Christian1962

There are no award lists, as far as I know. We have been looking for them for a longer period. But we are sure that were much more awards then known so long. G. E. Schmidt just counted awards which were published in the "Wiener Amtliche Zeitung", but most of the Red Cross awards were not published there. There are only lists of proposals that were to be assessed by a commission (members from the "Bundeskanzleramt", the Red Cross and the "Bundesministerium für Soziales") for the award of honors. Unfortunately, there is no list of which of these applications were approved. If one assumes that the majority of these applications were approved, there were a great many awards. These also affected many foreign citizens who provided humanitarian aid to Austria between 1919 and 1925. I attach one page out of the list for example. Regards Christian

You may not forget that there were some Austrian citizens who rejected the Austrian state and wanted to join Germany. It was kind of a political statement not to come in for the Austrian war medal. In addition: you had to pay 8 ATS (today about 36 €uro) for the republican medal. Some people wanted to spare this amount, others declined the republic in general. This bavarian style medal bar is an early one. It is possible that it belonged to a guy who fled Austria after the ban on the NSDAP and became a member of the Austrian Legion which was situated in Bavaria. Austrians received the Hindenburg cross only from 1939 on by official order of the local responsible police chief. This would explain why it's missing here. This is just an attempt at an explanation... Regards Christian

Just for your interest in cases. I add some pics of a "Silbernes Verdienstkreuz":

I can add some of mine: 1. Peacetime class in gold with 1914 case. 2. Wartime class in gilt bronze 3. Wartime class in gilt bronze with swords and full enemaled backside as variant. 4. Award certificate. 5. Backside from a wartime case with stamp "BR 1917" for "Bronze 1917". Regards Christian

"Manövermedaillen" were privately and not official produced over some decades of years. You will find a detailed description here: Ortner Chr., Ludwigstorff G., Austrian Orders and Decorations, Part III Vol. III/1, pg. 108 - 133 https://www.militaria.at/Book.aspx?book=4715040&Language=de https://www.militaria.at/ShowPageNew.aspx?id=637729352612015295 Kindest regards Christian

Some supplements: 1. There were no swords with the "Tiroler Landesdenkmünze". Some vets added them on own behalf. 2. The ribbon of the medal in the middle is wrong, it comes from a red cross medal. Regards Christian

New book about the Bavarian MVO: https://www.militaria.at/Book.aspx?book=53654400&Language=de I think it's a very good reference book for all who are interested in that theme. Kindest regards Christian

I am quite sure that there are no correct or complete numbers. You must not forget that a lot of orders were bestowed after 1918 until 1921 by the "Heller-Kommission". Nobody counted them ever. There were thousends and thousends. But a good first info you can look here: https://alex.onb.ac.at/cgi-content/alex?aid=shb&datum=1918&size=45&page=426 There are all members of the Austro-Hungarien chivalric orders sorted by year and Austrians and foreigners. Those who died in WW1 will not be inscripted. The last "Staatshandbuch" was published in April 1918. So you will find most of the awards until end of 1917. It´s a good overview at all. Regards Christian

Gentlemen! I can add this one with a quite scarce ladies-bow. Regards Christian

It's not a fake. There were many companies who produced this medal - esp. in WW1. Therefore there are many variants. Never heard that there would be fakes of this medal. Anyway they would be casted and not struck. This piece looks very legit anyway. Regards Christian

It appears to be a production after WW1, especially from 1938 on. They were produced for german style medal bars. You can proof it by the the small loop. Medals produced until 1918 had spherical eylets (= Kugelöse). There is a thread in this section were I have displayed the variants: It was typical for the Vieanna Mint (Hauptmünzamt) to struck "BRONZE" onto the rims. Same for the republican medals of merit. That was onging after 1952. They struck real gold bravery medals on order until the 1980ties too. Those were marked with an "A". Regards

K.k. Gendarmerie was part of the k.k. Landwehr. Therefore they received the military version of the cross. There were three types of Gendarmerie in the monarchy: 1. k.k. Gendarmerie für Cisleithanien (the Austrian part) 2. k.ung. Gendarmerie für Transleithanien (the Hungarian Part) 3. k.u.k. Gendarmerie für Bosnien und Herzegowina (which was the only "common" for both parts) But they all were part of the respective armies. This changed after 1918 when Gendarmerie became a civil organization. Gendarmerie was dissolved in 2004 and merged with federal police. Until then it was led more like a military guard. Regards Christian

@tony: I agree with the KTK and would add a "Tapferkeitsmedaille 2. Kl.". Regards Christian

Franz Kern was bestowed Orden der Eisernen Krone II. Klasse (Iron Crown II.), which was quite unusual. Regards Christian

No, there were no lower ranking exceptions. The MVK 1. Kl. was just bestowed to officers from GdI/Gdk/FZM upwards. Almost all of them were army commanders. Just GdK Archduke Joseph received it as corpscommander. GenObst Adolf Freiherr Rhemen von Barensfeld received it als military gouvernor for Serbia. You have to remember it was one of the highest ranking decorations of the k.u.k. monarchy, only below Grand Cross of the Order of Maria Theresia and the Order of St. Stephan. Regards Christian P.S.: an example for a "Kleine Dekoration"...

I can just tell you that he is a "Militärbeamter Rangklasse XI" - titled "Akzessist" which is an euqivalent to lieutenant. He is wearing the 1898 Jubilee Medal for soldiers which shows us that he was active soldier in this time. And he is wearing the 1908 Jubilee Cross for civil servants which shows us that he must be in the reserve then. We can't define which branch he is. This is defined by the colour of his collar. Regards Christian

The first pic shows a "Korporal". Regards Christian

I can't see any laces on the collar, therefore I would assume he has the rank of a "Führer". The leaces on his arm show that he is a long serving NCO at all. Regards Christian

The pic is to small for checking more details. I would assume that he is a Gendarmerie-Wachtmeister. Therefore there should be yello laces under the stars. This would fit more with his age. Three stars alone: Führer Three stars + yellow 20 mm lace: Vizewachtmeister Three stras + silver 13 mm lace: Wachtmeister II. Kl. Three stras + silver 13 mm lace + officer's sabre: Wachtmeister I. Kl. Therefore it would be important to have a detailed look onto his collar. Regards Christian

@Tony: The Polivka family is a typical austrian officers family. The father of Adolf (I) Polivka was k.k. Gendarmerieoberst and "Landesgendarmeriekommandant". Adolf (I) retired as deputy regimental commander in 1937. Adolf (II) started his career as Panzerjäger in WWII and finished (deorated with woundbadge, IC II and IC I) it as first lieutenant. He served in B-Gendarmerie and then in ÖBH 2, he was commander of the "Fliegerausbildungsbataillon" in Hörsching and served his last years in the ministery of defense. He was a very well known collector of military items, starting his collection at age of 10 in the 1930ties. So he owened very rare items. Adolf (III) served as officer too and ended his career als brigadier general and chief veterinarian of an army corps in Salzburg. He died short after his retirement in 2010. Adolf (IV) served as one-year-volounteer and became reserve officer. Regards Christian

I can tell you that the text on the backside was written by Polvika's son, the late Oberst Adolf Polivka (*1919). He always used that kind of pen because he had a severe wound in his right hand from the landing on Kreta in 1941. The typeface tilted to the left was typical for him. Regards Christian

In my opinon a "hands off" tunic. Forget the medals, they were mounted for a kind of "upgrading"and the are situated wrong. If you look on the colours on the sleeves and the collar: they do not correspond. The golden laces on the sleeves are fixed with provisional stitches. I would think it's an old legit piece (backide and inside look fine and of good quality) which was upgraded later for theater purposes. Regards Christian

My first impression was: "Reitende Artilleriedivision Nr. 8 - 4. Batterie". Interestingly I could not find a RAD 8 in the 1914 Schematismus and not in 1916 Rangliste. There exists a RAD Nr. 7 and a RAD Nr. 9, but not a Nr. 8. Maybe it was a short time existing unit which was renamed or organized otherwise later. "Reitende Artilleriedivisionen" were independent mounted artillery bataillons. Regards Christian

@filifoster: I am not at home now, but I will publish some pics when I am back next week. Regards Christian

I am not sure what you mean. Unteil 1918 the k.u.k. army and navy always used ribbons in original width. In general they were 40 mm. The heigth of the bars was about 14 - 15 mm. In the 1930ties Bundesheer ribbon bars were made of 20 - 25 mm wide ribbons. 15 mm wide ribbons occured after the "Anschluss" in March 1938 until 1945. At the very beginning of Bundesheer in 1955 this kind of ribbon bars was in use agin. From the 60ties on they came back to the full size ribbons.. If you tell me what you need, maybe I could help out. But not with old but new made ribbons. Regards Christian