filfoster

I just noticed that the mounting of these medals is in the 'Prussian' style, not the later British Court mounting style. Am I correct?

That is what I had thought until recently, a knowledgeable person expressed this belief. I will survey the early medal bars to see if there are any obvious officer bars there, for example, having a higher grade of the Red Eagle or Crown order or something like that. Well, this is interesting, and perhaps deserving of our time to explore. I just surveyed the medal bars in the thread listed for 1870 and older bars in the mega medal bar section and could not find a single one mounted that way that was clearly for an officer. There were at least two that had a Red Eagle 4th class, without any additional embellishments, eg crowns or swords, which would be rare enough for an enlisted man, but not a single one, mounted that way, that included any higher order gong. So.... I invite anyone to show here examples of officer medal bars of the period 1870's and before, mounting detachable medals.

I apologize for asking this, if it's commonly known (but not by me!): Is it the case that Imperial German medal bars with detachable medals were only worn by enlisted men, not officers?

I apologize for asking this, if it's commonly known (but not by me!): Is it the case that medal bars with detachable medals were only worn by enlisted men, not officers?

Thank you. I have the infantry volumes, but not this set. I will have to invest!

That would seem to settle it, then. Is there a good reference book for this?

GreyC: Thank you for this information. Do you know why he wore shoulder cords with white underlay, instead of the light yellow?

No one knows? He supposedly held a reserve officer (major) commission in something called the 1st Reserve Heavy Cavalry Regiment or 1st Heavy Reserve Reiter Regiment that is supposed to have worn uniforms similar to the 7th Kurisassier Regiment. It may be the authors had this wrong and he was rather, a reserve officer in the 7th Magdeburg Kuirassier Regiment No. 7. Anyone know anything about this? King William gave him a promotion to Generalmajor I guess because of his civil rank.

OK, why do the shoulder boards on Bismarck's cuirassier uberrock look white? Photographs at this time caused the light yellow to look very dark so the yellow collar and piping is dark. Is white the Korps color, not regimental color, that would have been worn for the shoulder cords underlay? I thought that applied only to infantry and artillery. Is white some special color denoting his civil rank or alasuite status? ....and yes, I've seen the museum photo. The boards look not original to the coat: see how they overhang the shoulders?

OK, so now it's: 1. Order of the Bath 2. Order of the Star of India 3. Order of St George and St. Michael 4. Victorian Order 5. Order of the Indian Empire 6. Order of St. Vladimir 7. Order of Dannebrog (silver merit cross) 8. Order of the Redeemer 9. Prussian Order of the Crown 3rd Class 10. Austrian 'Marianerkreuz' 11. Hessian Order of Philip the Magnanimous 12. Saxe-Ernestine House Order 13. 2nd Empire Medaille Militaire 14. French Red Cross 1870-1871

That looks more like a 3rd class in the photo.

Is his Prussian crown a 4th or 3rd class ?

I accept this medal as one on his medal bar pictured above. Its place on the bar, ahead of the French Red Cross decoration makes sense.

Thanks for the photos...The Prussian Crown 3rd with the Red Cross will be a tough one to find as a replica copy, let alone an original.

Do you have a photo or illustration of that decoration? I know what the 'ordinary' Crown order 4th looks like...

Using Great Dane's conjecture, it's: 1. Order of the Bath 2. Order of the Star of India 3. Order of St George and St. Michael 4. Victorian Order 5. Order of the Indian Empire 6. Order of St. Vladimir 7. Order of Dannebrog (silver merit cross) 8. Order of the Redeemer 9. ? 10. Austrian 'Marianerkreuz' 11. Hessian Order of Philip the Magnanimous 12. Saxe-Ernestine House Order 13. 2nd Empire Medaille Militaire 14. French Red Cross 1870-1871 So...the trick is #9 Are the points on the cross arms 'beveled', not sharp? That would narrow it down.

The appeal of this, to me, is that Edward VII, arguably reigned at the apogee of England's imperial/colonial glory, the brilliant sunset, before two world wars literally bled England and her empire dry and bankrupted it. He was a world-class womanizer and gourmand, indulging his desires with the wherewithal of the most prestigious temporal throne on the planet, (sorry, Romanovs and Hohenzollerns). His ceremonial uniforms were not much different than his successors, but somehow capture some of that romance of the high tide of the British Empire. Now, if we could only figure out just what he's wearing on that medal bar.....

All but one (my second post) show him as King. He visited Russia in 1908 and that is likely the place the above photo of him wearing Russian uniform was taken. I hope we can fill in the places of the longer medal bar.

Sadly, no. This was the result of a fairly long Google search. Many images, few clear shots of this medal (a late example, I believe after he was king), and not very clear resolution. Maybe someone with better search skills can provide one?

I would like to focus on identifying the medals in this medal bar. I aim to reproduce it for a display. Here's what we have guessed at so far: 1. Order of the Bath 2. Order of the Star of India 3. Order of St George and St. Michael 4. ? 5. Order of the Indian Empire 6. Order of the Dannebrog silver knight's badge 7. ? 8. ? 9. Austrian 'Marianerkreuz' 10.? 11. Order of the Redeemer? 12. 2nd Empire Medaille Militaire? 13. French Red Cross 1870-1871

Jimn: I agree the medal bust looks very like the Victoria 50-60 year Jubilee medals but the precedence and the ribbon don't look right. Still, the medal does look like that gong

I agree that medal is the Medaille Militaire; the eagle surmounting, and the rim give it away. The first place medal in the Russian uniform pic is a real puzzler. I am not familiar with the 4th class Prussian Crown Order with the Red Cross device.

OK, the later photo has what I think is a 13=place medal bar: 1. Order of the Bath 2. Order of the Star of India 3. Order of St George and St. Michael 4. ? 5. Order of the Indian Empire 6. Order of the Dannebrog silver knight's badge 7. ? 8. ? 9. Austrian 'Marianerkreuz' 10.? 11. ? 12. ? 13. French Red Cross 1870-1871

Daniel Krause, thank you. I wish we could find a clearer photo of the longer, later medal bar and we could then begin to number the places of the ones we can identify. I will try to find one, and maybe someone else can also find one. I also see the Austrian Ribbon for the Marianer Kreuz, maybe 5th from the end. Any better?

The Dannebrog would make sense as his wife was a Danish princess. t was common for German officers to wear lesser awards on the bar for German orders, just not the same grade, as for example, the Iron Cross 2nd class was not to be worn on the medal bar and also as a button hole ribbon. Hindenburg was very proud of his Red Eagle Order 4th class with swords, won during his service in the Franco-Prussian War, and worn on his medal bar but he held the very highest grade of that order. Ludenforff also wore the Red Eagle 3rd class with crown on his medal bar but held the Grand Cross with swords and Oakleaves and is often shown at least in post-war photos, wearing the breast star with his medal bar.