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    Baltenkreuz / Where are all the Baltic Crosses?


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    Hi,

    We've had a great thread on the Schlesien Adler, so how about a similar one for the Baltic Cross? I'll show you mine. Please show yours!

    Note that no two of the examples to follow share the same gilt cross attachment - compare the differences in the forms of the "fleurs-de-lis". The lowermost (very worn) pinback is very heavily vaulted whereas the two other pinbacks are only lightly vaulted and the ribbon mounted example is almost flat.

    Regards

    Mike

    Obverse...

    Edited by Mike K
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    And the reverse, sorry for the hazy pic.

    Mike, it seems the Fleur de Lys cross had another attachment to the white metal greek cross. What do you think about this?

    Jef

    [attachmentid=46723]

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    Hi,

    Some really nice crosses are appearing here - great!

    Jef, your example uses 4 bent prongs for attachment, correct? Not common, but if you have a look at the following thread you'll find his brother - same attachment method, same/very similar hinge and apparently the same Fleurs-de-lis;

    http://www.wehrmacht-awards.com/forums/sho...ad.php?t=165794

    I forgot to mention it, my pinback on the lower right uses a 2 bent prong attachment method - hard to make out due to the pin and the vaulting making the reverse scan a bit blurry.

    Bob, I'm sure the vast majority of these were unmarked. I'm positive I've seen a marked Meybauer example though.

    Ralph, pristine pinback and a killer mini!

    Regards

    Mike

    Edited by Mike K
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    Here's pictires of my Baltic Cross. I bought it in 1969 for ?2.50. Never knew what the were awarded for. Can someone enlighten me?

    Hi Stan,

    The cross was awarded to volunteers in the Baltische Landwehr with a minimum of 3 months service. They campaigned in the Baltic region against the Bolshevics. There was apparently no official first or second class - the award was meant to be hung from a ribbon but pinback versions became common. There were 21,839 official awards, but many more would have been produced. Like the Schelsien Adler, the Baltic Cross was officially sanctioned for wear after 1935. Most of this basic info can be found in Angolia's For F&F, Vol 1.

    Your cross looks like the same type as my lower right example - yours is in better condition and cost a bit less (at least at face value) than mine did!

    Regards

    Mike

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    Hi Stan,

    The cross was awarded to volunteers in the Baltische Landwehr with a minimum of 3 months service. They campaigned in the Baltic region against the Bolshevics. There was apparently no official first or second class - the award was meant to be hung from a ribbon but pinback versions became common. There were 21,839 official awards, but many more would have been produced. Like the Schelsien Adler, the Baltic Cross was officially sanctioned for wear after 1935. Most of this basic info can be found in Angolia's For F&F, Vol 1.

    Your cross looks like the same type as my lower right example - yours is in better condition and cost a bit less (at least at face value) than mine did!

    Regards

    Mike

    Thanks Mike for the info...I really only collect 3rd Reich and WWI and never looked up any info about this badge.

    Best regards,

    Stan

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    Hi,

    Some really nice crosses are appearing here - great!

    Jef, your example uses 4 bent prongs for attachment, correct? Not common, but if you have a look at the following thread you'll find his brother - same attachment method, same/very similar hinge and apparently the same Fleurs-de-lis;

    http://www.wehrmacht-awards.com/forums/sho...ad.php?t=165794

    I forgot to mention it, my pinback on the lower right uses a 2 bent prong attachment method - hard to make out due to the pin and the vaulting making the reverse scan a bit blurry.

    Bob, I'm sure the vast majority of these were unmarked. I'm positive I've seen a marked Meybauer example though.

    Ralph, pristine pinback and a killer mini

    Regards

    Mike

    Hello Mike,

    Thank you for the info. I have this award since 15 years in my collection. Do you have any idea of it's value?

    kind regards from Flanders,

    Jef

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    Guest Rick Research

    This was a VERY strange decoration, being created by Baltic Germans hoping for union with a Reich that had ceased to be, in the vacuum temporarily left by the collapse of the tsarist empire, before the Baltic republics' existence was certain.

    Created as a ribboned award ONLY, it was almost immediately worn in pinback form and most often found in that form afterwards.

    While I have never seen anyone WEARING two of them in period photographs, most often they ARE wearing the ribbon AND a pinback cross-- when like the WW1 Turkish War Medal star, I suppose only ONE of whichever fashion style the wearer liked should have been worn.

    It is found all over in German ribbon bars. Most wearers seem to have considered it a "German" award when it was not. Although certainly FOR Freikorps service, it was essentially a FOREIGN award and belonged back there with non-German awards in precedence. Although considered official right into the Federal Republic, I have never seen it listed in regulations for precedence--probably because it was almost invariably worn as a pinback and not ribboned award.

    Here are three examples of Baltic Cross ribbon bars-- two from circa 1919 and one as worn during WW2.

    [attachmentid=46835]

    The eccentric officer's bar has a non-standard Hohenzollern House Order device (no Xs!!!) and improper Xs on the Turkish War Medal ribbon, as well as the profoundly pointless "Saxon-style" EK mini device. The WW2 bar is actually in correct precedence-- though I'd bet you the wearer ALSO wore the cross as a pinback at the same time! :speechless:

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    I would have thought just the opposite. Over the last 4 years there never seem to be a shortage of these on the market in First Class. My guess though was they were mostly copies. the Second Class cross is very, very hard to find!

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