Welcome to the new forum NSDAP Parteiabzeichen forum!

[slados28]

I don't know what's going on with this moderator thing but I have to concur with the rest either way; knowledgeable, friendly and obviously a regular and major contributor... Greenhorn has got my vote for the Parteiabzeichen sub-forum mod position as well!

[Jo Rivett]

I don't know what's going on with this moderator thing

That was a comment made by me, that i hope will not be misunderstood. Sometimes a change has a positive effect on a forum, or sub-section. Like a job promotion. When things just carry on for years and years as they are, it can become dull. It is also a huge responsibility when one person feels that he is responsible for multiple sections and indeed multiple forums. So call it job sharing if you will. It all depends though on the desired outcome, so that is what needs to be considered first.

Discussion and interest in certain items always brings more facts, evidence and provides fruitful results, a new face will usually encourage this. Yes i know we are only talking about one small enameled badge, so on the whole, not a really interesting item for 99,9% of collectors.

My lack of participation on this forum has nothing to do with any personality, any MOD or any user, it is simply that until my book is published, i am in a state of limbo, between a rock and a hard place. I have seen so many threads pertaining to the Party badge (and a few others) that i could contribute on and clarify, but it would be unfair to the publishers if i was to start "self publishing" parts of my book on forums before it was even printed. (Well not just unfair, if i was publishing a book for someone, and found that person showing images and explaining basically what is in the book months before it is even finished, i would most likely call the arrangement off. Which i am not prepared to do.)

What i would just quickly like to add though, is that i recognize some of my research on this forum, a few facts and figures, and way of evaluating items that i have either shared on my site, or shared with interested parties. Or in magazines. So i am happy that everything i have been doing for the past few years, was not in vain, and is being taken into consideration. Anyone who contributes to the quarterly collectors magazines we have, or who invests years and lots of money in writing a book, will attest that in most cases, there is no financial reward, in fact a loss, so it is done out of a love for the hobby, out of interest in correct facts, and with the collectors interests at heart. It is really cool to see at least some of the info getting though, and being absorbed. I can only hope and pray that the topic of "using forensic science in order to evaluate items" will be a main focus point in the future.

Merci - and keep up the good work

[slados28]

Your site has definitely proven invaluable to me, as I bet it has to others as well, in my very short amount of time collecting these tiny things! My comment was purely based on an opinion formed at "face value", i.e. based upon the level of perceived and tangible participation on /contribution to this specific forum alone. It was obviously not meant to be taken as a reflection upon/criticism of anyone else's participation/perceived lack thereof.

In the end this is obviously all up to the ones running/currently moderating this site... only time will tell.

[Greenhorn]

Jo
I think most people know to give you credit for many things related to the Party badge. Credit is due. Your participation here would be very welcome by all enamel collectors. The Party badge thread began with a "thank you" to you, and especially for the RZM list. Much of your work and information has been learned from and hopefully some will expand from it. I know I look forward to your book and especially the forensic section (if it's named that ). I hope it expands on the entry-level work some of us here have done. We have spoken several times, I'm sure I haven't repeated any of it. At the same time, I have learned many facts from you, and still learning from them. Your common sense approach to the hobby has been very educational. I hope if you have seen something that parallels your work/thoughts, it's taken as a compliment knowing that you have set the ground work.

Slados28, thank you for the kind words

Mark

[Jo Rivett]

especially the forensic section .....

I "think" that this link to a PDF will work, for those interested.
http://www.parteiabzeichen.ch/images...ic_Science.pdf

Yes, what is really needed - and desperately overdue - is a way to exclude any and all "reputations" from the equation. Including what past and present authors think, or publish as fact without footnotes/evidence. The simple reason is that we are all humans, and we all make mistakes, we all lie, we all bend the truth (ask my wife, she knows all too well) and once we have something in our collections, we "want" it to be real. This "wanting" reproductions and indeed even fantasy items, to be real, has led to them finding their way into collectors guides. Somewhere down the road stories were added to the items to lend weight to them being original. Reputations have been used as "proof". And most of the time, once someone builds up some sort of reputation, their every word is believed without question.

So i was searching for a way in which we can illuminate any "persona" from the equation, and concentrate only on what the item is telling us.
History, and facts, even when we have them, still leave the doors wide open for other possibilities. So the end effect is usually always the same, it boils down to who is saying what, and who believes or not, based on (mostly) all the wrong reasons. I believe that once this rather complicated yet easy to understand way of analyzing our collectibles is correctly understood, it should become clear that it far surpasses anything you or i think, would like to think, or would rather close our eyes to.