Reichsnährstand Medal - Cast Fake?

[DrPMC]

I've had a good run but believe that I've got a bad one this time.

Although the obverse and reverse of the medal are quite crisp, I don't like the area around the suspension ring at all, which shows an obvious seam. Also the ring on the medal, which is usually a perfectly formed ring soldered on, in this case looks crude and part of the casting.

If my suspicions are correct, it will serve to remind me that even very obscure, not especially desirable TR medals the being faked.

What do other people think of this medal?

With thanks,

Philip

[Adrian Stevenson]

I would sadly agree with your concerns.

[harryamb2]

[DrPMC]

Thank you to Adrian and Harry for confirming that this medal shown above is a fake. I shall take it up with the seller.

Here are a couple images of the same area on a good Reichsnährstand medal - even with my poor photography skills the difference is obvious.

[DrPMC]

I thought I'd add a postscript.

Initially the seller of the medal in post 1 refused to accept it back. However, I had bought it through the Militaria321 auction site which is very clear it its terms and conditions, that vendors of items sold as original must give a refund if the buyer isn't happy with the item's authenticity. Once reminded of that by the site's administrator he refunded me the purchase price and cost of shipping.

There was a near identical medal (Reichsnährstand Landesbauernschaft Schlesien für 30 Jahre Treue und Fleiss) for sale on a militaria vendor's site recently. I asked him for photos of the edge and suspension but the dealer has not sent them to me so far, which leads me to wonder if he has another copy. After being on a sale for ages, the item has now disappeared from his site which seems to suggest this too.

Whilst on this topic, I'll also mention that it seems to me that there a number of fakes of the Reichsnährstand Landesbauernschaft Pommern medal 'Für treue Dienste' circulating. The doubtful ones seem to be in both silver and bronze metal. I actually have a silver one (https://www.warrelics.eu/forum/order...od-bad-483469/) which several colleagues - on and off the forum - thought was OK. However, looking through the loupe at the suspension, I'm confident that it is a cast copy too, as the inside of the ring is rough with pitting, showing that it is a casting rather than a cleanly stamped out ring. I should add that the people who commented did not have the advantage of the clear and highly magnified image available through the loupe. If so, they would have come to the same conclusion.

Hopefully, by adding these notes to the forum other potential purchasers of these dud medals will be alerted. It's easy to think that no one would go to the trouble of faking obscure, low value, low demand medals like this or to imagine that, if they were, there would be a lot out there. Both beliefs are clearly mistaken! Obviously there are people content to copy anything and then drip them slowly into the market, making a few Euros here and there. It should also be recalled that the motivations for making and passing fakes are not exclusively or necessarily economic and that some people derive a perverse pleasure from the knowledge that they have deceived someone.

Regards, Philip