Ostmedaille Real or Fake

[War Medals]

Wondering what the board thinks of this medal. It looks like maker marked 8. I believe these are not faked a lot.

John

[BrodieBartfast]

Faked rarely, but still faked. If it's German and WWII, someone somewhere has faked it.
This one has the right amount of finish loss and wear to the high points, and what looks like an original ribbon. Not an expert, but it's one I'd be comfortable with.

B.B.

[War Medals]

Thanks B.B. for you opinion. Medal looked good to me also, I was just not sure about ribbon. I posted it also because dealer passed a fake PAB on to me. I am developing the attitude you can't trust anyone when buying.

John

[Sveimhugi]

Hi John

This seems to be a OM13 or OM25. They are the only ones to sport 2 berries side by side furhest to the left on the Lorbeere branch on the reverse side.
The pictures are nit good enough to be able to see witch one it is.

I would also very much value a pic of the maker mark ��

But the medaille looks original from those pics ����

[War Medals]

Hi Sveimhugi, thank you for looking at my medal. You have put together a very nice web site on these medals. I will use it for any future purchases. I took a couple of new pics for your viewing. One of the maker mark, it is not a sharp mark, also a couple of the medal front and back. Hope the pics can help you determine the maker.

John

[Sveimhugi]

Hi John

Your Ostmedaille is definitely a OM13 / Gustav Brehmer.

Why it has a "bandring" with a "8" punze in it is hard to say. I can be many reasons and we probably will never know for sure.

It could be that Gustav Brehmer made Ostmedaillen for Ferdinand Hoffstatter, who then used his own "punze" for the "bandring".
But that is not very likely, the "punze" is very different from the ones on the KVK2, zink & tombak for example ( I must admitt I didnt not check out more awards by Hofstatter).

I would probably lean to a replaced "bandring" or added "punze".
It could be a OM18 punze with the "1" missing (its the only "punze" on a OM that I recall having a "8" and box shaped imprint around it) or its just a mean forgery.

I would view this all differently if the design of the OM was not a known one from Gustav Brehmer I guess.

Hope this helps a little bit

Kind regards from Iceland
Sindri

[BrodieBartfast]

Determining the authenticity of a ribbon is down to close inspection of how the material is woven.
This forum has its very own guide on the subject: Ribbon authenticity guide

B.B.

[War Medals]

Hi Sindri, I agree that it is a OM 13. The berries do match up exactly. I noticed that you supply Height and Width measurements. I got out my digital caliper and came up with the following numbers. Height 44.23 and Width 35.07. These are close to your measurements but not exact, should they be?. I am not surprised with the number on ring not checking out to the medal, Dealer was on my shady list.

[don_kihotis7]

The photo in post #5 shows that the ring is open. Since the medal is from another maker then the ring has been replaced.

[Sveimhugi]

Hi John
No, they a good sign, should be close, but the weight can vary a little.
Hehe not uncommon to have replaced rings, its hard to say who and when it was done.

Good luck with everything!
Sindri