CRBeery

Hello, I have become interested in this medal as I have recently acquired an example that I cannot find a similar example of. In reading it seems like these were awarded approximately 12,000 times and there were 520 made in bronze. I see the typical bronze medals almost everywhere. eBay in the US usually has two or three and every dealer with any Imperial stock seems to have one. They are everywhere and for only 520 having been made it just doesn’t make sense that these can be the original 520. The balance ~ (11,500) seem to be made of zinc and differ in design. I see these about 25% as often as the bronze. I was able to purchase some items out of an old collection and a version of this medal was there that I have not seen before. As I am an optimist I bought this for a very reasonable price hoping that this may be one of the original 520. Now, I am coming to the group to see if I can learn more about these awards. The first photo is from a dealers sales page and shows one of the typical bronze pieces for sale. Here is one of the much harder to find zinc made pieces. Finally the odd one I purchased out of the old collection. Are there others like this out there?

That covers awards and is very helpful. Now a follow up question- how could one get long service awards from two different states? I have noticed a couple bars like this and was always suspicious of them!

Very nice! An all cross bar.

Thanks Chris!

Very nice piece!

392 awards of this cross. Roman- great bar. I visited your page when I first brought this home. Great resource for collectors!

Here is a simple little bar I picked up at OMSA this past summer. Sometimes I see a bar like this and it just speaks to me. Should I flip the first medal? I know it is technically backwards.

Paul, There was a post on it but it kind of wandered a bit so I started a new one.

The research gnomes did it again!

To all my fellow colleagues here I would like to show the happily reunited set of medal and ribbon bar that was recently discussed. Many thanks to those that posted and a very special thank you to Daniel and Colin for making this possible.

Love the enamel ribbon bars!

Thanks! I didn’t realize this thread had life. The Baltic Cross is not marked but it is a two part constructed piece.

A nice pair from me! Both are the non-combatant version and I think this is the first time I have seen the first cross mounted as a non-combatant.

One of my old collector friends owns his PLM with oak leaves.

This is going to be a good “Wizards and Gnomes” story.

Where was this for sale at? I bought it from a small US dealer. Did it have the ribbon bar with it? Thanks for a second name. This has turned out to be very interesting.

Where is that bar now??? I would love to bring it into my collection!

Daniel, How did you find this so fast? I have spent hours and nothing? I must be missing a key piece of research material or I just need more experience. Thanks for the help and all of the comments. This is not a typical bar for my collection as I usually buy Imperial only bars but this one really caught my attention.

I picked this bar up about six months ago and I had hoped to find a name to go with it. I know it’s pretty thin but I tried and even bought an extra Rank List to see if it helped. No luck! I am thinking this gentleman was a Zahlmeister in the 8th Infantry Division but I can’t find him. The Saxon medal is gilted silver. Any ideas on where to look?

I only have this one. Crown fell off!

From my research it could be for an action or I believe 15 years of service. The FAM is actually gold on this bar. I believe more as a fashion statement as I have seen this on other Saxon bars.

Thanks for the information. I’ll keep it in my case as a neat variation. I’m glad I bought it!

Wow! Many thanks for that. Is this from a Rank List? It makes the bar very special to me when it has a name. Thanks to all!

I mainly collect Imperial German items but admire many of the Austrian pieces. I recently was able to purchase out of part of an old collection and found this medal bar. It seems to me that Austrian medal bars are a bit of a mine field so I generally do not even look at them. I had originally dismissed buying this bar but took a second look. My collecting mentor collects Austrian as well as Imperial German and taught me that the backs of Austrian medals can hold some nice surprises. I also found the circled A on the bottom of the silver medal in the second position.

I was invited to look at part of an old collection and see if there were any items I might be interested in. There were about 60 items on the table. On my initial pass I saw this cross as a fake. Enamel in all of the belt buckle, bronze base metal showing, one sided swords and no markings. As we chatted I took a second look and noticed the L is on top of the enamel not in it. It also looks like the lion on the back was separately applied. When I saw this I decided it should come home with me for further investigation. I am now wondering if this isn’t an extremely early production piece. Any thoughts? Are there others here that have similar examples?