Christian1962

Dear Carol, same as for the FJO in your other post. All three pieces are legit and WW1 production but not in good condition. It depends on the price - if they are going cheap and you are in need of an EKO3 you can buy it, but there are much better pieces around. It will not be easy to find an original ribbon for the third piece. Look at the Dorotheum auction again: https://www.dorotheum.com/de/a/104732/ Kindest regards Christian

Dear Carol, in my opinion both items are legit and pieces from the period of the First World War. The Franz Joseph Orden is not in good condition and quality. You can see the sprinkles in the frontside center medaillon. If you can buy it for about 300 up to 400 €, then take it. Otherwise not. There is a lot of better pieces around. Your question if the FJO would look "great" I would answer with "not anyway". The Red Cross decoration is in quite good condition. I can't if there is an enemal defect in the 12 o'clock arm within the laurel wreath. It could be a light effect on the pic too. Have a look at the next Dorotheum auction in May: https://www.dorotheum.com/de/a/104732/ Regards Christian

Tony, I must confess that I had no idea too 😉. I have no ribbon in my mind which could match, just the 1898 Signum Memoriae for civil servants and that would not match here anyway. Regards Christian

The white and red ribbon of the ÖSK cross was in use from the beginning (established in the 1950ties) until the 1980ties. Then it was change to red-white-red. Around 2000 it was changed another time and shows narrow white und black edges now. You can see it here: https://www.osk.at/de/ueber-uns/auszeichnungen The rank order on the bar is quite correct. The highest ranking is the ÖSK cross (a nationwide award), medal no. 2 would be from his own local organisation (could/should be the last one), the other medals are ranked in gold (Styria, Carinthia, Lower Austria), silver (Styria, Styria 40 years service) and bronze (Styria). There is no Tyrolian medal on the bar. There are no WW1 or WW2 decorations, so we can assume that he did not serve in WW2 or just a short time, not achieving a wartime decoration. Regards Christian

Tony, you are welcomed. A real sad familiy history... Regards Christian

In my opinon it was a former studendical "Bierzipf". You can see the loop on the backside where originally the ribbon ran through. The ears of corn indicate a corporation at an agricultural university. It was made for honouring a 25 years membership. Regards Christian

Hi Tony! You are right, Strudlhofgasse 14/11 and 14/14 should be in the same building. Adresses in Vienna can be specified differently: 1. In smaller buildings (with just few apartements per floor) they are often displayed like this: Strudlhofgasse 14/1 (=first floor), 14/2 (= second floor), ... 2. in bigger buildings (with more apartements per floor) they will be displayed like this: Strudlhofgasse 14/1/1 (=first floor, apartement no. 1), Strudlhofgasse 14/2/1 (=second floor, apartement no. 1), ... 3. In real large buildings (with more than one staircases) you can find 4 digits: Strudlhofgasse 14/1/1/1 (=staircase 1, first floor, apartement no. 1), Strudlhofgasse 14/2/3/2 (=staircase 2, third floor, apartement no. 2).... 4. Strudlhofgasse 14/11 and 14/14 f.e. would give a hint to a smaller building with few apartements which were simply numbered. We can assume it was no skyscraper at all with 14 or more floors. This should help postmen and visitors to find their clients. As always Vieanna is different. In many elder buildings exists a "Souterrain" (a floor between basement and ground floor), then a "Mezzanin" (I could find "mezzanine" in google translate) between groundfloor ("Erdgeschoss") and first floor ("1. Stock"). Buildings can consist of: Souterrain Erdgeschoss Mezzanin Erster Stock Zweiter Stock ..... Regards Christian

Dear Tony, please mind that Zagreb was called "Agram" during the Habsburg period until November 1918. I am not sure if a company working for the crown would have the used the name "Zagreb Metal"? Kindest regards Christian

You are welcomed. I would be interested to look onto your efforts. Regards Christian @tony: I like these kind of challenges. I have studied about 3.000 bios of Austrian interwar officers, in some cases I could find out the owner and give a bar a name. Regards Christian

It's an interesting feature. There were some solutions for it. We could assume that the bar belonged to an (f.e. engineer) officer who startet his career als "Fähnrich" in WW1. He could have owned a "Bronzene" or "Kleine Silberne" Tapferkeitsmedaille (nr. 5 ribbon - there was mounted a small medal or cross), then he received the "Bronzene Militärverdienstmedaille" (nr. 4 ribbon - there was mounted a medal or cross with a crown), then "Militärverdienstkreuz 3. Kl. mit Kriegsdekoration und Schwertern" (nr. 3 ribbon - there was mounted a cross without crown) and then a "Ritterkreuz des Franz Joseph-Ordens" (nr. 2 ribbon - there was mounted a bigger cross without crown suspension). KVK II on nr. 1 ribbon is out of question. The blue one should have been a 25 years service cross, followed by the "Medaille zur Erinnerung an den 13. März 1938" (illegal nazi!). Then red cross "Ehrenzeichen 2. Kl. mit der Kriegsdekoration" (most probably) and on last position a red cross medal. Just one option which would fit. A less likely option would be an officer of medical or veterinarian service. He would have earned a "Goldenes Verdienstkreuz am Bande der Tapferkeitsmedaille" (nr. 5 ribbon), a "Goldenes Verdienstkreuz mit der Krone am Bande der Tapferkeitsmedaille" (nr. 4 ribbon), a "Bronzene Militärverdienstmedaille am Bande des Militärverdienstkreuzes" (nr. 4 ribbon), no idea for nr. 3 ribbon (that makes it less likely), and a "Ritterkreuz des Franz Joseph-Ordens mit der Kriegsdekoration" (nr. 2 ribbon). Regards Christian

Sometimes, when original ribbons are in really bad condition it is useful to preserve them on an extra place and replace them by new ones. One of my collector friends had another access. He was a former officer in the german Luftwaffe. He always said that during his active service medals and ribbons had to be in best, clean and perfect condition. Therefore he cleaned and polished his medals from time to time and changed the ribbons. Other collectors wouldn't do that at all. Anyway it's a matter of taste. Kindest regards Christian

In my opinion you should note that these medals were worn by their owners over years after WW1, in the interwar period and after WW2. Sometimes the ribons had to be renewed when the became bleached or dirty. Propper owners changed the ribbons until the 1980ties or 1990ties. Replacement or tailor medals were offered anyway. The quality of the 1917 - 1919 ribbons was quite poor, so many owners changed them as soon as possible. Therefore is a lot of old original medals in circulation which have a later mounted ribbon. In my opinon they are all legit. Regards Christian

@tony: I am not sure if there could be an enemal repair on the avers 6 o´clock arm. Solid gold crosses would be hallmarked at the ring. Maybe the hallmark is not visible? The flat enemal on the backside is a nice variant and not common. Regards Christian

Maybe it´s of interest for anyone of the TKM-collectors here: https://www.willhaben.at/iad/kaufen-und-verkaufen/d/25-x-varianten-bronze-tapferkeit-medaille-monarchie-760210307 In my opinon a good deal.... Regards Christian

You can preorder already here: office@verlag-militaria.at https://www.militaria.at/programmes/Verlagsprogramm-2024.pdf There will be a version in German and in English. Regards Christian