This guide will address only the DEUTSCH-NEUGUINEA 1913/14 clasp which was worn on the Kolonialdenkmünze. The Imperial German Colonial Medal (Kolonialdenkmünze) was established by Kaiser Wilhelm II on 13 June 1912 with revisions on 17 February 1914.  The medal with clasps was awarded retroactively.  

This clasp was awarded only to Imperial German Colonial Protection Troops and Police Troops.  Some military &/or naval personnel were attached and received the appropriate clasp.  Native New Guinea troops did not total over 600 at any one time.  While the medal is somewhat rare, these bronze clasps are very rare.  It is believed that between 2000 to 5000 men earned this clasp but far less than a quarter ever received it.  As of November 2006, this bronze clasp is only known in one officially issued type:  same width as the ribbon, wide lettering, flat back, pebbeled background and with soldered prong backs.   This is not to say that another type wasn't officially issued as well but that only this one type has been verified.  The clasp  DEUTSCH-NEUGUINEA 1913/14 was awarded for:

• Neumecklenburg Expedition from 14 December 1913 to 21 March 1914.  The vast majority of the documented surviving clasps were from men who served in this expedition.   
• Service in German New-Guinea on 31 August 1914 for combat action against the Australian invasion troops.  The first 4 Australian casualties of WWI occurred here.  It's also interesting to note that after the German surrender in September 1914, one German officer and about twenty native troops held out against the Australians until WWI was over. 

If you are interested in details of these events, some internet sites provide further information (the absolute best specialist sources are in German) but specialized history books are the best English language source.  Hint:  Try both the English and German spellings to maximize the number of hits.

This is possibly the most common KDM clasp encountered in private collections.  There's substantial speculation by collectors in Germany that many recipients were soldiers of fortune or mercenaries, which appears to account for the very unusual medal groupings with this clasp.  Some of the recipients have been documented as being in the Imperial German Army Reserve (or with the Reserves from one of the German states) during their service, which admittedly, adds to the substantial confusion.  Protection Troops and Police Troops not in possession of this clasp were individually evaluated as to whether they were considered a combatant or non-combatant for purposes of the award of the WWI Cross of Honor in 1934-1935.  Note that any recipient of this clasp for Service in German New-Guinea on 31 August 1914 would have been automatically entitled to the WWI Cross of Honor (Combatant) when it was instituted in 1934 - but by then, Germany had lost this colony.   Within the German militaria collector community, substantial effort has been and is being made on building a roll of those authorized this clasp.   There are a small number of forgery groups with this clasp - and almost all have varying levels of "documentation".  While it is currently far from perfect, the information verified to date is outstanding.  This clasp appears to have the highest survival rate of any from the DEUTSCH-NEUGUINEA series. 

• In 1992, a single clasp was offered on eBay for $100 and went unsold.
• In 1999, a single DEUTSCH-NEUGUINEA 1913/14 clasp was sold in Germany for €144.
• A number of groups with the DEUTSCH-NEUGUINEA 1913/14 clasp are in private German, UK, & USA collections.  It is rarely available from a dealer (a German militaria auction is probably the best source but be aware that this clasp will probably be attached to a group and usually documented).
• No original officially issued DEUTSCH-NEUGUINEA 1913/14 clasps have been noted on ebay for over 6 years.  A late-issue (possibly a contemporary jeweler's copy, at any rate it was still a very collectable example) was noted but the details were insufficient to make further comments.

If you found this guide helpful, a Yes vote is appreciated.  This will help me gauge the level of interest in this and similar topics for further guides.  For your convenience, other associated guides can be found at:  http://reviews.ebay.com/Imperial-German-Medal-Guides-Index_W0QQugidZ10000000002386112 &/or  http://reviews.ebay.com/Imperial-German-Colonial-Medal-DEUTSCH-NEUGUINEA_W0QQugidZ10000000002379852.  Please visit my blog (http://blogs.ebay.com/tsa-li) and/or guides for further information.  Thank you for your visit!