Crown & Swords: Bulgarian

On the statute ribbon of the Bulgarian Military Merit Order, the distinctive crown with flowing ribands here can be found in gold, silver, or bronze denoting a number of Bulgarian decorations with such suspensions depending on class of award.

Very often German ribbon bars do NOT have this device, but only normal crossed swords which-- particularly on Bulgaria's generic bravery ribbon as used for most wartime awards-- only the common German style of crossed swords.

Despite the similar flat "roof" and dangling ribands, this is NOT the German Imperial crown, and is found ONLY on Bulgarian ribbons. No German crown device used ribands.

Although this set of devices SHOULD indicate an Officer grade of the MMO, it wassworn here by German Cross in Gold winner Vizeadmiral zS Joachim Lietzmann (1894-1959) as the "Kleindekoration" of a Commander neck grade. The practice of wearing "reduced form" awards on a ribbon bar that were NOT worn on a medal bar originated in the Austrian armed forces in WW1, and spread into a haphazard fashion in the German military after 1918.

This is one of the many reasons why identifying awards on a ribbon bar can be... TRICKY.