Freikorps Eiserne Division Medal

**tompress** · 05-13-2017, 03:26 PM

by HPL2008

Bolewts58 has only a few posts on this forum, but is active on the GMIC Forum and especially in the Freikorps section of the WAF, where he has posted many remarkable items from his extensive Freikorps collection. His comments should be taken seriously.

Right! +1

**Espenlaub Militaria** · 05-13-2017 03:26 PM

We also buy and trade your items and full collections!

**bolewts58** · 05-13-2017, 06:12 PM

by bigmacglenn1966

Thanks for the helpful input, it's appreciated and I don't mind being corrected ... Problem is that in several cases mentioned by our friend, practically all of the online sources, sellers, and several books list contrary -or out of date- information...That leaves us with not much to go on in this area of collecting...I'm just glad I didn't pay much for any of them...

cheers, Glenn

First of all, I came to this forum by accident today, following a link and then noticed an error in a post on the Stahlhelm. So, I started looking around and noticed the Freikorps posts and felt compelled to comment. I joined in 2013, but never posted because there wasn't much of interest for me here compared to other forums, like WAF, GMIC and Feldgrau. I post a lot on WAF, especially. I'm not sure I want to get too deep into yet another forum. It's very time-consuming.

I've mentioned two current references on the Bug star thread, already. But, one should start with Ernst von Salomon's excellent 1938 book, "Das Buch vom deutschen Freikorpskämpfer", which has been reprinted and is available on Amazon. I own an original edition and it is excellent because it has photos of hundreds of Freikorps insignia.
Some Freikorps badges were reproduced as far back as the 1960s for museums. It takes experience handling original pieces to know the difference. Fortunately, the vast majority of items have never been copied. The problem is that newer collectors start with the more readily available reproduced items like the Bug star, the Iron Division medal, Baltic Cross, Silesian Eagle, Ehrhardt Brigade sleeve badges etc., not knowing what to look for or knowing the sources of high-quality fakes. For example, in Russia there's a maker named Alexander Chichalov who makes excellent collector copies of several well-known Freikorps badges. If one didn't know what to look for, these would fool a lot of people. Knowing all the possible sources, handling real examples and above all networking with knowledgeable collectors in Europe is how you stay ahead of the game.