Very rare indeed. Here's the link to my original post and comments from Rick.
Sorry, my link to the article didn't seem to work. So here's what Rick said. Posted 16 May 2007 · Report post For many many years the "noncombatant" and "war effort" awards were not highly regarded by Imperial collectors. In my own case, I sold almost all of mine when I got into Soviet collecting 13 years ago. @#&%*!!!! NOW, as rolls come out, and we get some idea of the real numbers awarded, no matter how "non exciting" these may SEEM compared to frontline bravery awards, the smaller the state, the much rarer these are. That Altenburg medal with the wrap-around 1914 bar, for instance, was awarded only 1,091 times (1,086 as this combination, and 5 bars to a pre-war medal) Rare as 1,091 is, SUBTRACT 381 awards to women and 1 lone one to an Austrian and already the Possible Suspects List is immediately knocked down to 709 German men. A good number of those can be eliminated as military or ex-military personnel and people with other known awards, but I have never pursued it beyond this point because many hundreds of people about whom nothing will ever show up in awards records would be left. What once was thought impossible is now eventually... inevitable. The key will be a Mecklenburg roll for the second cross which can be compared to the Altenburg one. On that happy day, I expect the name will LEAP off the page. And based on what "seeheld" has shown us of the Mecklenburg rolls that DO exist... like Lippe-Detmold's rolls, there will be birth and other data included to add some LIFE back to the name. The 20XXs/201Xs are going to be very very exciting years for Imperial research, with the team assembled HERE pursuing our inter-related goals of award rolls transcriptions and officer research.