Ulsterman

Gentlemen and Ladies: These may well be Austria or German made Red Stars that were made for the Collectors market in the 1970s and 1980s. Souval had these in his window and catalog and they were for sale in UK magazines as collectors copies in the 1970s. Real pieces were difficult to obtain and very,very expensive in those days. Souval also made these as 'wearing copies" (and souvenirs) for the Allied armies in Austria until the Allies withdrew their forces. He mentioned at one point he had a special license to make Soviet awards locally for Soviet troops. Stern did an article in May 1983 about Souval and illustrated a medal just like this in it. The pin and overall "look" appear german to me-not unlike 1957 versions of Ostvolk awards.

whoa!! How'd I miss this one? Yes please. Whence shall i send money?

I thought #8 might be the Austrian commemorative with the X. Hmmmmmm.....

Here's a neat pic I got. My first instinct was that he was a recalled Austrian Doctor, but he isn't . Well, he is not ex-KuK anyway. I can see an Ek2, Hkx and the commeoratives. I think i see a Volkpflege medal. What do you see? :Cat-Scratch:

One more:

Well, I do especially like #17 and #20. May I contribute?

Beautiful and authentic! :cheers:

whoa nelly! In post #72: what are the medals in the lower left-the russian looking ones?

Yeepers! has it been 11 years already?

As a technical aside, the Hk was instituted in 1934 and awarded heavily in later 1934 and 1935. The ban on other vets awards did not occur until very late in 1935 and really did not take effect until early 1936. Even after 1936 it was occasionally flaunted, depending upon the circumstances.

Yipee!!!! I think that's it!! :jumping: Thank youse!

Yup- a large cadre of German NCOs was detached to numerous Austrian units beginning in 1915 to 'stiffen" their training as well as a number of Unterofficier level signals types to coordinate things on the Eastern Front. This medal bar however, with a KVkx and a KVM ? Just too weird for me-and the old style (easy to make) tarpazoid mount and the come-on "attractor" at the end. am militeria perhaps?

you are KILLING ME! :banger: :banger:

Me Me!! I want to know,.

Hmmmm....Jeff Floyd will know.

Oooooh- I like the top one especially with the polish medal at the end. sweet! :jumping:

Very cool! :jumping:

But a one off? It's of very good quality for a (unique) fantasy. Hmmmmmm..... time will tell.....

Outstanding!!!! :jumping: THANK YOU FOR POSTING THAT MEDAL BAR!! Oh-how I wish it were mine. That folks is as rare as they get. I'd wager $1000 that belonged to an Ethiopian imperial soldier, probably of Gideon force, but maybe, just maybe, one of the other Ethiopian army units that fought on after 1937. Note that there is NO Victory Star, which means that this may well be a "second row". There are numerous portraits of Ethiopian officers and Royals with the British stars at the end of their medal bars taken up through the Derg Coup and the murder of the aged God Emperor. If you look on Wikipedia you can find a very interesting and thorough article regarding continued Italian guerrilla operations in Ethiopia and Eritrea (which I posit is the cause of the Eritrean war/ separate nation state today) which lasted until early 1944.

whoa! You are Billy the Kid on the keyboard there-I didn't even get to post pic#2! squinting I can see a crown-and you're right about the edge there-

You're welcome! Stay tuned, more to come-

Good deal! :cheers:

I got this little CDV recently. Taken in 1900 in Coburg, is it possible that the last medal is a Saxe- Coburg long service medal? Help? What is that third medal?

Probably the silver medal as over 170,000 were awarded in 1914-18. It was the fifth or sixth most common German medal of the war (Iron cross 2nd=@ 5 million., KvK=@450,000, Bav. MMCs @ 385,000, Saxon FAMs. est. @ 300,000, Wurt. bravery @ 201,000, Baden silver medal=@170,000)

These days the old veterans, not many of whom are still around, wear their Hale Selassie versions. Note their enormous home made ribbon bars, to which they attach their medals.