WWII D.S.C. ... Is it correct?

[Orion27]

Does this look correct?

[Orion27]

Another

[Orion27]

Another

[Orion27]

Just noticed this thread. http://www.usmilitariaforum.com/forums/index.php?/topic/121843-ike-jacket-dsc-to-p-47-pilot/?hl=degenaro

 

Is this the same medal from this thread?

[MattS]

Does it have the same serial number?

[Austin_Militaria]

Does it have the same number 10462?

[Orion27]

Checking on that. It does have a serial number, just not sure the number yet.

[Dave]

Looks like the same medal to me. The comments about the medal on the initial thread are still valid...not much more to add than what's already there.

[vicjoy1945]

Agreed with Dave and others on original thread. Like Kurt, I also find it odd that his middle initial is not engraved on the medal...there's certainly enough room for it. I do have a posthumous Korean War Army DSC grouping so I could compare engraving style. Official WWII period naming on this medal would most certainly be hand-engraved. I have an example of that style too.

[Orion27]

After a week of holding my breath, it finally arrived. Now in possession of Lt. August DeGenaro's D.S.C. It is numbered as the earlier page shows #10462.

[MattS]

So that named uniform and medal grouping that had been together from 1943 to 2011 was split up and sold off piecemeal? Good to know.

[Orion27]

I had nothing to do with splitting it up. I have no idea what happened with it between 2011 and today. It popped up on ebay with a (rather low) B.I.N. one morning last week and I dove at it. I had never heard of the group or read the threads on here before I bought it. I actually posted these pictures because I wasn't even sure it was "right". (I imagined it should have a wrap brooch, I've since learned that this slot brooch is correct).

 

Anyway, I can't do anything about the split. I would be happy to reunite the items in my collection. For now I plan to give this exceptional medal a good home. It is still in the neighborhood. I'm only about 45 minutes from his grave in Connecticut. I teach, so I plan to share his story with my students.

[MattS]

I know you didn't, but the member who originally posted this group in 2011 was its last known caretaker. Something obviously happened since then to cause it to get split up and sold on eBay and wherever else. Once fractured, reuniting this group will probably never happen. That's highly disappointing. I guess the almighty dollar wins out again to the tune of $500: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Distinguished-Service-Cross-WW2-RARE-ORIGINAL-CASE-/162980018965?hash=item25f25dbb15%3Ag%3AWvQAAOSwfqFaxCOY&nma=true&si=Ik%252BMN3GKb9z5UTVEeONnDIx8beM%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

 

[Orion27]

Not sure how I feel about you posting the screen shot. Whatever its a free country, but I'm not sure what the goal is. Is it to point out that things are sold for money? That sometimes you get lucky? Or is that I'm not the one most "entitled" to it? Or to make me feel guilty? If that was the point, It isn't working.

 

I repeat, I had NOTHING whatsoever to do with actively splitting this group up. I don't know the seller. I had never read any of the threads about the group. It was just a product of my obsessive trawling of ebay. Once in a great while it pays off. In 25 years of collecting its happened a handful of times. My main focus is WWI but I've been around long enough to know a "gem" when I see it. I search "distinguished Service Cross" in ebay once a day, hoping a "real" one will pop up. That is literally the entire story from my end.

[scottplen]

A great find !!! Enjoy it ! I would love to find a named engraved DSC !

[Allan H.]

I purchased the De Genero group from another forum member in 2011 and was thrilled to get it. Some time after, I received a PM from another forum member who told me that he knew and admired the veteran who earned the medal and that he was very upset to find out that the family had sold the items as he had always hoped to add them to his collection. After quite a few messages back and forth, and the other forum member begging me to let the items go to him ( he also stated that he had a number of other items from Mr. De Genero), I relented and sold the grouping to this other member for what I had paid for the group. Of course, I got the whole promise on a sack of bibles that IF the buyer was to ever get rid of the grouping, that I would be able to buy it back for the same price that sold it to him.

 

Obviously, this hasn't been the case. The forum member was last here last night, so I would assume that he is still living and evidently collecting. I sent him a message when this thread popped up again, but my message has not been read, so I assume that this member doesn't want to explain to me why his word doesn't mean anything.

 

I know that I have learned my lesson here.

 

Allan

[MattS]

Not sure how I feel about you posting the screen shot. Whatever its a free country, but I'm not sure what the goal is. Is it to point out that things are sold for money? That sometimes you get lucky? Or is that I'm not the one most "entitled" to it? Or to make me feel guilty? If that was the point, It isn't working.

 

I repeat, I had NOTHING whatsoever to do with actively splitting this group up. I don't know the seller. I had never read any of the threads about the group. It was just a product of my obsessive trawling of ebay. Once in a great while it pays off. In 25 years of collecting its happened a handful of times. My main focus is WWI but I've been around long enough to know a "gem" when I see it. I search "distinguished Service Cross" in ebay once a day, hoping a "real" one will pop up. That is literally the entire story from my end.

 

This is not directed at you at all, if anything, I'm glad you saved the medal. What disappoints me are these "collectors" who claim to be guardians of history and caretakers of artifacts that will split up a group to make a buck at the drop of a hat. Either you are are interested in preserving history, or you're trying to make a buck.

 

Sorry if I offended you, all I'm trying to do is maintain the chain of ownership.

[MattS]

I purchased the De Genero group from another forum member in 2011 and was thrilled to get it. Some time after, I received a PM from another forum member who told me that he knew and admired the veteran who earned the medal and that he was very upset to find out that the family had sold the items as he had always hoped to add them to his collection. After quite a few messages back and forth, and the other forum member begging me to let the items go to him ( he also stated that he had a number of other items from Mr. De Genero), I relented and sold the grouping to this other member for what I had paid for the group. Of course, I got the whole promise on a sack of bibles that IF the buyer was to ever get rid of the grouping, that I would be able to buy it back for the same price that sold it to him.

 

Obviously, this hasn't been the case. The forum member was last here last night, so I would assume that he is still living and evidently collecting. I sent him a message when this thread popped up again, but my message has not been read, so I assume that this member doesn't want to explain to me why his word doesn't mean anything.

 

I know that I have learned my lesson here.

 

Allan

 

Thanks for the insight Allan, I too am very disappointed.

[manayunkman]

Don't be judgemental, about breaking up the group, until all the facts are in.

 

The crazy thing is who breaks up a group and then sells the medal (the best part) way too cheap?

 

Something does not ad up.

[manayunkman]

Is the eBay seller the same person Allan sold the group to?

[Orion27]

No I don't believe the ebay seller is the one who bought it from Allan. Just anecdotal evidence though. The ebay seller did not seem to know much about it (again either did I to be honest). I pointed out that it was numbered to him.

[Orion27]

Is it possible that the person who bought it from Allan gave it back to the family and they just turned around and sold it again? If so, then another case of collectors being the better caretakers.

[MattS]

Is it possible that the person who bought it from Allan gave it back to the family and they just turned around and sold it again? If so, then another case of collectors being the better caretakers.

 

That is possible, it's a real shame either way.

 

[Allan H.]

My response would be "not bloody likely" since the medal and Ike jacket were sold together by the family in the first place. As I stated earlier, the forum member who got the group from me was active on the forum as recently as last night, so this wouldn't be a case of the forum member not being in a position to ensure that the group was taken care of properly. He sent me a message within the last year to tell me how much he appreciated me selling the group to him and how it would never leave his possession, so something obviously changed.

 

I'd like for him to at least have the decency to contact me to let me know why his word means NOTHING.

 

Allan

[manayunkman]

None of this even comes close to adding up.

 

Well informed collector sells group or breaks it up and sells it (we don't know) and now someone without a clue ends up with the best part, that is sold on eBay for a FRACTION of the value.

 

Somebody lost money here.

 

Allan I am sure that when you sold it the DSC was valued higher than 500.

 

Breaking up a group like this only maks sense if you part it out on eBay and let the buyers drive up the price.

 

Then it's greed or extreme financial problems.

 

Was the ballance of the group on eBay?