landsknechte

...and last but not least, my very first German ribbon bar:

I unfortunately missed it, but there's a brother to this one out there with a Luftschutz and a Czech annexation.

Salty.

I have a suspect on this one, but nothing conclusive...

That white ribbon in second place is a Albrechtorden, believe it or not.

Finally... Now we're starting to venture into some more familiar territory for yours truly. The SS device on this first one is more than a little odd, but I haven't the heart to remove it.

I picked these up from the same source as the 10.Fusstandarte tabs that I scored a few weeks ago. The price was low enough (clueless seller) that it was worth the risk even if these proved to be bogus. I'm enough out of my area that I'd like to solicit opinions from the more knowledgable folks on the forum. The wear and the aging look authentic, but beyond that I'm out of my element. Thoughts anyone? --Chris

I was braindead when posting that last one. I had mentally transposed a Wtbg bravery medal with a Saxon FAM. This is my other Wurttemburg bar: I still can't help but wonder if my little 3x combo is at all related to this grouping - Generalleutnant Wilhelm Weidinger. (Not mine, BTW.)

I still suspect that a significant proportion of the loose 1957 WWI decorations floating around are simply low quality "collectors items", not entirely unlike the medals that are for sale at the local Army-Navy shop. How many of those are actually bought by people that had earned them? Not many, I'd wager. The last theory that I put up there was about the only thing that I can think of. It's interesting how the majority of the 1957 WWI decorations you see are the more commonplace decorations of which there would likely be a decent amount of left over stock laying around. --Chris

...and one more:

FYI, you might want to check out this thread discussing your bar: http://gmic.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=3260 --Chris

There couldn't have been a terribly huge market of WWI vets still shopping for decorations in 1957, but perhaps there were those that were uncomfortable wearing someone else's old medals should they need replacements.

A detail shot:

Any thoughts on this one? --Chris

Most of them were lost in a tragic interwar accident... There was a late night collison with the British cruiser HMS Unpronouncable. I can't recall the name of the Austro-Hungarian ship, but there were a number of lives lost as the ship was never outfitted with enough life preservers - the name of the ship being long enough that the life preservers were of such size that only a handful could be fitted onto the railings. Furthermore, he distress signal was never completed, as the telegraph operator didn't have sufficient time to peck out the name of the ship in the hour and a half that she remained afloat. Sorry... It's been a long week. --Chris

How could I forget this one...

Here are the two ribbon bars that I still have ready access to the photographs of.

My lone contribution, the ribbon bar of a rather naughty Austrian...

This is the only one that I have a photo of handy (I'm in the midst of a Windows reinstall on the machine that has all of my photos). My other Wurttemburg bar is an EK / Bravery Medal / Hindenburg Cross / Turkish War Medal combo - my very first ribbon bar, in fact.

Frankly, I've only seen that one on a ribbon. It may or may not be the correct ribbon. --Chris

Besides, as we all know, all the intelligent criminals go into politics... --Chris

I'm afraid I don't really know all that much about this decoration, but I did find this photograph in my archives that at least shows the ribbon:

I can't seem to find the photo that I used to have that showed this helmet in circulation around 1919, but it's referred to as the m1918/40. --Chris

It's far less tacky to just wear a second row of ribbons than it is to weld two ribbon bars together?

Doesn't this hail from the era of trapezoid medal bars?