laurentius

Dear ccj Beautiful for sure, but I rather question the originality of the piece. the star looks okay, although I don't have a perfect knowledge when it comes to that, but the enamel garter is most certainly fake. The way the different pieces are attached to eachother, the lettering, the way the belt is wrapped at the bottom, it just looks bad in general, nothing like the originals which can be viewed in Coburg castle. Kind regards, Laurentius

Dear ccj It is one bar, it looks bad on the picture but in hand the difference is a mere 1,5 millimetres Kind regards, Laurentius

Dear ccj I don't have many, but I have some I can share, hope you enjoy them. Kind regards, Laurentius

Dear redeagleorder I don't think there has to be a Centenary medal with it, often a prussian LS award is combined with a Centenary award, but not always. If the owner of this LS award joined in 1898 and retired in 1920 he would have 22 years of service plus 4 years (war service counts double) and he would have his LS award, and no centenary. Taking part in the world war is also not a guarentee for a decoration. Only a third of the germans troops in WW1 got an iron cross. Kind regards, Laurentius

Dear rabaduex It's not that unusual, contrary to what we think even the famed officers of the prussian army (for this moment not counting the NCO's and the navy personell who also received this prussian LS award) weren't always given orders. If a certain officer didn't take part in any action (regular colonial stuff or perhaps a war) the chances were quite slim for him to recieve an award. We collectors sometimes forget it when we see dozens of pictures of generals with high orders that a normal colonel had to work his ass off for 20 years before even getting a RAO. Kind regards, Laurentius

Dear Freiwillige The second award is the Friedrich-Kreuz from Anhalt, I can't comment on the uniform Kind regards, Laurentius

Dear fellow collectors Recently, after seeing a few examples of the MMJO on WAF I wondered, have there been attempts to fake, or copy the bavarian Military Max Joseph-order? There are a lot of fakes when it comes to high-end orders (fake PLM's and the Oldenburg fakes come to mind) but I can't recall ever seeing a fake MMJO? Are there fakes out there, and if there are, is there info and are there pictures of those? Kind regards and thanks in advance, Laurentius

Dear ccj The third award is a bavarian Luitpoldkreuz for 40 years of public service, the fifth award is a Sicherheitsdienst-auszeichnung for 35 years of service in the police (Gendarmerie). It is a very nice bar if I may say so. Kind regards, Laurentius

Dear Glenn J and VtwinVince Thanks for the help, the Militär-Wochenblatt is a lovely piece of extra info Kind regards, Laurentius

Dear fellow collectors, I have a question regarding the red eagle order 3rd class, this award is sometimes accompenied by a schleife. What exactly is the reason for this schleife? Some collectors tell me it was given only to prussians who received a RAO 3rd class after previously receiving a 4th class, whilst others say that recipients were eligible after having the 3rd class for 10 years. The german site https://www.ehrenzeichen-orden.de/ which is used by many collectors as reference states that all recipients after ten years are eligible for a schleife (Ritter die bereits 10 Jahre im Besitz der 3. Klasse waren konnten ebenfalls die Schleife erhalten), even those who hadn't previously received a 4th class. Kind regards, and thanks in advance, Laurentius

Dear GreyC Unlike the naughty Saxons and Bavarians (and sometimes Wurttembergers) the Mecklenburgians never wore their own awards before an iron cross, This is more of a southern german tradition. I think this is a mecklenburger in a mecklenburgian regiment, they always wore their prussian awards first. Kind regards, Laurentius

Dear GreyC The awards on the ribbonbar are as followed: EK2, HoHX, KO4, MMVK, WF3bX, OK, DSWA-gedenkmünze, MLS The awards on the ribbonbar in their normal names, not their abreviations : Iron cross 2nd class, Hausorden von Hohenzollern with swords, Kronenorden 4th class, Mecklenburg Militärverdienstkreuz, Friedrichsorden 2nd class with swords, Friedrich August-kreuz (the abreviation is OK, meaning Oldenburgkreuz, in the navy it is OFAK), Südwestafrika-denkmünze and a mecklenburgian long service cross. Kind regards, Laurentius

Dear fellow collectors I agree with dond, the ribbon comes after a commerative medal, which shows that the award on the ribbon wasn't as high-esteemed as the other orders. This indicates to me it is a LS medal. Kind regards, Laurentius

Dear Komtur Lovely groupings, I especially like that Schaumburg-Lippe Offiziersehrenkreuz. Very nice. Kind regards, Laurentius

Dear GreyC You mention an interesting point, it is in my opinion true that only a small part of the rote kreuz-medailles were given to medical personell with the status of combattant. I fully support the notion that this award was also given to members of the freiwillige krankenpflege. In my previous post I was trying to explain the award in it's role on the ribbonbar, which in my opinions belongs to a medical officer, with other awards (Bulgarian and Austrian) which someone who served as freiwillige krankenpflege would most likely not receive. Another interesting point you mention is whether the owner of the ribbonbar is a combattant, or not. This reminds me of Rick Lundstrom, who already studied this, if I'm not mistaken. Medical staff who worked on the front would be awarded a normal EK, whilst doctors behind the lines were often given non-com EK's. Officers chained to a desk in Berlin could, despite working hundreds of miles behind the frontlines get an combattant EK, rather than a Non-combattant EK. Looking at the other awards on the ribbonbar (both mecklenburgian awards are combattant, same goes for the austrian MVK and the bulgarian order of bravery) I would dare to say that the recipient of these awards was indeed a combattant, who served some medical roll, which is supported by the prussian rote kreuz-medaille, and the turkish red cross medal with oakleaves (Ottoman Hilal-i Ahmer Madalyasi). Kind regards, Laurentius

Dear ccj The second award is the prussian rote-kreuzmedaille, given to medical troops. If I were to take a gander at trying to guess the owner I would say a Prussian medical officer in a mecklenburgian regiment serving at the balkan. Maybe navy, due to the hanseatic cross, but I think it's army. Could also be a Mecklenburgian serving in a prussian regiment in the balkans. Kind regards, laurentius

Dear fellow collectors I am looking for information on Oberstleutnant Johannes maus, who commanded Flak regiment 9 from september 1944 untill the end of the war. During his time as commander the regiment fought in the balkans, and retreated to Austria, ending the war in Wiener-Neustadt. I am looking for his date of birth, date of death and his awards. All help would be much appreciated. Kind regards, and thanks in advance, Laurentius

Dear fellow collectors Netflix has recently released a new series called 'Charité', it's about the famous Berlin hospital, which is still in use today. It plays in the Dreikaiserjahr 1888. The second episode has a few shots of Rudolf Virchow (played by Ernst Stötzner) received the order of the red eagle 2nd class, given to him personally by the new emperor Friedrich. Is there any actual evidence of him receiving the order? I would also like to know how many (if any at all) awarding ceremonies took place during his 99-day reign as monarch due to his illnes. Kind regards and thanks in advance, Laurentius

Dear Alex K Just a name-coincedence, Wagner is a common name, and not the same as von Wagner (von Wagner indicates noble birth, whereas Wagner does not). The name Wagner is derived from wagenmaker, and there are dozens of people with this last name, from a New York senator, to German generals and officers in WW1 and WW2 to Polish actors. Wagner is a common name, and I don't think there is a personal connection. Kind regards, Laurentius

Dear Komtur That is a lovely spange, 'einzigartig' as the Germans would say, lovely piece with the SEHO, SWF and REK. Kind regards, Laurentius

Dear Glenn J Not that weird, although I don't have much information about this officer it is quite certain that his military career started pre-ww1, thus enabling him to have a Albrechtsorden without swords, as they were often given out to junior officers prior to WW1. Perhaps there is a connection to the Saxon kingdom. Kind regards, Laurentius I see that whilst I was typing P.F. was just a bit faster than me

Dear Paul R If only they were, Imperial is still going strong. If one can make a deal good prices can still be arranged but dealers often work together to stimulate a higher price for certain awards. All big dealers have started selling albrechtsorden 2nd class for around 350 euro, whilst only a few years ago they could be bought for 250-300. Same goes for Hanseatic crosses and other WW1 awards. Kind regards, Laurentius

Dear Dond Nice, although I'll have to work on my knowledge on the makers of the Albrechtsorden Kind regards, Laurentius

Dear Dond That is a very nice SA3aXKR, yours? I might be wrong here, but it looks like a Roessner piece. Kind regards, Laurentius

Dear 1812 overture I think the order of Albert isn't cumbersome, the opposite I dare say. It gives a collector the chance to completly indulge himself in a hunt, trying to get all the variations, with crown, with crown and swords, with swords. I currently have 2 orders of Albert and I only need 5 more variations and I'll have all the crosses 1st and 2nd class. To me it sounds like an adventure, rather than something cumbersome. Kind regards, Laurentius