laurentius

Dear Great Dane, The swords on the ring do signify he had a lower class of the order with swords ( in your case a 4th class). When there is a distinction like this with an officer (a peace-time and a war-time decoration) than two decorations are allowed to be worn. If your man had been a civilian, only receiving all his decorations without swords he would only be allowed to wear one. The reason why the Almanach printed both classes received is to avoid confusion. If someone gets a Crown Order 2nd class with swords on the ring he might have received a 3rd class with swords, or a 4th class with swords. Kind regards, Laurentius

Maybe he liked the eagle better, seems to be a recurring theme in Germany in those days🤣

Is it not possible perhaps, that he chose only to wear his German pre-war awards? All of his peacetime awards are German, whilst I can imagine that an up-and-coming colonel as himself, often praised for his work gathered quite an amount of awards. Maybe he had to make some tough calls and left several awards of his ribbonbar. Highly decorated men like Ludendorff always had to watch out not to wear ribbonbars which are too long, like Ludwig Beck in this picture. Kind regards, Laurentius

I agree with Nicolas, the blue ribbon is a Friedrichsorden with swords. A KO4x would need the ribbon of the Iron Cross. I also agree that the sixt ribbon from the right, squeezed in between the Bavarian Order of St. Michael and the Centenary-medal, is a Long Service award. I had the same idea as Claudio, this could very well be a ribbonbar which belonged to Ludendorff. Kind regards, Laurentius

Dear Utgardloki, I have seen several photographs and paintings of him in the past wearing his sashes in this style. Although it was customary to only wear one sash at the time I have seen many photos and paintings ranging from the Napoleonic Era untill now of people wearing two or more sashes. However, I have only seen this manner (cut sash attached to belt) with Wilhelm I. I wonder if there ever were others from his era (like him, veterans of the napoleonic war) who partook in this style? Kind regards, Laurentius

Dear Peter, in the first place should be either a Red Eagle Order or a Crownorder on white-black ribbon with swords. Kind regards, Laurentius

Dear fellow collectors, after looking through the Wikipedia-page of the new HBO shows 'Chernobyl' I ended up reading Wilhelm Röntgen's page and I found out that this German scientist had quite a number of decorations. Among these decorations were a Crownorder 2nd class, the Merit-Order of the holy Micheal and the Order of the Bavarian Crown. He is also listed as having received an Iron Cross 2nd class on the white-black ribbon (civilian). Did he get this award for actual participation on the homefront (he lived in Munich the entire war), or was this award given solely for his groundbreaking work in the area of radiology, which helped doctors treat the wounds of soldiers better? Kind regards, and thanks in advance, Laurentius

My, my, I ask for a identification, somebody shows a lovely medalbar and all of a sudden the hounds of hell seem to have lost their leash😆🤣

Dear Solomon, thanks for your correction, your help is always appreciated. Dear Komtur, I myself am not the owner of the picture, I asked for a German friend of mine. When I told him you would like to buy the picture I asked him for his e-mail address, which I will send to you in a private e-mail. Lovely bar btw. Kind regards, Laurentius

Dear Utgardloki, We are heading to the macabre part of collection-ethics here, but I feel that a fire is less troubling than theft. This only goes for metal decorations and awards ofcourse, it would be terrible for uniforms, paintings and portraits. Depending on the size of the fire and the airflow most medals would survive. Sure, most enameled and painted orders would have lost their recognizable part, not to mention the multi-constructed orders which use Schlelack (wax) to stay together like my beloved Albrechtsorden. Medals would survive the fire, how well they'd survive ofcourse fully depends on the material and the fire. Hindenburg lost almost all of his awards when his house burned down in the early 20's, yet I think most collectors would give a kidney to own one of these scorched medals (I'd like mine medium-rare please). Theft, in my opinion is far worse, when a fire hits, regardless of it's magnitude you'll always have a part of the collection which survives, which can't be said for theft, especially with cases being solved at a historical low (thanks Obama). I shudder at the thought of a medalbar being destroyed by thiefs (or collectors) solely for the purpose of profit. Often these medalbars are the last remaining piece of someone, and with it's destruction, they too, long after their death, cease to be. They live as long as we remember them, and in a way, honour them. That's the part which makes this hobby so great for me, there are lots of guys (and some girls) doing their best, reconstructing awardrolls, identifying medal- and ribbonbars, bringing back life to this great war. Kind regards, Laurentius

Dear Glenn J and 1812 Overture, thanks for your help, thanks to you we can put a name to this picture again. I do think it would be interesting to know which medals he is wearing in the sixth and eight place. 1812 Overture suggested the Regierungsjubiläumsmedaille 1902 but I don't think that's it. That medal has two big red stripes on the side of the ribbon which this medal misses. I think the ribbon is white with 2 small stripes of red perhaps? Kind regards, Laurentius

Dear Glenn J and arb, thanks for your help, you've done a tremendous job. Would there be anyone who knows the second and last award on his medalbar? Kind regards, and thanks in advance, Laurentius

Dear fellow collectors, I would like to ask for help with identifying this senior officer, I believe the combination to be rare enough to make a correct identification. I was able to list most of his awards, to make things easier. The awards are as follows: -EK1 ( Iron Cross 1st class 1914) -VWA (1918 in black) -HoHx (House-Order of Hohenzollern with swords) -EK2 (Iron Cross 2nd class 1914) -EH/SEHOx (Saxe-Ernistine House-Order 1st class with swords) -LKr (Lippe-Detmold war merit cross) -HH (Hamburg Hanseatic Cross) -EH/SEHO (Saxe-Ernistine House-Order 2nd class) -Unknown -LH4 (Lippe-Detmold Princely Lippian House-Order) -Unknown Kind regards, and thanks in advance, Laurentius

Dear fellow collectors, I would like to ask for help with identifying this senior officer, I believe that it is possible to identify him due to his peculiar combination of orders. All help is appreciated. To make things easier I have already made a list of some of his awards, which is as follows: -GSF (House-Order of the white Falcon commanders cross) -EK1 ( Iron Cross 1st class 1870) -EK 2 ( Iron Cross 2nd class 1870) - Unknown -RAO4 ( Red Eagle Order 4th class, smooth arms, so awarded before 1879) -KO3 ( Crown order 3rd class) -LD25 (service-award for 25 years) -KDM (War memorial medal 1870-1871) -GSF1x ( House-Order of the white Falcon knightscross 1st class with swords) - unknown, Although I suspect it to be connected to the House-Order of the white Falcon Kind regards, and thanks in advance, Laurentius

Dear Utgardloki, I have seen often in the past how even being sown down isn't enough to save a history. A German collector who is also active on this forum ( I have sadly forgotten his name) owned several named high-ranking medalbars. When they were stolen when he was at a concert they were reported to the police, as someone would normally do. Months later he heard that airport-photos proved the had been shipped off to Turkey, to be cut up. Sometimes when I'm browsing GMIC, WAF or Facebook I come across a medalbar which I recognize, either from an auctionhouse a few years ago, or perhaps a reference-book. Sadly, when I'm browsing dealers, auctionsites or Ebay I see medalbars without medals, and I recall seeing them earlier, still in their full glory. I have been know to be a bit of a purist when it comes to splitting up groups and adding things together, but I don't regard the adding of ribbons as wrong, but something necessary to show how it looked 100 years ago. These kinds of questions, important questions, form the centre of the ethics of the collector. What is, and what is acceptable in this collection-area, and how far one should go to achieve profit? Kind regards, Laurentius