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    each year i buy myself a christmas present.

    this year i finally persuaded a close friend to

    part with one of his uniforms. i don't collect

    uniforms, but wanted one - and one only...

    no slippery slope here - to pull things together

    in my display room.

    so i got a prussian infantry oberleutnant's parade tunic

    along with the parade visor. the bullion shoulder

    boards have the gold pip and a 9 on them. there

    are loops on the left breast in two places.

    one is pretty obviously going to get an EK 1,

    although it might be for a wound badge or

    qualification badge.

    my question involves the second set of loops.

    these loops are located above the vertical loops notes above.

    they are horizontally oriented and set apart

    by ~7 cm, and i would suspect are for a ribbon

    bar. or could they be for a medal bar as well?

    which would be more appropriate for these loops -

    a medal bar or a ribbon bar?

    what awards might be appropriate, given the vague

    and non-specific info i have provided?

    EK 2?

    long service cross?

    other states bravery medals?

    i appreciate any guidance you might provide.

    this is a stunningly beautiful uniform with essentially

    no specific provenance, and i would like to

    complete it reasonably accurately.

    many thanks,

    joe

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    Guest Rick Research

    Pictures, pictures pictures!

    This is a FIELD GRAY tunic, or a BLUE one?

    Black Vs on white board underlay?

    Must have precise type, era, and so on.

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    bob- REALLY! this will be the one and only!!! :P

    rick- since i can't scan this, it may be a little while

    until i get some photos

    BUT...

    deep, crisp prussian blue with red piping around

    the boards, the flaps, etc. cuffs and collar are

    red. buttons (three on each cuff, six on back tail,

    eight on front) are gold and still have some

    lacquer finish on them.

    material is doeskin with 1 2mm moth nip on back of collar

    and a few areas of tracking on both visor and tunic.

    in this PARADE configuration, will there more likely

    be a ribbon bar or a medal bar?

    and what medals?

    i know this is basic, but i want to complete this

    project correctly.

    vielen danke!

    joe

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    Joe,

    Does it have the "paddle" boards or regular straps? If Paddles, I would say medal bar, if just regular straps then ribbons. Next question, what is the extreme spread of the loops for the medal bar. This would give us an idea of how many awards he had. Oh, Joe, one more thing, "We want pictures!!!" :jumping:

    Dan Murphy

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    i also got some more info on the uniform...

    purchased from brian ward.

    he practically choked when saying that this is

    "pre-war" manufacture, but said it is the style

    of parade/walking out that could have been

    purchased from ~1895-1916.

    they are not banjo boards, dan. they are

    a soft gold bullion, dress quality.

    the colors are vibrant and the condition of

    the material is outstanding.

    i will get photos ASAP.

    thanks,

    joe

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    Guest Rick Research

    Shoulder boards detachable or sewn in? No silver tape running back to front midway under the boards?

    Grenadier Regiment 9 was (weirdly) the only one of those units NOT to have Litzen, but my basic :unsure: "knowledge" of pre-WW1 uniforms doesn't extend to knowing whether red was the correct underlay for that unit's boards before the war when such did NOT indicate branch of service, but Corps affiliation in infantry units.

    It sounds like a pre-war service tunic, if the boards are not removable. I can find several candidates for a ribbon bar (the Old Style) before the war, but nobody with anything pinback in this rank or unit before the war. This model of straps (red underlay) went out with the M1915--which turned all infantry line regiments to white underlay.

    It is possible that an EX-officer chose to wear his 1914 fancy blue AFTER the war with wartime awards-- have seen this numerous times in photos, but unusual. He would have had to have been a peacetime young Leutnant only promoted to Oberleutnant during the war and just added a pip to make his final rank onto the old peacetime straps. The loops themselves now become VERY important to determining whether they are in fact original to the period or added later to "dress up" a perfectly nice tunic as so many monkey-fingers have done over all the long years since this was made.

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    Guest Rick Research

    Removable boards would allow this to be transformed into full dress by adding the "banjo" epaulettes. With shoulder boards like this, a ribbon bar was correct, not a medal bar. Though the loops could well be for a medal bar, as ribbon bars were not always worn before the war on daily service dress. :beer:

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    One and only huh? I remember thinking the same thing when I got my first tunic, and then went on to buy a couple of dozen more..... There's no slippery slope, it's a cliff.

    Welcome to the club.... <grin>

    As long as you're wanting to do the tunic up right, don't forget about a belt. If you go the route of making the tunic a full dress one, then the belt is supposed to be brocade....and there's the option of a sash, and let's not forget about a standard line officer's "Helme" with spike and/or Trichter. A dress sword (Stechdeggen) is an option. This particular look is much better look instead of standard Achselstueck (boards), leather belt, and Schirmutze....

    Les

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    Hi Joe, third ribbon is Bavarian Military Merit (Cross or Order).. probably a cross for 1914. This is an officer bar, but your unit I think would not have this combination. We must patiently await the appearance of the "Divine & (Truly) Most Evil Twin" to appear and tell us what would be probable.

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    Joe:

    Your slip-on boards do not go with the tunic. The underlay for G.R. 9 was white. Presuming the boards are pre-war, they most likely started out on J.B.9 or P.B.9 (both Prussian). The good news is the configuration of your blue officer's waffenrock would allow you to find a proper set of boards fairly easily. BTW, is there any additional piping around the Brandenburg cuffs?

    Dave

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