledge!  To date, I think I've reviewed every medal guide on all ebay sites and found them to be excellent (even though I might not agree with all of them, they do contribute and are helpful).

This is not meant to endorse or recommend any particular seller or auction but to point out items that I found interesting that you may want to know about.  While shopping in Köln (Cologne), I stopped by an old established dealer and picked up a small but interesting group of WWI and prior medals to a recipient from Strassburg in Elsass-Lothringen.  I got to meet a fellow eBayer a few days ago at his home in the Netherlands, he was quite intelligent & nice and has an excellent ebay record.  The Internationale Maritime Museum Hamburg opened a while ago which includes the medals and associted items from Admiral von Tirpitz.  The following items of interest have been on the German market very recently:  A 21 medal bar group of Kaiser Wilhelm II, medals and associated items from Prinz Sigismund von Preussen, medals and associated items from Panzer General von Manteufel, and a few similar items from German WWII aces. 

A substantial amount of data about the 2006 medal forgeries in northern Germany has just been released with very detailed information.  Unfortunately, most of the photos are copyrighted.  One of the latest forgeries to be detected is an outstanding example of the Friedrich-August-Kreuz 1st Class.  It's also interesting to note that within the past year, ribbons and uniforms are being made in Germany which are guaranteed to pass an ultra-violet light test and are available with your choice of suitable manufacturing tags - which are all offered as copies but have the potential of being converted into forgeries.  German medals on ebay currently are fairly common with generally realistic prices.  The main exception I've noticed is that ebay seems to have been hit by the forgeries mentioned above.  Most of the German listings make no claim as to them being originals or copies and simply state what the item represents and offer no guarantee but the start bid is very fair (for a copy).  I posted a new guide about the Prussian 1914 Iron Cross 2nd Class awarded for 1918-1923 that you should find useful http://reviews.ebay.com/Prussian-1914-Iron-Cross-2nd-Class-1918-1923_W0QQugidZ10000000002634601.  The individual guides about the new German forgeries entering the market were reduced due to lack of interest.  Of particular mention is the various Index guides that I've posted.  Basically, they take the available guides on a specific topic to a central location so they can be easily located.  Currently, most of the referenced guides are mine but I try to include all ebay member guides that fit.  While I may or may not agree with the other guides, diversity of opinions is healthy - especially in the medal collecting field.  If you have comments on the guides, please post them in my blog so I can address the issue.  Guides are limited in length so it's fairly impossible to cover each topic as I would like so have taken the approach of supplementing knowledge.  The details of the various medals is generally readily available so they start at the point of the reader knows what the medal is and why it was awarded.  Please be aware that substantional information is available on each topic.  For instance, the 1813 Prussian Iron Cross is so close in appearance to the 1914 Iron Cross that some people erase one side of it to appear to be the 1813 variant.  However, there are further differences which makes this forgery process readily detectable.

British and Commonwealth medals on ebay are fairly normal with realistic prices but very few outstanding items.  This area remains an excellent investment area with high potential.  The medals awarded to Australia and New Zealand troops (ANZACs) in WWI are rapidly increasing in price and eBay is reflecting that trend.   Canadian WWI groups are close and are also increasing in value but the pre-WWI Canadian groups are becoming quite rare on ebay.  A VC group to an India Army recipient was recently sold by the family and purchased by a private seller for donation or display in a museum with other VC groups - the details were still being worked out the last I heard but this is one group that will probably never make it onto the market. 

The French medals seem to be severely overpriced and many are represented incorrecly.  There's currently only about 6 or so auctions that are accurate, fair, and are of serious interest.  The vast majority of the French medals appear to be fairly current jeweler's copies.  I've noted only about a dozen or so contemporary WWI Croix de Guerre offered on eBay in the last year or so which usually went unsold (or minimal bid competition) because the seller placed a realistic start bid - which can't compare to the current jeweler's copy. 

China medals are beginning to appear more often on ebay, with the majority being unofficial medals or WWII type orders.  The data is fairly sketchy and it's difficult to comment on their originality since most sellers don't provide the details required.  The majority of the various military orders offered are well documented in research material.

An area that appears to be completely overlooked is the medals to Dutch and Belgium recipients.  These medals are generally extremely underrated.  I've followed this market on ebay for a few years and while they appear to be common, further analysis reflects that the vast majority were unsold and have been listed several times.  The main problem encountered is that most sellers don't differentiate between contemporary issue, late issue, and jeweler's copies.  As an example:  a common Belgium Order of the Crown usually is not identified by an ebay seller as an early issue, WWI issue, WWII issue, etc.  In theory, an early issue (pre-WWI) should be a highly sought after collector item but most collectors are happy with a generic example that's available on eBay for about $20 or so.  When one is rarely offered, it is usually unsold because it appears to be competing with a 1990's jeweler's copy. 

The USA medals are on ebay are divided into 2 classes for comments:  decorations & campaign medals.  The decorations are often wrongly attributed as being to a particular era with relatively new bidders winning.  The WWII Air Medal with the incorrect suspension pin is a good example.  Campaign medals currently offered are a little different because most of the sellers are listing them correctly - and some old excellent examples are available for a fair bid.   

I devote a special entry to general worldwide military medal collecting market observations for each month and will post December's comments here when appropriate.  This generally includes observations on ebay auctions (good and bad), flea markets, online sells, or whatever I happen to stumble upon that may be of interest. 

During the 5th ebay Guides, Reviews, & Blogs Contest 3 eBayers went through all of my reviews and guides and gave them No votes.  I suspect this was done because I placed 58th in the 4th ebay Guides, Reviews, & Blogs Contest and was very close to joining the Top 100 Reviewer's.  This was the first time that an APO/FPO ebay member had ever won!  Since then 1 (possibly 2) ebay members have concentrated on my reviews and 42 medal guides by giving them all No votes (over 400 No votes in the past 10 days to make it a total of about 1000 No votes since the contest).  The number of Yes votes has not been sufficient to warrant the time involved in the research and writing.  The number of views by ebay members was good but I use the votes to determine the degree of interest in the guide topics.  One series of the ebay guides was dedicated to addressing forgery medals which were detected in Germany with the appropriate description so that the information could be shared worldwide rather than confined to a small group of collectors.  Again, there were a lot of views but very few Yes votes so this series was discontinued (your votes - or non-votes - did count!).  Another series was devoted to a particular medal or clasp where a summary of the details was provided so collectors could discuss their collection with more knowledge.  The number of views was very low as well as the number of Yes votes - perhaps this was associated with a documented ebay program glitch where the guides weren't showing up with the search results. 

On a different topic, I regularly visit the various online medal groups and sites (usually as a lurker) to keep current on the discussions and market trends.  After receiving a few invitations to join the Gentleman's Military Interest Club http://gmic.co.uk, I finally registered (even though I visited it weekly for a few years).   Let me mention that I personally know many of the members (some for well over 20 years) and have high respect for them as fellow collectors and experts in their particular fields.  When I registered, I didn't use my real name but rather my ebay name as my user name.  The code of conduct was mainly self-imposed by each member but the group did enforce obvious violations.  There was no welcome and a moderator rudely did a "no-reply" comment to one of my entries (the others were basically snubbed).  Visiting my speciality area, there was a substantial lack of information and the casual random references to it were often wrong or misleading (quite disappointing) and were addressed only when a "regular" member questioned the poster on the point and that was usually of an opinionated reply rather than factual.   Most of the "hidden" discussions concerned online auctions, miliaria dealers, or other sales with the members exchanging notes - some of these notes were actually misleading (for reasons known to the poster only).  I noticed that one dealer takes a regular bashing there but it's probably because he offers strong opinions that run contrary to many of the "regular" members ideas and he often highlights that some of the medals purchased were forgeries.  ebay was regularly mentioned with some appropriate comments, cut/paste photos, and discussions on items but it seemed that half the members liked it - and were even members - while the other half hated it.  I held no position on the matter since knowledge is more important that supporting something for the sake of supporting it and there's really better things to do in the world.  I suspect that if they had known who their new member was, the results would have been quite different but this attitude toward new unknown members isn't right.  It was obvious that there was a class "pecking order" with some members being deferred to based on their status while those that were "probationary" were fair game.  At any rate, this will provide a discussion item the next time I see some of these members.  The Gentleman's Military Interest Club is not recommended for membership but is excellent for just viewing as a lurker.  I resigned and the administrative gentleman who responded was professional (he forgot that we know each other).

Turning to ebay now, there seems to be a lack of interesting military medals or groups listed.  Granted there are a few but very few.  Many of the Imperial German or German states medals are basically forgeries while the authentic ones seem to be overpriced at the start bid.  Most of these, you can buy outright from a reputable dealer (with guarantee) for less.  Having said that, there are about a half dozen listings that are outstanding in quality and about a half dozen more that are relatively common but have a good start bid.  On the French medal side, almost all of these are overpriced and very few appear to be contemporary - it's probably best to pass now and wait until after Christmas.  The USA medals are still lacking on details in the description although a few sellers have really improved and are offering some quality older campaign medals - I haven't noted any USA decorations that were of interest.   The British Commonwealth medals are continuing to hold their own (some are excellent!) and most are sold if the seller begins with a reasonable start bid.   The major concern for all items continues to be vague descriptions, fuzzy photos, high shipping prices, very stringent payment and terms, and lack of guarantees. 

The local German flea markets and militaria shows are quite slow now.  The flea markets have very few medals worthy of note.  WWI Crosses of Honor are being offered for around €10 but I located a 1870 Iron Cross 2nd Class for €200 but haven't had the opportunity to determine if it was contemporary although it certainly appears authentic and resonds to a magnet test.  I did find an authentic 1813-1814 Prussian medal for €40 in poor condition and located a suitable length of ribbon on ebay but that's about all that has been seen of interest.  There's a militaria show next weekend but it's not close and I have to work so can't make it and it's probably the last one for this year in Germany.

I encourage you to post comments in my blog if you have suggestions or opinions so we can make ebay a better online community.  I visit the "Historical Memorabilia" community discussion board almost daily, so if you have a comment posted there don't be surprised to see a reply.  If you're interested, you're invited to join the ebay community group *Geneology Corner* - everyone is welcome and we often discuss military research related matters. 

I devote a special entry to general worldwide military medal collecting market observations for each month and will post November's comments here when appropriate.  This generally includes observations on ebay auctions (good and bad), flea markets, online sells, or whatever I happen to stumble upon that may be of interest. 

If you haven't, please look at my guides which generally highlight worldwide military medal collecting.  Each guide looks at a different topic in an overview format and, in some cases, I insert opinion in an effort to assist.  I do not sell items that are covered in the guides so it is not a method to "drum up business".  Space limitations prevent me from going into substantial detail or formatting them as I would like.  Most are illustrated when the topic is very specific.  After you have read my guide(s), I encourage you to vote since I use the results to gauge the level of interest - as well as the number of visits displayed.  The guides are updated, if needed, to reflect new information on the topic.  During the 5th ebay Guides, Reviews, & Blogs Contest 3 eBayers went through all of my listings and gave them No votes.  I suspect this was done because I placed 58th in the 4th ebay Guides, Reviews, & Blogs Contest and was very close to joining the Top 100 Reviewer's.   This was the first time that an APO/FPO ebay member had ever won!  I encourage you to post comments in my blog if you have suggestions or opinions so we can make ebay a better online community.  I visit the "Historical Memorabilia" community discussion board almost daily, so if you have a comment posted there, don't be surprised if I reply.  If you're interested, I invite you to join the ebay community group *geneology corner* - everyone is welcome and we often discuss military related matters. 

 

Generally, I devote a special entry to eBay listings for each month but October has been fairly slow on the exceptional items (good and bad) on eBay. One item running is an Imperial German medal group (priced in US$, description in English) that's very good and well presented. Most of the regular readers know about the Imperial German Southwest Africa Medals that have been mentioned in other blog entries and I noted that another one is listed - and it's reasonably priced for a "copy" (even though the description doesn't state that it is). USA medals, for the most part, are still listed fairly generically without the detailed info or photos needed for a specialists to bid. The trend still exists to associate USA medals with a particular war without any documentation to support the assertion. The British medals are holding their own in the market with fairly reasonable prices - except for the few that are listed by non-collectors. There's a few interesting British medals being offered but they're generally for the specialist. I went to another German flea market yesterday (at the Borussia Stadium) and noted only 1 German dealer with medals. The medals were actually very rare orders from the various German states and were dumped into a box. I examined them closely and found all to be cast copies which were not presentable to anyone - pretty much junk (I didn't even ask about the price). However, the reason I mention this is because copies are fairly rare in Germany - especially ones so bad. About the only copies you see are called "jeweler's copies" - which are collectible. The point is: If I'd bought one of these copies and took a bad photo of it and posted it on the net, I'm sure it would appear to be an original - you see this all the time on the "Historical Memorabilia" community discussion board and suspect that someone would make an off eBay offer for it. This is only an example of why you need to buy from reliable sellers that know what they're selling and avoid those who feign total ignorance on their rare items. As a personal aside: I try to write a helpful blog. Granted, it's not your typical blog but opinion is often inserted (which shouldn't be done in other formats).  The topics are not of interest to everyone.  It's pretty much the same for my guides. But -- they all combine to provide some useful public service information to the eBay community. During the 4th eBay Awards, I was fortunate to be selected as a winner (ranking 58th!!) - which was the first time an APO/FPO eBayer had won! I like to think it was based on the blog and guides.  Having said that, I'd like to extend a special appreciation to eBay members deradler, jaymedinc, and shipscript who provided me with the inspiration to begin and continue writing. Being a long time poster in the "Historical Memorabilia" discussions, deradler and I have had some off ebay contact exchanging militaria information and he was quite helpful in motivating me to begin the blog.  About this time, jaymedinc stepped in and encouraged me to take some of the blog entries and my comments in "Historical Memorabilia" and work it into a guide or guides for the benefit of other eBay members. jaymedinc suggestions were what was needed for me to finally decide to wade in. The guides were modified a number of times and are still updated and I'm pleased that so many eBayers have read them. The votes are nice but I take them as to if the guide was helpful or not and use the votes to review them and update them so they're more useful. It's my understanding that the yes vs. no vote is fairly immaterial in the contests but the amount of visits and interaction do count. The blog is another story because there's not too much interaction there, usually someone just stops in to make a quick statement. However, I installed a counter to gauge the amount of interest the blog generates and it provides some valuable data reduction material. It's all rather interesting. A portion of my blog failed and another eBayer - shipscript - stepped in to assist. I've thanked him/her in a special blog entry. I've tried doing some reviews - some are actually rather good and there's a few that I want to change but that takes a while and then there are a couple that are admitedly bad and these will be eliminated or revised. During the 5th contest period, there were 3 eBayers that hit my guides and reviews rather hard with massive No votes for causes known to themselves. I suppose it matters more to them than it does to me. What mattered more to me was the amount of support and interest (positive as well as negative) that has been generated.  deradler, jaymedinc, and shipscript are heartily commended for their work with another eBayer!