Any US Collectors?

dr gonzo

I know its the runt of the medal world but anyone got a US collection of any kind?

arnhem44

Hi dr gonzo,welcome to the forum.I only have four or five from WW2.I did consider buying more at the time but the government surplus of these medals on the market put me off in the end,went down the German and then British route after that.So will you post up some photo's and let us have a look,would like to see that Medal of Honour.

dr gonzo

This is most of them, excuse the few in there that are clearly not US but i only have one case i want them kept safe.



Love to hear what you think so go for it.

dr gonzo

By the way is this the wrong way to post an image? Having a little trouble, will edit immediately if its wrong.

Dr Strange

dr gonzo wrote: »

By the way is this the wrong way to post an image? Having a little trouble, will edit immediately if its wrong.

No, it's fine. However, some people may have problems and not see it at all because it goes over the margins in some people's computer screens etc. You can always use places like imageshack.com or photobucket.com. They host your pictures for free and provide different link codes for each of your pictures so you can post these in emails, forums etc. For forums they provide thumbnails of your images and you can post these here instead. Anyone can than just click on thethumbnail and see the original sized image.

arnhem44

Lovely collection,really nice.Are some of them engraved with there details on the back?

dr gonzo

Unfortunately only a handful of them but i do have a couple with the certificate which is a nice set.

arnhem44

Still at least you have something that adds to the collection.Any info on the soldiers that got some of these awards ?

danpatjoe

dr gonzo,
Very nice collection indeed.

I had dabbled in collecting US medals in the past (cased WW2 purple heart, bronze star, and a few others I see in your case) but I ended up selling them on.

It's not my area, so I know very little about them, so forgive my ignorance, but is that really a genuine air-force Medal of Honour?? :eek:
I would imagine they don't come up for sale very often. I believe it is illegal to buy or sell one (even a reproduction) in the states.

Regards - Dan

dr gonzo

Was gonna type one of the certs out to you but i thought it might be easier to put a pic up, they're also quite nice looking so here you go:

dr gonzo

Hey Dan, its the genuine article. They are pretty rare alright but you see the odd MoH knocking around online from time to time however they are not cheap. I actually prefer the Navy MoH but the AF one is rarest so i love having it.

They are illegal to buy or sell in America alright, risky move. In fact only recently a couple selling one that had belonged to a relative got in some serious trouble because of it however i bought mine from the UK so its all good.

arnhem44

Why did they make it illegal to buy awards?

citizen_p

In 1995, the FBI received covert intelligence that certain groups of people were not only selling CMH's, but were also manufacturing them! A patent had been taken out in 1918 in preparation against this particular onfall. Perhaps it was the ultimately tamed controversy around the awarding of Dr. Walker's medal - for a second time - that led to the heightened awareness nearly 20 years later that led to the indictment of a corporation in 1996 for creating and distributing some 300 replicas of a medal most earn by spilling their lives out in far off lands.

here ya go...google is a powerful force of nature....cyber nature.


and another fact

Not only is it now highly illegal to sell either original or replica Congressional Medals of Honor, but if you are astute enough, you just might notice that, in movies depicting the conferring of the medal, what you see is not quite accurate in terms of the design of the piece. As an extension of the patent law, not only is it illegal to sell real or replica CMHs, but it is also illegal to manufacture them outside of the military.

Wookie5

I collect US KIA groups.. Have many examples from WWII thru Vietnam. Where did ya buy your MOH?

dr gonzo

Hey sorry wookie, got it on eBay. I know its not exactly the smartest place to pick up pieces but i chatted to the owner extensively before and after purchase so it was a bit of luck tbh.

Morlar

Normally I collect mainly German WW2 but am currently awaiting delivery of several hundred WW2 photographs taken by and of Americans in Europe.

German ones are far more prevalent in the market (in Europe at least) but American and also Russian are fields of collecting I would like to expand into at some point.

The russian side of ww2 collecting seems to be a complete minefield when it comes to getting authentic items, so, if any collectors here know of good (non ebay) sources for authentic & affordable photographs let me know

Wookster76

I'd be interested in trading buying or selling US items..

Dr Strange

Wookster76 wrote: »

I'd be interested in trading buying or selling US items..

Hi wookster76, welcome to the militaria forum. Please make sure to post ads about your items (for sale, or wanted) on the adverts site first:

www.adverts.ie

Once you have done that you may post a description of your item and the link to the original advert by contacting one of the militaria moderators. We will put your ad into our sticky for items at the top of the forum.

Wookster76

Thanks I'll do that

I'll post some examples of the US groupings I have in my collection...my interest is KIA documented groups.. IMO US groups offer by far the best the research potential via the us national archives which is exceptional. You can often get very detailed info on KIA groups even down to after action reports for the days fighting leading up to the death of the soldier. US groups are still reasonably priced as well.