Stogieman

Yes, they never stop appearing, do they? This is a well-made, ca 1970's fake of the Prussian Aerial Gunner Badge. Don't buy these!

Thanks mon Ami! Now, Luftmensch.... which one matches your Zep badge?

Here's a fun quiz! How many of these can you identify??

Chris is correct. All the bars shown belonged to the same man. The double-row set was stone-cold mint and doesn't appear to have ever been worn. The other interesting thing is the "close-enough" ribbon from (???) used to represent his Centennary Medal.

A second set of bars, double row, was broken. The top row was sold with the medal bar itself, which I will post tonight with the bottom row sold off the following week.....

Still have not caught the moral............... OK, I'll make it easy, these 3 together make you say.............

Unfortunately, these were all sold as individual pieces..... perhaps this will really help you to "see the light"..

How about now? Does this clear things up??

What about this example? What "story" does this bar tell you?????????

Wow, those are interesting. I begin to really see the appeal British medals and associated pieces have............ the history expressed by these pieces and exactly how, when and where that history encompassed so much of the world can be rather humbling..... Thanks Ed!

......... but what happens when the item tells the story, or perhaps tells only part of the story? What does this ribbon bar tell you? It was recently sold by Detlev Niemann in Germany and the photos used to illustrate this thread are courtesy of him.

Hi Chet, sorry for the delay.......... I was wondering if one of these might have gone there:

Some guys actually managed to raise "pride" to an artform............... Private/custom case for one little medal..........

And, if all of this was not confusing enough................. along comes THIS little medal bar, once upon a time. Flouted regs by recipient?? Added after the fact?? We'll just never know for sure.

Yes boys & girls....... there is no Santa Claus and these are all fake, fake, fake!

Ha! Another example of (shall we say) "Artistic License"........ Regulation had the "W" to the front, preference often saw it reversed! The same situation arose with the mounting of the 1813 EK2..... regulation dictated the "smooth" face forward.... preference had it reversed... the regulation was so flagrantly ignored an addendum was eventually posted allowing the change!!

Here's an example of the NC medal in steel, on the NC ribbon

Another example, this one custom-mounted with a very "private-purchase/custom" bar

Hi Paul, yes, I know........ I was hoping another member would pop in with pix.... I don't want to "hog" all the posts! This will get us started.

1870/71 KDM for Combattant on Combattant ribbon

Ahhhhhhh, be careful.... the 1870/71 KDM can be found as:

Combattant Medal on Combattant Ribbon

Non-Combattant Medal on Combattant Ribbon

Non-Combattant Medal on Non-Combattant Ribbon!

(I actually owned an issue document that stated Nichtk?mpfer Medaille in steel on K?mpfer Band!!)

Darrell, thank you for bringing this to our attention.

Hi Chris, post-1935 the Wilhelm's Cross was relegated to after the Honor Cross in Hierarchy, as is often the case, you'll find it both ways. Last place is a W?rttemburg Long Service Decoration.

And a final close-up....... note the color of the ribbons and of the campaign medals themselves. Note the tie-downs.

Closer.......... come closer my pretty

The reverse.........

OK, back from the Germ-Infested Twin's house. Yuck........ anyway, here's some better scans. The bar popped up in the UK, was sold on eBay.de.......... with no award in first place. Wear pattern of the ribbon, etc. suggest EK2. The original seller thought "too young to fight in 1864, too young 1866, but fought 1870/71" His words, not mine. I'm thinking Medical all the way.

Now here's the really spectacular thing......... this bar is obviously a ca. 1880 bar. No Jubilee Oaks, No Centennial, No Battle Bars. When the bar arrived here, guess what? All the medals are mounted on the spring-loaded clips we would often find on WW1 and later bars. This is the earliest example of this style either of the Rickies has seen. Ribbons, mounting style, etc. are all consistent with pre-1900 officer-style mount. Typically (NOT always!!) the trapezoid Bars would be found on "Other Ranks". The campaign medals are all tied in place. the Milit?r-Ehrenzeichen, 2. Klasse is not, but the ribbon is stretched/worn in a manner that would be consistent with this huge fixed loop only. So, we're looking at an NC award of this medal for 1864, or 1866 !! This award garners an absurd value in the "books'......... it is only the second one we are aware of and hits a whopping 3.5 on the scale of rarity......

Because of the clip-in, there's no other possibility for what was missing on the bar. A PCO/RAO would simply not match the bar for mounting height.

As for the NC EK2 and C KDM for 1870/71...... I can offer no explanation without the documents, or knowing exactly who this fellow was. Probably Medical/Beamter.