saschaw

No, with. There is enough proof for it out there, Speedytop might have something like a mid-1950s sale list handy... As said, this cross is a post-WW2 copy, most likely by Souval from Vienna.

Here's a nice photo of one in wear that recently sold on eBay.de:

Not saying any of them is bad, but I like the 1st one much more than the 2nd. ;)

If the he was “Decorated by HRH the Duke of Albany (Regency Duke of Sax Coburg & Gotha) with the decoration “Silberne Medalles des S. Ernest” d. 20.8.10.”, the award of which you got pictures of by the Gotha archive is totally not the award your grandfather got... a shame the archives are giving wrong information! The proper one is this here, minus the WW1 era sword clasp: http://www.ehrenzeic...bandspange.html Unfortunately, I'm not having one of these in stock at the moment... Check vol. 80 of DGO's member magazine for a similar combination... unfortunately in German only: http://www.deutsche-...t-der-magazine/

It's totally new to me the merit medals of the Ernestine house order were for military personnel only - and I don't believe it...

:beer:

Seems to happen often, and often with the very same guys... a main reason I' waiting for a payment before I send out my stuff. Sad but true.

Must be their billeting in the Reichslande Elsaß-Lothringen... I think all there got it, not only the Prussian troops.

Have to agree with Igor... ;)

Is it my eyes or do the ribbon bars look a bit odd/new? I don't like the look of the ribbons...

The document reads Regimentserinnerungs-Zeichen and yes, these are post-WW1 era.

Beautiful one! Definitely deserves bigger pictures... it's hard to recognize the ribbons in this stamp size pictures... I'm sure this can be identified.

Something from France and the Chile merit order are the most likely possibilities. 1848 is too old, in my opinion.

What a disgusting behavior!

The officer bar is an apparent recent fake, using some real and some fake awards.

Sorry for being offtopic, Troy, but would you please take a look into your email's spam folder? I think my e-mails ended there. ;o(

Interesting picture! I assume he received his Russian order in late or post-WW1 era by Awaloff, for fighting the Bolshevik? Unlikely a pre-WW1 award in my eyes.

I'd think even if the swords are gold, he had more likely a knight's cross 2nd class, as the bar totally looks like a WW1 junior officer's. Two blue ribbons with (missing) devices are most likely a Wehrmacht duo - be it Army, Navy or Luftwaffe. Other scenarios might be one Wehrmacht award with a Treudienst-Ehrenzeichen, if he switched between military and civil state service.

No way to know, if people made what they felt to do. Göring did upgrade his Zähringer Lion order from BZ3bX to BZ3bXE... If our man was a junior officer, his Bavarian MVO would have been a BMV4X, or in very rare cases, a BMV4XKr. "Private upgrading" from BMV4X to BMV3XKr would have been very, very cheeky... but nothing's impossible!

Gold crown and sword device on Bavarian MVO/MVK ribbon stands either for the 3rd class of the order, which is unlikely here, as it went to high officers (ca. Obersts), or for the 1st class of the merit cross, which is as unlikely ... I think we have an Unteroffizier, who wanted to have his device for 3rd class rather in gold than in bronze. So he was a NCO in WW1, but probably an officer in the "Third Reich" Luftwaffe. Nice bar!

Agree with Andreas, Ottoman life saving medal seems likely here. Interesting and nice bar!

I think it's most likely the Luitpold medal.

Whoever claims vaulted crosses are postwar, is totally not right. This is a nice, early cross - and probably yet from WW1 days.

Oh, I overread that. It is NOT Navy style, this is civilian wear for a tuxedo!

Great one!