Are "Copies" OK IF KNOWN?

[Bundtrock]

When it comes down to buying a copy of an order of Victory to try and fill a hole that doesn't really need filling or buying a real Bravery Medal awarded to Private X from the Urals, i know which i would pick every time.

BUT as with everything in life, it's personal preference

Sidenote: Copies should indeed be marked COPY, but unfortuatley, we're all grown up enough to know that the world is full of expolitative people out to try and take advatage of honest people and it would never happen across the board.

It's a shame, but as long as we as a community of collectors keep sharing knowledge and helping each other, then maybe one day the fakers will get bored of medals and start making Fake iPhones instead.

I know EXACTLY what you mean with your above SPECIFIC EXAMPLE, I just got in a Bravery medal I got from Bill Garvy, fully researched, documentation book, etc, I KNOW where that medal came from and what it meant and YES, that means a whole lot to me.

I have a fake Hero Of The Soviet Union and a fake Order of Lenin, kinda pretty to look at, but CHEAPLY made, the only real purpose they serve is to give me some idea of what the originals look like, I take ZERO pride in them.

[JensF.]

In my opinion both ways are ok. Getting, I will call them replicas, to fill a gap or to avoid them completely. Personally I though several times to buy some replicas like an Order of Victory etc. for example at Eb**, but everytime I thought about placing a bid I stopped and asked myself, why. To fill a gap, ok but I don't like the idea to mix originals and replicas in the same box, frame or whatever, so I decided not to do it. If there is a gap, then there may be one. I can still grab the McDaniel "bible" and look at originals. I have nothing in my hands, but having a replica in my hands would be no satisfaction. It will always be a "piece of metal which looks like..." and being a historian too it wouldn't create this feeling of history which even the "cheapest" original jubilee medal creates for me. Just my opinion

[CtahhR]

We'll never fill the gap!