saschaw

Your medal, Tommy, seems fine to me. Probably not an awarded one, but a (more or less) contemporary wearers' copy. It looks die-struck and of proper coining quality... much different than all those modern fakes flooding ebay and flea markets...

On 13/04/2023 at 06:06, GMU said:

This is mine….

This, however, looks a bit odd, to be honest, but it's probably the pictures... is it bronze, steel, or silver?!

It's quite unsettling how difficult it became to judge such relatively common and not extremely expensive awards from mediocre pictures only! The Alsen cross, I'm sure, is a modern fake as to be found on ebay. I'm not sure regarding the two Düppel onslaught crosses, which means they could or could not be real... sigh!

Still in my collection and still one of my favorite portraits, so I did some additional research. This must be Dr. Artur Baumstark, who received Baden's Friedrich-Luisen-Medaille as praktischer Arzt on June 11, 1909... right?

On 22/08/2009 at 18:09, Rick Research said:

(...) added PrRKM3 to his PrLD1 between May 1913 and May 1914 Rank Lists.

Rick was right, of course. Dr. Baumstark's RKM3 Erlaubnis zur Annahme und zum Tragen dates to the first quarter of 1914. Here, he's listed more precisely as a praktischer Arzt in Karlsruhe-Mühlburg - and yes, that's the neighborhood I spent my early childhood in!

It seems noteworthy Baden's Staatsanzeiger für das Großherzogtum Baden, 1914 issue, did not accomplish to combine information on the pre-war civil doctor with the war-time Stabsarzt der Landwehr. He's listed as if he were two different persons!

A lousy job, but luckily, we can fix such 100+-year-old errors today... !

I wonder if his medal bar, the one worn in the picture or an "updated" one, still exists... someone, maybe?

On 03/01/2022 at 01:28, schwarzwald666 said:

Over the next few days I will show you an estate of a holder of both awards!

We're still waiting eagerly to see that group, schwarzwald666. Will you do us this favor?

On 03/01/2022 at 20:32, Dave Danner said:

It's also interesting that he (Emil Haas) got the BsM without previously having the BsV. That could happen (...) but I've not seen it with Badeners before.

This oddity was a common practice though, judging from Zelosko's volume III, the "Great War" citations. Browsing through it, I can find quite some soldiers that received an initial BsM, like Willi Aberle, Friedrich Deschner, Ferdinand Harder, Leo Triebskorn, Wilhelm Unfall, Eugen Ad. Winterhalter and Philipp Würthwein... because they already held both classes of the Iron Cross!

Well, you don't see actual mistakes in the Ranglisten too often... I should have included my source, the Staats-Anzeiger für das Großherzogtum Baden, 1915 issue, p. 478, right from the start:

20 hours ago, Deutschritter said:

Baden Order of the Zähringer Lion (Orden vom Zähringer Löwen), Knight's Cross I. Class (BZ3a) on 2 September 1915

According to my sources, this was, as one might assume, one "mit Schwertern/with swords", making it a BZ3a⚔.

My best guess: you simply forgot to mention these, given we're talking about a "Great War" award...

On 28/07/2022 at 11:48, 1812 Overture said:

Regarding the "War Welfare Medal" of the Grand Duchy of Hesse, I found through the pictures that sometimes its ribbon color is red, sometimes it is pink, so which color is the correct color?

I'm "a bit" late here, sorry! I have seen both ribbons and guess both are correct. Maybe just variations... here's one I sold a few years ago, with a lovely bow-mounted ribbon for a lady:

Certainly an old piece, but my guess would be a wearers' copy ("Zweitstück"), due to some minor differences to the official type medals. Most prominent the standard cross above the crown, without the "rays".

On 24/12/2013 at 22:52, redeagleorder said:

Judging by the colour, this could be the rarer version (...)

It wasn't until 1908 that gilt medals came into use. Prior to that, all of these were silver! The Stabswache awards came with another ribbon, that of the Hohenzollern house order, but were otherwise the same.

On 04/06/2005 at 00:54, Mike Dunn said:

Letter to the lady

Actually, the older letter and envelope are not for the lady but for her husband! This is a certificate of appointment for Rudolf Pfeiffer from Heidelberg, naming him a court music trader... no awards to him are known, though.

On 22/10/2013 at 16:38, Streptile said:

The core is the typical KMST type. I wonder if that could be a clue?

So do I... because I have a surprisingly similar cross! Any new knowledge or ideas, within the past almost ten(!) years, maybe? It's an unusual cross, that's for sure!

Have you, within the past few months, found what you were looking for? Henning Volle's 2019 book on awards of  Baden has a brief company history, because C. F. Zimmermann was located in this specific state, and because they were a main supplier for Baden's awards. I certainly could email you this bit...

On 11/02/2023 at 09:45, Peter Cornwell said:

But can anyone confirm that they actually produced EKIs ? I'm uncertain.

I cannot find them mentioned as official EK2 makers in mid-1916, and they certainly were no early suppliers of 1st class crosses, because all these came from five Berlin jewelers until the end of 1916. They were a supposed maker of 1930s private purchase crosses, but then, these look completely different...

7 hours ago, VtwinVince said:

Nice one Komtur, I'm assuming this one has a name?

This is Vizeadmiral a. D. Hugo Louran's (1865-1931), as shown before here and here.

On 26/09/2022 at 17:14, Marcus66 said:

This ribbon is for the Baden field service decorations 1814-1871.

It seems to me, Marcus, you are referring to the ribbon with medal Streptile posted, but his question actually referred to another picture, ribbon with no medal, but that picture has been lost within the years...

On 07/10/2022 at 15:08, Droocoo said:

It is marked as a Godet should be, with a * to the second baseplate.

I'm not sure what this is based on, but I don't buy into it. For me this cross is a textbook C. F. Zimmermann, with totally no relation to J. Godet & Sohn. Their WW1 era EKs I know look completely different, and were made from (presumably) own workshop dies...

8 hours ago, Rusty Greaves said:

Wasn't the Japanese Order of the Sacred Treasure ribbon white (...) ?

No, that Japanese ribbon was never white. It was, from the sources I have access to, a very light blue until the 2003 changes. I have seen similar pale ribbons in German groups before. Wouldn't it also be quite unusual for an Austro-Hungarian officer or official to wear a Prussian order in last place, after something from an African state?! Maybe 03fahnen could have another closer look at this specific ribbon... thanks!

6 hours ago, Dave Danner said:

(...) Maybe it's the second row of a two-row ribbon bar.

Great point! A handful of Austro-Hungarian "bravery" ribbons, plus maybe a Prussian Iron Cross and/or an Austrian Order of the Iron Crown would certainly add well to this group! Unfortunately, I have no sources or experience in identifying Austro-Hungarian officers - if this was German, even an attribution might well be possible!

It sickens my heart to say so, David, but you did really bad here - I'm sorry for being that blunt! This is neither an original award nor, as someone might have thought, some inter-war wearers' copy. Please see here for additional information on these 1980s or 1990s so called "museum copies" by Göde.

This is a very common, possibly the most common type of the MVK to appear on the market. It is my firm opinion those are, despite they're often offered as such, absolutely no old wearers' copies, but 1980s(?) so called museum copies by Göde (that's not(!) Godet), a German firm similar to The Franklin Mint. So, more or less, this is teleshopping stuff!

On German ebay, they are sometimes even to be found with their original "certificates", like this one: https://www.ebay.de/itm/195554029141

If I'm not mistaken, the purple ribbon on #6 could be as well (or, more likely) a Belgian Order of Leopold.

That being said, the last one, #8, looks a bit blue-ish, which would make it a Japanese Order of the Sacred Treasure ("Zuihōshō") instead of mentioned Prussian award!

A most unusual combination for sure!

On 19/09/2022 at 23:08, Droocoo said:

I have been informed that the A is an assembler’s mark

I agree this "A" is not an actual maker's signature. This would rather be a cross made by one of the Berlin jewelers that were involved as official suppliers of award type crosses, but there's no way to know...

Neither can I see anything, but want to guess anyway: a fashion statement, most likely?

A short reminder: it's just one week until Gunzenhausen show!

As has been pointed out, this is one of the common manipulated pieces. For the only authentic peace time 3rd class cross I am aware of so far, albeit with crown, see here. Not one more showed up ever, from what I know...

On 02/09/2022 at 19:53, spolei said:

The third class without swords was awarded 18 times, very, very rare.

Just curious, Andreas, where are those numbers from? I work with those published by Bernd Döbel on SDA forum, and there's just one(!) single peace time 3rd class cross, plus 24 more without swords on the war merit ribbon. Did I miss something?

The countdown has started! Just one month from now! Here's some details:

https://www.bhma-sammlermessen.de/

On 29/07/2009 at 07:09, Moltke said:

I think he was a doctor

My best guesses would rather be an industrialist, or a businessman, or a financier, and possibly a philanthropist as well. I have no idea where this terrific group is today, but I am curious: has it been researched and attributed these past thirteen years?! This might well be possible... ?!