lilnuke

Yes, I have his full medal bar and documents for most of the decorations.  What I had been missing was the physical EK1, which I finally located.

I believe I have a couple of picture from East Africa as well.  Will have to dig them up and scan them.

Finally located his 1914 EK1 in the most unlikely location.  Found this one to be somewhat unique with the concave shape.

A young Schön

Danke, that's what I thought.

Esteemed colleagues,

I have been looking for an 1870 EK2 to add to my collection for a while.  As I do not see them often, I came across this piece and was looking for opinions on authenticity prior to purchasing.  To me it appears a little to crisp and the numerals don't look quite right.  Granted, my knowledge level is pretty low. 

Any help appreciated.

MAJ Christian Gr zu Rantzau

Thank you Dave for the clarification, that is what I suspected.  Cheers!

Still doing my research, but I am a little stuck with this one.  I am trying to identify the circled award which is listed as a MWK3 per the ranklist.  Which award is it?  I suspect Knight or a merit cross, but to new to know.  Thank you for any assistance.

Order of the Wendish Crown is listed has having four classes:

Grand Cross

Grand Commander

Commander

Knight

It can also be awarded in gold or silver merit crosses.

Thanks everyone.  I have thanked my mother for everything she has found in some old boxes.  I keep wondering what else she may run across next.

7 hours ago, Glenn J said:

The image comes from his entry in Kurt v. Priesdorff's "Soldatisches Führertum". The scan is already at 600 dpi but I can send you a larger copy of it plus some biographical stuff in German. Please pm me with your email and I will do that.

Regards

Glenn

I tied to PM you Glenn but the system says you cannot receive messages.

The first set appears to have belonged to Maj Ernst von Schon des Kaiser Schultztruppe fur Deutsch-Ost-Afrika.  I still need to confirm the original owner of the second.

Many thanks Glenn!  Is there a way I could get a decent copy of that picture for myself?  It will be a shock to reveal to my mother that she has had an incorrect photo on her desk for decades.

I just came into a couple of family medal bars that wanted to share.  I am new to the collecting memorabilia, so these were a pleasant surprise when I was given these by my mother.  Now to research the original bearers and the decorations themselves.  She even had all the documentation for the first set, so I am rather excited.

I thought I had found a photo of my late ancestor but have since realized that the decorations do not match the Prussian army list.  Not to mention one award was introduced after his death.  Here is the photo of a currently unidentified Prussian officer.

Perhaps this would help, I love how organized the Germans were.  Here are the descriptions from the lists.  I could not identify the MGrO2b.

Gen Lt Decorations.docx

I posted the other day about researching a family member from Prussia.  I finally found him in the lists as the Kmdt of Koblenz u. Ehrenbreitstein in 1891.  I can translate most of the words, but could some please decipher the awards for me?  They make no sense to me at all.

There seems to be no official new user forum to direct my questions, so I thought I would start here.

I am trying to research information on a family member and get some of his military history in the Prussian army.  I know a lot of information was destroyed in WWII but there seems to me a vast bit of knowledge here.  Where or what forum would be the best to post questions?  I also have his collection of medals and orders that I am trying to identify which I see a forum to post questions.  I would love to find some pictures or service history.

Another question is there a list of abbreviations posted somewhere that lists the different decorations and orders?  Having a difficult time deciphering some of the posts.

Thanks