Claudius

A real stunner! I applaud your success. Five different states. I really like the double Oldenburg PFL Order awarding. A great looking Order in my opinion. Obviously the one without swords for service before WWI as well as his Crown order. It’s in great shape. I think his medal bar tailor would be pleased with how well it has held up over these last 80 years. I really like the green backing and tailor label.

I have the medal bar for Vice-Steuermann Paul Kutzner that has an Order of the Medjidje on it. It's a post 1934 bar because there is a HK. He earned it during WWI when he was on the UC-20 operating in the Mediterranean Sea and later joined a North African machinegun unit (but this is just part of a very long known story about him).

St. Stanislaus Order. If it is genuine, its value would be over $1,200. Can you show the reverse? And some close ups. Are there any hallmarks?

a wonderful example of a rare badge. So rare that if I see one for sale, I immediately assume it's fake and examine it closely to establish its veracity.

Great Bar Andreas! Congrats on getting it. I really like these medal bars and groups that have a China connection (as you know ) A wonderful bar with a rare and interesting medal. Is there anything more to learn about this Berlin delegation? Are there any personal accounts or stories?

Great medal and documents to a brave Italian WWI pilot! The numbered cross and the research is wonderful. Thanks for showing it and for the account of his valorous flight.

Beautiful awards Saxcob. Thanks for showing them!

Great looking bar! Nice awards and when you add back the HPFL 2K m/Crown it will return it to its former glory. Sorry I can't help you with a replacement House order. The one I have is with swords. This could be an example of the old question; whether to restore or not. In this case, I'm all in favor of adding the missing award to the bar. Usually seamstress skills are involved in sewing on a missing award. In this situation, it may take a jeweler to cleanly return the Order to the crown. Good hunting on getting the missing award and with the identification of the gent.

Megan, I bow in obeisance to your warning. The poverty of my manners is a frequent cause for my etiquette missteps. I was referring to the tragedy-that-must-not-be-named because I was trying to draw out the nucleus of the objections to this thread’s initial posts on a Russian Federation Order and photos of its recent awarding.

I agree with Megan. But I will go further and say that I didn't read anything that would warrant Nick's censure. I had to read the thread a second time through, and what I noticed was the newly designed medal and photos of the award ceremony. An award ceremony “For the successful execution of command assignments and for displaying of courage and heroism”. No specifics. I wouldn’t want to read that the award was presented for downing of an unarmed, non-belligerent aircraft. But I didn’t read that. Nick didn’t say anything about the specifics for the awarding. Am I to infer that the award was made for that incident? Is this unit claiming it and accepting the award for successful completion? That would be tantamount to admitting guilt. What military unit could be proud of that?

Thank you Nick again, for informing me on these subtle and interest details regarding this medal. What an interesting medal bar this must be!

An outstanding Dresser and still just as useful as was 100 years ago. Wonderful. If only the original owner could see it now. I'm sure he would ask why there are all these German uniforms in it!

BTW: That is a great looking bar. I hope it still exists somewhere and its owner knows the identity.

Great photo!!! Too bad those Steuermann patches didn't come with the photo.

How did he test for silver? Pin scratch and using acid?!

missing a Kaiserreich Abzeichen für Militär-Flugzeugführer.

Looks great!

That's really cool. The only thing the previous owner of my old house found in the rafters were some dirty magazines from an earlier owner....when I purchased the home they were not available for my evaluation.

I don't know if everyone saw these so I thought I would post the link. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/history/world-war-one/10925556/In-pictures-Never-before-seen-photographs-from-World-War-One-frontline.html

Hello Karakas7; The main problem is the high caliber of this award. The value is presumably what the last 2nd Class St. Anne, black enamels with swords from an uncommon manufacturer sold for. I'm sure there are recent precedences, but you may need to look at previous auctions going back maybe 15 years. Previous auction catalogues and realized prices are available for sale. The next concern over auction results is that they could be artificially high (due to the market euphoria at that time) or lower because the value to these specific collectors has increased over time. Now, is your Black Anne worth $5,000 or $15,000 or $50,000. I could guess, but only by looking at the recent auction results and compensating for both inflationary bidding and the ordinary increase in value of high-end pieces. Some here on GMIC may have those figures in the back of their minds, but I can't recall any right now. In lieu of this research and analysis, you may have to decide if you want to find someone here who is willing to pay a fixed price that you set for it, or send it to an auction house that regularly offers high end Russian awards to get a "market" price for it (less commission).

This is a terrific outcome to Christer’s hard work. There would have been no identifying this medal bar without Christer’s list and his perseverance in checking each possible combination. Antti Ruokonen informed me of the situation with the Romanian award lists and it was clear that there would be no Order of Culture list to cross-check. Christer, my words of thanks fall short of expressing my gratitude to your efforts. Thank you for your work in giving back a name to medal bar that had lost its owner. I would really like to learn about Dr. Paul Emmanuel Karl Martin, WWI and post war service if there is anyone who has additional information.

I'll play chess with you for the medal you keep the ribbon. That's nice to find a matching ribbon and this one would really look good on the medal. IMO I prefer my medals to have ribbons on them. Original if possible, but repros if necessary.

Thank you Dan. Great information. I just assumed it was because he had a Schnalle. I was paying attention to the old-style bar wrap on a medal bar made after 1934. I have seen only a few other examples and gave me cause to pause before buying. I hope it's a good bar. If not, and this is a put-together bar, I would hate to cut it apart.

That would be great. It has a connection to another medal bar of mine and your discovery will add to my narrative on the subject.

I like the portrait photo with his hat in a jaunty pose.