15+ Years and I Still Don't Know What This Medal Is.

[Grogidubnus]

My uncle gave me this medal from his father's belongings about 15+ years ago. I do some research online for it every now and then, in hopes of finding some kind of info on it. To this day I haven't found anyone who has any knowledge on it.
I took it to the big Allentown, PA gun show when I was 15 or 16 to see if anyone there could help me. One collector looked it over, said he had no clue, then offered a Knights Cross Iron Cross with presentation case for it. (The Knights Cross was authentic, had it verified by other collectors that I knew and trusted) For me, his actions of supposedly not knowing what it was, then offering a Knights Cross for it seemed very suspicious and I avoided the deal.
I'd really like to know what the history behind this medal is, and what kind of value it has. I do not intend to sell it, it will remain in my collection. If it ends up being a rare medal of importance, eventually I will donate it to a war museum. But in the meantime, I'd really like to know what this is. There are no stamps or markings of any kind on the back of this medal other than the rivet marks from the wreath.
Thank you to all who reply.

[sitges1990]

Hi Grog, welcome to the forum! I have never seen a piece like this. I don't know if it's an authentic period piece or not. It has very natural looking wear marks on it. The writing on the red center looks like it might be Arabic. It looks like someone may have cleaned it with a strong chemical and worn off the shiny silver finish. I hope you get more definite info.

Jay

[Grogidubnus]

Not sure if it's been cleaned. I never cleaned it because I don't believe in cleaning off history. (That's just me) From looking at it up close, it just looks tarnished in my opinion. The shine on the medal looked like the original finish to me.
I had been thinking the writing on it was Turkish or some other language relating to that geographic area.
As for it being a period piece, I'm pretty sure it is. (My uncle's father did serve in WWII) My uncle also gave me the 1938 6.35mm Italian Carcano that his father brought back along with this medal.

[Grogidubnus]

Interestingly enough, while researching an answer for another person's thread, I may have found a large clue to my medal.

German ALLIES FROM WWI & WWII

Scroll down to the "Slovakia" section and the first pin shown has a red shield that is too similar to ignore.

(Quote from the description)
"A German Sudaten Party Membership Badge for the female being mounted on a bar, showing the SDP logo on a red shield."

[sitges1990]

You definitely found a match. I think you now have your answer of where it came from. Good eye!

Jay

[Grogidubnus]

Yeah, now I just need to figure out how this medal ties into it... And, if it's even an actual medal at all, or something someone with some skill in crafting put together. It seems a bit too professionally assembled to have been a personally created trinket.
Still looking for any help in identifying and finding an estimated value of this piece. Thanks!

[brianjjambrose]

Hello Grogidubnus your decoration is Karpatendeutsche Ehrenzeichen
(Carpathian German Decoration). The letters in the centre are KDP(Karpaten
Deutsche Partei).They were mainly racial Germans in Slovakia.The badge on
the bar is similar in wording but is SDP (Sudeten Deutsche Partie).You have a
very nice badge --- congratulations.

[sitges1990]

That is fantastic Brian, thanks for the info. I sure didn't know one way or the other.

Jay

[Alan M]

Hello Grogidubnus your decoration is Karpatendeutsche Ehrenzeichen
(Carpathian German Decoration). The letters in the centre are KDP(Karpaten
Deutsche Partei).They were mainly racial Germans in Slovakia.The badge on
the bar is similar in wording but is SDP (Sudeten Deutsche Partie).You have a
very nice badge --- congratulations.

Hi Brian and welcome to the forum , many thanks for sharing your knowledge on this very scarce badge

[Grogidubnus]

Yes indeed, thank you so much for your input on this puzzle. Funny, I've had this medal for this long, with no luck finding out it's origin. And now, in the span of a week or 2, I get 2 different people with the answer. I ended up sending the POC (Point of contact) of that web page the pictures of my medal and this is what he sent me this morning.

"Hello Scott,
what you have there is a German Volkdeutsche decoration for racial Germans in Slovakia. The award is quite a scarce item, I can only remember seeing about three in my time.

Jamie"

Looks like your answers reinforce each other. Thank you again for explaining to me what this medal is.

Scott