Snatch The Bacon was a fun game we played back when I was in Scouting. The object of the game was for one of two players, both with one hand behind their back, to snatch the hat on the ground and make it back to your home line without getting tagged by the other player or to fake out the other guy and get him to tag you when you were not holding the hat. For some reason the name of that game in my collecting mind has come to mean getting away with something while breaking some arbitrary or asinine rule forced upon me. For example several years ago I bought this badge on an internet auction site. The badge was for participants in a skiing competition held near Berchtesgaden in 1934. I really needed this badge as a companion piece for the event’s first place prize medal that resides in my collection. The badge depicts a ski jumper with three flags behind him; Nazi party flag with the forbidden swastika, the German National tri-color flag of that date and the sports association flag. My greatest fear was that some rat-fink would report the banned item to the auction site, so I asked the seller about the hallmark if any on back. That way I had his email if the badge got pulled off the site before the sale ended. I placed my bid and then sniped it in the final moments. Victory!!. I felt quite a rush just like in the old days when I Snatched The Bacon.

If one can believe the presidential election polls we are about to have our first black president which will be a milestone by any measurement. Interestingly enough Senator Obama can not trace his direct ancestry to any American slaves as most American blacks can or claim. None the less he is a political pioneer which reminds me of a 1937 dated National Guard Medical Department Lieutenant’s Commission named to Claudius Langdon Forney. I bought it from Haag’s Antiques in Columbus, Wisconsin about 4-5 years ago. I like medical stuff and the name sounded black so how could I resist? A quick name check on Google found the name listed in the 1940 edition of Who’s Who in Colored America as a Physician. The Social Security Death Index lists the doctor as an Illinois resident from the Chicago area with life dates of 1897-1969. Then I checked my 1940 Illinois National Guard book and there was his picture as a Captain in the Eighth Infantry Headquarters Company Medical Staff. To become a black doctor in the America of the 1920’s he must have been an exceptional man. At the time of his death America was being torn apart by race riots. I wonder what would he say if he could see the potential Obama presidency of today?

While on my way home from Illinois this weekend I was able to check out two Milwaukee antique malls where I found with this lucite encased marksmanship prize medal. This Blackinton made medal never had a pin so I am certain that it was issued in the lucite. The pin-less broach is inscribed “MILWAUKEE POST OFFICE // SPORTSMEN’S CLUB // RIFLE TEAM // 1961.” The two bars on the ribbon are inscribed “OFF HAND” and “FIRST PLACE”. The irregular shaped medal has a standing rifleman on a white enamel target.

“Going Postal” is an unfortunate slang expression that came into use back in the early 1990’s to describe someone who becomes angry and crazy enough to shoot fellow workers as happened in several post offices in the 1980’s

The medal described above and illustrated below takes the expression “Going Postal” to a  new level.

British War Medal 1939-45 or is it the Canadian version?

The British War Medal, made of copper-nickel is a common medal and nearly impossible to visually distinguish from the Canadian version struck in .800 fine silver. There is no weight difference so a simple scale won’t help. An acid test would do it if you don’t mind damaging your medal if it turns out to be the copper-nickel version. To make sure it is not plated you would also have to file into the rim to get below the level of any possible plating. If you are like me and don’t believe in mutilating medals then the only other option is a specific gravity test.

The medal pictured below is my medal and it tested out with a specific gravity of 9.81 which indicates that it is the .800 fine silver Canadian version. The copper-nickel version would have had a number of 8.94. The .800 fine silver should be about 10.14 so why is this medal only 9.81? Because the suspension bar mounted on top of the medal could not be removed and it is copper-nickel which screws up the results of the specific gravity test. Fortunately the resulting number of 9.81 is too high to be anything but the silver version.

As most of you know Germany was composed of various independent states ranking from kingdoms to free city states. The largest and most powerful was Prussia which eventually forced the German unification in 1871 when the Prussian King also became the German Emperor. Ever since 1813 when the Iron Cross was established it has become the most famous military decoration in the world and is often thought of as a Germany decoration which is incorrect until 1939 when Hitler actually made it an official German award. The 1914 version is the most common and was the lowest priced. The 1939’s are also common but more expensive since demand is greater for Nazi stuff . Over the last decade things have been changing and now I see dealers asking 75.00 or more for common 2^nd class IC’s and 1^st class crosses are running from 125.00 to well over 400.00! For an old time collector like me these prices just look nuts. What are they really worth, well I just put one on ebay so we will see. Supply and demand determines prices over all so I did some looking around. German dealers are also listing at these prices and I see that many collectors are now collecting by maker and other varieties. Supply didn’t change but demand sure seems to have grown, so much so that fakes are now a problem for the 1914’s.

Illustrated below is a genuine 1914 First class Iron Cross. Genuine 1st class ICs have a black painted iron core within a silver frame mounted on a silver back plate. The flat version with a pin back is the government issue while the convex versions which are often screw backs, are private purchase pieces. Many Germans didn’t want to risk damaging or losing the originals in combat or had to replace ones that were. There are many different hallmarks on genuine crosses and some are not marked at all. If the cross is not made of multi piece construction and the center core is not magnetic it is almost certainly a fake.

Sooner or later every military medal collector will sell medals on eBay or some other form of indirect sale where the condition of the medal must be described.

First thing to keep in mind is that medals were made to be worn so condition is not as important as it is with coins. Also many military medal collectors are not familiar with basic coin grades; F, VF, EF, Unc, BU. I use my own system which has worked very well for me and is based on the word ‘used’ like very nice used, slightly used or near mint. In addition any flaws must be described including any problems with the ribbon. I use near mint even for medals in mint condition because I don’t have the time or patience to argue, with every wisenheimer and novice collector, that not every medal is flawless at the time of issue. This is especially true when the medal is made by a private manufacturer. A prime example is the WWII service medal from Utica New York that I currently have listed on eBay and which is illustrated below. At first glance it appears to be worn or cast but the medal is actually in near mint condition! What makes the medal look so misleading is that it is a weak strike that was struck from pitted dies. If that wasn’t bad enough it was then given an antique golden bronze finish in an attempt to make it look like it was made with a higher grade of metal. The weak strike is most likely due to the fact that the center of the medal is much thicker than the arms which also slope downward and away from the center. Since this is one of the most common of the WWII local issue service medals I am sure that there were at least two production runs. Between the production runs the dies were probably stored on a shelf somewhere and quickly became rusted. Rust when removed leaves pitting and the cleaning also softens the resulting image giving the newly struck medals a worn and cast look. When the false finish was applied to the medal even more detail was lost. The fact that this medal is on a crimped broach proves to me that this medal was not part of the original 1946 production run. So as we can all see, the grading of military medals requires some thought and technical knowledge. It also helps to be a numismatist.