Stogieman

And the reverse:

Sooooo, need a type 2?

And the reverse:

Go figure... need a second class? Why he has that one too!

Reverse of the type 1

I thought you guys & gals might enjoy a peek at some pretty nasty Soviet Orders. ;>)

Hi Ralph. It looks and feels period. I thought the Merit Medals came in cyphered cases. let me see if I can confirm that combing the archives.

Again! What have you from this smaller state? Show us what you have! Another little Duchy that it's pretty hard to find pieces from! Got Schwarzburg?

I invite the members to post up any Orders, decorations, medals, ribbon bars, medal bars or what have you from Waldeck! One of the smaller Duchies that we don't seem to talk about much. Got Waldeck?

Hi Jerry. Impressive racks of crosses. Especially the Imperial tray!

Hi Eric. Beautiful early examples. very nice!

Hi Jan. I cannot help with the ID, but that is surely a very, very beautiful and unusual cross!

Hi Ralph! Can we see a photo of the lid please? That is a very nice, but non-typical case for this medal!!

And therein lies part of the problem. It is extremely well done. And the eagles come very, very close to Wagner. Closer to Friedlander. If it was marked "FR 938" I'd really be wondering. Now. There is some debate as to whether there were subtle changes to the Wagner pieces post 1920.. But I'm not part of that study, nor part of the debate. The only ones of these that I would trust were sold by trusted folks at prices I couldn't touch. Which is why selling these on eBay in the under 5K range has such a following. Everybody wants "a deal" ;>)

Hi David, yes. There are known Godet 1914 EK1's with "side hooks". They've even been seen with the "luxury" case to accomadate the hooks! I think Detlev Niemann sold one last year, or the year before. I've seen 3 that I recall, only one with the case. But all were marked "Godet-Berlin"

Here's one of the more unusual pieces our friend in Ulanbataar has for sale. ~$100 and counting. have not seen another of these yet. http://cgi.ebay.com/THE-BADGE-OF-DISTINCTI...1QQcmdZViewItem

Good question. That cross screams "Godet" even without the stamp on the needle!

It's exceptionally well done but Wagner eagle heads are different.

And the reverse.

Hi Marshall, lets try this:

Well, Anhalt is pretty hard to find. here's one with a "more Prussian" precedence that I have in my January Medal Bar Sale. The single FFK2 is pretty darn nice as well and quite unusual!

Hi Micha, one thing for sure. I have yet to see any variation of a KMST Cross that did not scream "quality"..... very nice variation!

PS for Joe. Still love seeing all three of the Hanseatic crosses together. It's not the easiest thing to do!

Yeah, I take a pretty narrow view. To me, the biggest comparison would have to be that the award was in two classes and available to enlisted/officer alike; without regard to rank. This was a departure for Prussia. Much of their hierarchy of awards was rigid and if you were not an officer, you did not get to play. Saxony would come pretty close with the established Military Order of Saint Henry. There being both an Officer (RK) and Enlisted (Medals-Gold & Silver)... but even there, an enlisted could not get the RK, so I discount it.

I wonder who stripped off his awards and where they went after that? Was it common to strip all rank/badges/medals from the detained/executed. The slaughter here is rather compelling.