Crazy EK2 price!

[Glenn66]

Now the plot REALLY thickens! Within hours of the last crazy sale the same seller has another Stalingrad dug EK2 up for offer, what a coincidence!

Check out the photo and you'll note a similar broken carrying ring to his earlier cross. The corrosion to the core looks different like he's cleaned it up a little but what strikes me as real odd is the area i've circled on the frame that looks like a casting tag? I've also indicated with a blue arrow a 'halo' like effect around the top area of corrosion that if I didn't know any better could be a spot where a big blob of acid has sat?

Plus the photo looks like the two frame halves don't even match up!



If others can comment with experience on the topic of these 2 'aged' EK's and agree he's up to no good then i'll make sure to avoid this seller like the plague!

Cheers
Glenn

[qotd]

Mate is this tosser on ebay? He is single handedly destroying EK's that he could get more for! I have one original EK2 to commemorate the one that my great uncle got in Russia.

Why destroy sucha moving and historic object, i mean I know a few million were awarded, but they were awarded for bravery! not to be destroyed by some idiot to make a quick buck! fair dinkum ground dug ones are fine and have a story.....this one doesn't! He has wrecked anything it stood for or the Soldat it was awarded to......I really hate this

[Glenn66]

Yeah he's on ebay but assuming he is using acid on the medals i'd suspect they may be fakes to start with. Better off ageing a fake than a genuine item (better profit margin for him)

[Wagriff]

For me,anyway,it's hard to say just What to make of this thing. I've bought a few things from this seller before and have always been careful in believing the listings stories and have,so far at least,always had pretty decent luck in dealing with him. But then along comes a monstrosity like This thing and there you go-what does a person make of it? Does he simply buy junk from the various diggers and post them for auction on ebay? Or is he a digger himself and mixes in crap with good? It's hard to trust anyone in this business! Take a look at all the "Stalingrad rings" one sees for sale-I wonder,just how many soldiers there wore "West Wall" rings and why would they? It's interesting to watch the various ring types as they come up for sale-when one particular type gets too well known and seen,suddenly they vanish and entirely different kinds start appearing. Another "ring question",is why do some of them seem to be almost worn out? The soldiers who were supposed to be wearing them could only have had them on for maybe a year or 2,and yet some are almost smooth and worn right to destruction. But,on the other hand,there are,indeed,many Genuine ones out there too,so buyer beware,I guess. Hmm.. As for this $319 EK,well,that's just insane. Is it genuine? Maybe it makes a difference just where it was "recovered" from-was there fire? Chemical exposure? Particularly acid or base soil in the area? White phosphorus? Or is it just a piece of junk that's been artificially aged to bring an absurd price like $319? The seller certainly couldn't have known and planned on it going for such an amount,so it hardly seems worthwhile to go to all the trouble to age it just to post it and "see how it flies",so to speak. And,now that it Has gone through the roof,will we now be seeing a lot More of these pieces aged in similar fashion? Lordy,how I miss the old days of collecting! William

[qotd]

Ok, if he is usin replicas, then buyer beware, but if he is using originals, and I know this is not a correct comparsion, but to me it would be like taking a real VC and cliaming it was found at Gallipoli

[qotd]

I reckon these days unless you have a video of the thing coming out of the ground with close up of every stage of the excavation, along with GPS co - ordinates provided you cant be sure where it is coming from

[Glenn66]

Well I think the seller has wet himself seeing he got more than twice what a mint original goes for and if he has aged a $10 Polish copy or even bought one off a genuine digger for $30 and turned it into $300 then that explains the next example up on ebay so quickly.

He must be giggling at the stupidity and fat wallets of some of the ebay crowd.

[qotd]

In that case I might take my dodgy replica, bury it my backyard for a bit soak it in some acid, stick som SS runes on the back and say it was lost in the battle for Melbourne by the Australien Frei Korps! might even go to the local seamstress and get a cuff title made up to entice the ebayers. If you didnt know the "Australein Frei Korps" was a secret SS Fallschirmajager Grenadier regiment using the MAUS tanks, dropped off by a Squadron of the SS U boat section, backed up by the SS Jabo squadron using ME 262's in a attempt to take over the Melbourne Post office!

Someone will believe it!

[qotd]

They had a sleeve shield that portrayed a Kangaroo being rogred by a Daschound!

[Wagriff]

For what it's worth,the suspicious casting tag thing looks to me,anyway,like the guy has the loose frame turned counter clockwise,so that would probably be the base of the suspension ring.(it also explains why the 2 frames don't line up properly.) Again,as for the corrosion,I have no clue. Maybe they found a pile of these things in the bottom of a dump where they were purposefully disposed of during the cleanup? What did they use,anyway,to burn up or destroy the much despised German stuff we always see photos of heaped and piled up to be gotten rid of? Doubt if they would have wasted precious gasoline or burn much-needed firewood on it? Or then again,maybe he's got a pile of them on a bench in his garage with acid paste smeared on them aging away as we speak...Gotta love this hobby... William