redeagleorder

Thank you Wild Card for the source of the information - much appreciated! In 2013 Dave Danner had confirmed to me on this forum that a list of recipients of the Anna-Luisen Verdienstzeichen for each of the two Schwarzburg states exists in the archives. Maybe someday after this COVID matter is over... Regards

Lovely bars. Offhand I'd say the first one is to a Bavarian, judging by the placement of the MVO4X ahead of the EK. Must have enlisted just before the war (no 1911 Luitpold Jubilee Medal) and was commissioned into the officer ranks just before the war's end, thus having accrued enough service time for the long service medal (war years counted double). Regarding the second bar, it seems slightly odd that the bar itself has a crown and swords device on it, but the MVK2X itself has no crown; possible switched at some point in the past? Also strange of two Bavarian long service awards, particularly when the 24-year one comes behind the 9-year one. Construction from the front however looks good. Is the Luitpold Medal the 1905 or 1911 version?

Beautiful example of a rare award Wild Card. I would be very interested in discovering where the figure of 16 awarded to women comes from? As I recall, the award figures for this decoration are a subject of some debate, ranging from double digits to the low hundreds. Has a medal roll been discovered and/or published? The reason for my interest is that I own a medal bar - shown here - with this Oldenburg decoration alongside the Schwarzburg Anna-Luisen Verdienstzeichen, the latter being bestowed solely upon women. I have always held out a faint hope that such a unique combination of rare awards may one day prove identifiable to the original recipient. Kind regards PS: Incidentally, my example is also hallmarked on the back with what looks to be a 950, although I do not have it in hand to check. Examples without hallmarks are also seen - apparently production varied between bronze gilt and silver gilt.

An award I have been after for a considerable period of the time; Sachsen Meiningen's Kreuz für Verdienste in Kriege on the non-combatant ribbon. As per Rick Lundstrom and Daniel Krause's rolls, there were between 650-680 such awards. This completes my Sachsen-Meiningen trilogy of non-combatant awards, taking its place alongside the Medaille für Verdienste in Kriege on non-combatant ribbon (shown previously in this thread) and the Kreuz für Verdienst von Frauen und Jungfrauen on ladies bow. Another recent acquisition - a three-place medal bar with campaign awards in steel for the war of 1870 and, more notably, the Second Schleswig War. Still looking for the non-combatant campaign awards for 1848 and 1866. Finally, a nice little bar also with the non-combatant campaign medal in steel for 1870, but on the combatant ribbon. (ironically for stay-at-homes, never understood the logic behind that one!).

Indeed Vince - although very similar to the ribbon meant for the "Kriegserinnerungszeichen des Bayerischen Landesvereins vom Roten Kreuz", the silver stripes on this examples are narrower and more reminiscent of the Bulgarian ribbon. It would not surprise me if Bulgarian ribbon was more readily available during the early Weimar period than the award's intended ribbon. The medal itself is tied down with black ribbon in the exact same manner as the other two. Another medal bar to recently come my way; the Wilhelmskreuz is the version with the blank reverse rather than the type with the 'kriegsverdienst' inscription. Can anyone highlight the exact reasons as to why a blank-reverse version was issued?

Not rare awards by any stretch of the imagination, but love the condition of this. The Koenig Ludwig Kreuz in particular is jet-black in contrast to the later awards that have a greenish tinge.

Looks like the Hohenzollern ribbon is the full-size version folded on itself over the middle black stripe?

Lovely bar christerd - still on the lookout for something similar for my collection. Have a similar bar inbound from Germany right now, but with the Baden equivalent mounted.

Can anyone shed some light on why this bar has an officer's peacetime Saxe-Ernestine Order but only an enlisted man's SCG War Medal for WW1?

Perhaps the obituary is referring to the Kriegsverdienstkreuz awarded by the state of Lippe-Detmold, which was gold in colour and mostly awarded for combat. More information at https://www.ehrenzeichen-orden.de/deutsche-staaten/kriegsverdienstkreuz-1914.html Regards, Matthew

It's fine as it is - plenty of German soldiers served in the Great War and received no recognition for it. He could have been a recalled veteran or even a long-serving soldier who chose to retain the old brooch style of long service award. I have never understood this argument that any Cross of Honour with swords on a medal bar with no other WW1 awards should be called into question - there are innumerable examples of genuine medal bars like this. I myself used to have a two-place medal bar with a Bronze China and Cross of Honour with swords - perfectly original. Plus, the mounting style, while indeed hook-back, is not in the common pre-WW1 - if anything the ribbon furlings make it look Bavarian, as jeffskea noted.

Impossible - a Baden Verdienstmedaille would only have been awarded to other ranks. RAO3's would have been awarded to relatively senior officer ranks.

Dear Laurentius, I am aware that it would have been possible to qualify for the 25 year service cross without the Centenary Medal in the fashion you have described, and that not all German soldiers qualified for war medals. However, in the case of an officer, with a considerable length of pre-war service, no war decorations over four years would have been somewhat unusual. Nonetheless, although without pictures it is impossible to confirm, I would have little doubt in the item being original (if nothing else, fakers surely have better things to do than fake single mounts for relatively common medals). He could indeed have drawn the short straw and missed out on any other awards in his career, or perhaps he was a career sergeant who was bumped up to officer rank in the waning days of the war. Dear rabadeux, Could you clarify your use of the term 'pinback'? Are you referring to the needle arrangement on the back of the single mount or something attached to the medal itself? If the latter, it cannot be the same medal you describe, unless it has been heavily altered.

With a 25 year service award I would expect at least a Centenary Medal to go with it.