saschaw

I have no idea what it is, and cannot read the initials. Without any (further) symbolism, this could literally be anything: regimental related or military in general, or from some religious group, or for riflemen, or workers' movement... guess there's no way to tell, unless someone maybe knows the monogram?!

It's not much, but according to the Hof- und Staats-Handbuch des Großherzogthums Baden, 1847 issue, where he's already listed as "Oberst a. D.", Franz Lehmann received the commander's cross (without star) of the Military Charles Frederick merit order in 1814 and was one of the first to receive a knight's cross (later called: "knight's cross 1st class") of the Zähringer Lion order in 1815. In case you don't know, this Baden periodical is available online. The Badische Landesbibliothek really made some use of the corona lockdown...

I agree this medal looks convincing and is probably authentic, but I do have to add there's hardly a way to be 100 % sure. It's not much trouble to electroplate a more common silver medal with a gold layer. Unless they are cheap (or mounted in an authentic NCO group!), I do not touch these anymore. That being said, the "inconsistency in finish from front to back" is actually a good sign for an old gold finish!

Probably because both swords to Austrian war decorations and Signum Laudis medals in general were not awarded to anyone but Austro-Hungarian subjects. No German soldier could ever received those, from what I know...

Thanks! You already had several 3rd class Prinzengröße medals? I have hardly ever seen any... just in case there was a misunderstanding: my 2nd class medal shown above was "Prinzensize" as well! I'm not going to hijack your thread with normal, full size pieces...

I agree this company is charging pretty high prices, sometimes probably too high! Lovely group though, probably to a Landtag member - and not to a "Reichsrat".

Despite this cross does not yet have an article at ehrenzeichen-orden.de, it certainly is not "fictional". The "König-Ludwig-Kreuz in Silber am Jubiläumsbande", often nick-named "Silbernes Erinnerungskreuz für die Mitglieder beider Kammern beim 100-jährigen Jubiläum der bayerischen Verfassung" by collectors, was instituted by Bavarian king Ludwig III on Mai 26, 1918 on occasion of the centenary of the constitution's proclamation. It was awarded to the "Reichsräte der Krone Bayerns" and to the members of the Landtag, which roughly correspondend to Britain's "House of Lords" and "House of Commons" bicameral system. The Munich mint struck a total of 272 crosses in silver, of which 250 were awarded. The shown cross, however, looks rather like a 1980s counterfeit, and none of the rarely seen authentic ones. Beware! See also Werner Bergmann: 26. Mai 1918 – Ludwig III. von Bayern stiftet das König Ludwig-Kreuz in Silber am Jubiläumsband. In: Orden-Militaria-Magazin Nr. 55 (August 1993). p. 14–17.

As I'm not sure from the pictures: is it made from bronze, or from a zinc alloy?

From the mounting traces, the Zähringer Lion order was one with oaks, almost certainly a knight's cross 2nd class with oak leaves and swords. This could certainly help to narrow it down further... I really don't get why anyone would do this, but everyone's entitled to their opinion. Replacing missing awards, of course, is something totally else...

Glad you like it! Here's another one I sold last week, unfortunately of lower quality and only made from silvered bronze(?). But: this is a 2nd class medal, with the enameled red cross!

Seems so, yes. The Prussian Königlicher Kronenorden is confirmed by Geile for early 1918. I can also add a Baden Zähringer Löwe knight's cross 1st class with oak leaves and swords, awarded May 25, 1915 according to Roth... but is that all?! See Erhard Roth: Verleihungen von militärischen Orden und Ehrenzeichen des Großherzogtums Baden im Ersten Weltkrieg 1914–1918 (= Band 5 der Reihe „Statistische Ausarbeitungen zur Phaleristik Deutschlands“), Offenbach 1997, p. 39.

I agree this might be an old, possible foreign made wearer's copy. From the pictures, I would probably not address it as gold, because it lacks some detail I would expect from a higher quality piece, and also the centers look like maybe gilt bronze, which would be most unusual for an order made from gold - while vice versa is relatively common. We already had a similar discussion here, by the way...

Truly beautiful, and hardly ever seen! A few years ago, I had one of similar size in a two awards ensemble, but despite being a 3rd class medal as well (no enamels!), it was made from silver ("900"). Everything's possible, it seems!

I'm sorry to say so, but due to all the core swapping and so on among the official makers of Great War era award type crosses, this will not necessarily lead to any conclusion. However, the mark doesn't read as "Fr." to me, to be honest. But a nice cross still remains a nice cross, nonetheless!

The Iron Cross 2nd class is worn on a black and white or white and black ribbon on the left chest or in the uniform's buttonhole, while the 1st class is a pinback award, worn on the lower part of the same chest. From the general appearance, and also from the uniform, the picture clearly dates to the WW1 era (or closely after), which excludes an 1870 issue. He's simply too young for that, and also, would probably wear some additional awards he received in the decades between. It's all very easy, once you know... As a medals guy, I cannot tell you much about the uniform, but there are other GMIC subforums that might suit that part of your question better. Maybe you'd want to try there, if you didn't already!

Yes, this is an authentic cross, and a not too common one as well: inter-war period private purchase piece, made by the C. F. Zimmermann company from Pforzheim. You could search for either "Zimmermann" or "CFZ" to find some threads with reference pieces...

Have to agree with bolewts58, this is certainly no "CD" cross! However, I still cannot read the mark...

Wouldn't do it! I try to never change anything, even if something appears to be "wrong".

That's the infamous "ninth bead fake"! These come with a ton of different markings and this one, admittedly, is the first one I see that claims to be a Gebr. Friedländer piece. But nevermind, easiest thing to spot is the well known fake die-struck(!) and painted core. Please see here for a great reference article that was published more than thirteen(!) years ago by one of our members...

S e i n e K ö n i g l i c h e H o h e i t d e r G r o ß h e r z o g haben sich unter dem 17. August d. J. (i. e. 1909) gnädigst bewogen gefunden (...) zu verleihen (...) vom Orden vom Zähringer Löwen (...) das Kommandeurkreuz I. Klasse (...) dem Königlich Bayerischen Generalmajor und Militärbevollmächtigten Freiherrn v o n G e b s a t t e l. (from: Staats-Anzeiger 1909, p. 379/380).

Thanks for your confirmation, Dave! I'm glad to see Daniel's list is still good to work with! And sometimes even on a medal bar, like this one, auctioned by eMedals just yesterday...

I saw (but didn't buy) them, and was really, r e a l l y surprised to finally see good ones on ebay again! Frankly, I'm not too much into aviation badges, but it must have been years with many fakes and fakes only on ebay. Congratulations to the buyer(s)! A great opportunity to grab these, for sure!

Unfortunately not, there's no clear pattern: It's each two or three from Grenadier-Regiment „Königin Olga“ (1. Württembergisches) Nr. 119, Dragoner-Regiment „König“ (2. württembergisches) Nr. 26 and the Schloßgarde-Kompanie. All six silver medals were awarded the same day in January 1912, so they were certainly connected to some visit from or in Mecklenburg-Schwerin. I had a closer look, but none of these men come up as apparent suspects: Most had either many other awards, or no (known) additional foreign ones at all...

Glad to hear you like it here, and want to get more involved! By the way, you're certainly not the only New Zealand collector of Iron Crosses or German states' awards in general... there are definitively some more! Yes, definitely from the inter-war period, or possible from early WW2 days. Regarding WW1 production: all officially awarded crosses were multi-piece constructions with an iron core in a real silver frame that was usually not silver marked. Everything else, like non-iron cores or silvered frames, and especially one-piece crosses, are not officially awarded, and are often later produced pieces. Veterans' demand was high, as you can imagine! I actually read very carefully, but given English is not my first language, and I'm far from fluent, I might have missed some slight nuances. Glad though we talked it over!

I agree the central ribbon fits the Verdienstmedaille of the Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin best, but it could represent either a medal in silver or one in bronze. Uwe Bretzendorfer, in his 1997 "Annahme genehmigt! Nachweis der Verleihung nichtwürttembergischer Orden/Ehrenzeichen an württembergische Militärs 1870 - 1914" (p. 64-68) lists only seven(!) EM and NCOs from Württemberg that received such a medal... however, there were possibly some more that remained unpublished. The Schwarzburg ribbon could very well just represent their common Silberne Ehrenmedaille für Verdienst im Kriege. Some thirty of these are known to have been awarded to soldiers from Württemberg, according to Daniel Krause's 2008 "Verleihungen von nicht- württembergischen Auszeichnungen an Angehörige der Königlich Württembergischen Armee im Ersten Weltkrieg 1914 - 1918", whereas no 4th class cross is mentioned. Again, unpublished awards are possible here as well, of course. However, it's not too unusual to find swords on a war merit or bravery medal's ribbon... I'd certainly go with the Schwarzburg medal!