Graf

This is a good site for ribbons

http://www.ribbonsshop.com/

 From my German collection apart of few rare 1941 EKs listed in other forums,

this Grouping to a Bulgarian General

https://genwiki.genealogy.net/Alfred_Dieterich_(*1862)

Hi Chuck This bar looks like belonged  to  someone with at least Colonel Rank

All those decorations had been awarded as the person advance in the ranks.

Also on the topic

The Order for Military Merit during war time was awarded also with additional War decoration with  war time ribbon

However,   the 6th Class  was never awarded with war decoration  -only with war time ribbon

Here is a bar with 5th Class with war decoration

Interestingly the high Classes from Commander(3rd Class) to Grand Cross with War Decoration did not have War time ribbon, They were awarded on Standard ribbon

Grand officer -2nd Class with War decoration

55 minutes ago, graham said:

It is a Bulgarian 6th class Order of Military Merit. The 5th class has a crown.

The First part is correct.  However the 5th and 6th Classes of the Order for Military merit were awarded with and without crowns.

The crosses with crowns are awarded after one without crown was given already.

This particular cross is King Ferdinand Issues.

The crosses from 6th to 4th class during war time were awarded with ribbon of the Military Order for Bravery -like the one on the bar posted by scottplen

Here are some bars

- with Military Order for Bravery - Soldier Cross given to NCOs

- Order for Military Merit  5th Class with out crown with standard ribbon

-Order for Military Merit  5ht Class without crown with war time ribbon, next to 4th Class of the Order for Bravery.

Also

-5th and 6th Classes with crowns

Then more thorough research need to be done to track Herr Wedemann

Why English will make post card on German POW?! I

Any way the topic is for the cross we have to try to stick to the topic.

Is it possible this Weidemann not to be one of the POW on the picture?

He then could be just a sender of this card  but not one of the POW on the card

On 04/06/2015 at 13:49, The Prussian said:

The reverse is english....

Is there a list with german POW Officers in England?

One of them is called Wiedemann.

He wrote: In dankbarer Erinnerung an die Wasserfahrt, Ihr Wiedemann

In grateful memories at the trip on water, yours, Wiedemann

It could be , because none of the people on the photo has belt or any other  attributes like daggers etc.

Fantasy 4th Class 1st Grade Order  1915??!!

That is the correct early type medal

There are many late re-strike of this type  with typical after 1951 l 2nd type  features but with French text only

An Original Gold G Dimitrov Usually the mark is on the  side of  the loop on top of the Order

All Gold G Dimitrov Orders were made with hollow construction to reduce the amount of Gold used.

The wearer copies have solid construction No holes on the back Usually they have the "R" mark and are made of gilded base metal Here are picture of both Gold and wearer copy Both are considered to be original.

Still the quality of the wearer is not as 100% as the Gold samples

I am not sure how the damage on the frond of the replica has happened  I do not think that this is a testing mark

Then sounds that the Seller knew something and got scared when you started asking questions.

Personally i never hold unmarked Star.  Your experience leads me to believe that those Stars like the solid unmarked  Order of Georgi Dimitrov are made from gilded basic material

It is believed that for a some period the wearer copies were made without the "R" mark

Nothing new on the Set . just came across of those nice navy uniform

https://www.dorotheum.com/de/

That is the link for the Auction House of Dorotheum in Vienna

Very good side. On their Auctions they list originals Austrian Orders and decorations and late productions made by the medal company for the collector's market Usually the originals are listed first and the late "original" productions at the end of the Austrian list. Followed by the  list of Foreign Orders and Decorations

Good Luck in the minefield of collecting

GO Stars by Heremans

Made in different periods

Yes,

That is another  good source, however it could be expensive, taking  into consideration the additional fees

Hi  saschaw,

You nailed it!  Thanks

https://richard-militaria.at/

My advice is to start by buying from a reputable Austrian Dealers. Once you hold originals you will have the feeling.

Do not start from not known sellers on eBay, although on eBay.de (Germany) there is a Reputable Austrian Dealer who has a shop. He also has a online shop out of eBay.

Nice  collection  Congrats!

This is a nice an early Commander by Wolferes

The last picture is only as reference the type of the ball and the cross seen on the early 1st type of the medals of the Royal Order of the Lion.  The Crowns are from other Belgium Order and not relevant to the topic

I had Sets of all medals including their miniatures, however sadly i had to sell them to buy something else That is the fate of the cllectors

Hi Mark McM,

The Royal Order of the Lion was established by King Leopold II on 9th of April 1891 and was discontinued  on 1st of July 1962. On 18th of October 1908 the Order become part of the Belgium system of Orders.

The 1st type with French Text only was awarded till  24th of October 1951

The medal you listed it looks Gold but aged with a loss of the gild

Many of those  1st type medals were given from the very beginning and  during WW1  and WW2 period mainly till 1951

The medal you posted, in my opinion, is a late "aged' re-strike after 1951

The crown of medals of  the early 1st type models had smooth ball on top and the cross was with well defined four arms

This cross could be made later for someone who lost their original 1st type medals.

Ribbon you can find on eBay.fr  (France)  or eBay.be (Belgium)

Those marks are only on 1870 Crosses

All opinions are regarding the MarcinL post

Yes it will be nice if you have  pictures of the front of the cross, although the picture of the reverse is convincing enough that this 1870 cross is not good or highly questionable