laurentius

Dear Simon Gornowicz Most unfortenatly this is a fake, the swastika looks terrible, the core is bubbly and the date looks like it was painted on. Despite this the frame looks good, this would lead me to expect that this is a latvian fake, Schinkle fakes known to be made in Latvia. They crack open an original EK1 1914, remove the original core, place in the empty space a fake core made by the fakers and they close it up again. I regret to say that most likely a fine EK1 1914 has been misused and been disfigured for profit.This is my explanation for the difference in quality of the core and the frame. Since EK's are not my top collecting priority at the moment I would like to ask a collector who focuses on EK's to come in and give his opinion. Kind regards, Laurentius

Dear Feldjaeger.1 Yes, it would indeed be possible for you to buy a MWO 4 class. I would feel the need to inform you that you will get a newly made piece so the quality will sadly be lesser then those of a MWO awarded before WW1 for example. I do not know the price, but I would think it lies around 250 euros. The firm Van Wielik in the Hague has a website which you can visit, I'll add a link for you (of the english page, I doubt you speak dutch) Kind regards, Laurentius https://www.vanwielik.com/en.html

Dear Herman In the book 'Het heeft hare majesteit behaagd' (ISBN 90-5911-169-9) published in 2004 there is an interview with the owner of the medalsupplier van Wielik who said this about buying awards : 'Iedereen die bij de firma Van Wielik aan de Haagse Kneuterdijk binnenstapt kan alle mogelijke onderscheidingen aanschaffen zolang er maar betaald word. '' Nee, wij vragen niet naar legitimatie of een oorkonde of iemand werkelijk koninklijk onderscheiden is. Dat is onze taak niet'' '. This translates to : 'Everyone who enters at the firm Van Wielik at the Kneuterdijk in the Hague can buy every possible award, as long as he or she pays. No, we don't ask for legitimation or an document or whether someone is indeed royally honoured. That is not our duty.' This book, albeit in Dutch gives great information about the dutch awards. Sadly it was published in 2004 due to which it might not be up-to-date with some awards. Kind regards, Laurentius

Dear Simon Gornowicz Is that a genuine johanniter orden Kreuz der Rechtsritter? Seems a bit out of place in a WW2 collection, but a nice piece nonetheless. Kind regards, Laurentius

Dear Claudio Once again a lovely medalbar, sometimes I am truly envious of your collection. It is in my opinion charming that the embroided police eagle has been put on the ribbon in a nice fashion, sadly often we see how these embroided eagles barely hang on to the ribbon, due to lacking attachment to the bar. As I said, a lovely bar. I do have one question, could you supply us with a close-up of the Lübeck hanseatic cross? I can't see whether the claws are red or black. Kind regards, and thanks in advance, Laurentius

Dear fellow collectors I had my father's medal mounted for fathersday (file attached) and I also bought a miniature for him to wear in his buttonhole, he had expressed his wish to own one, and knowing that I was a collector he felt that I would surely know someone to get one. I managed to do this and the result is good, although the buttonhole miniature is a bit small in my opinion (some of the german WW1 buttonhole miniatures that I own or have owned where atleast 2X times bigger. I am looking for a place where they sell miniature ribbon for this order so I can try to make one myself, would any of the collectors of Polish medals know someone? Kind regards and thanks in advance, Laurentius

Dear 1812 ouverture It's not the same spange, the third medal is different. The spange above has no golden marraige medal and the medalbar above also has two medals from the third reich (if we don't count the FEK). Dear sftrooper86 I am not certain about the originality of the medalbar you've shown. The MVK2krx looks a bit weird in my eyes, but I would prefer a collector of MVK's or a collector of Bavarian medals to give a better opinion. For the rest the bar looks fine. Regarding your question on the ribbon, it is true that this ribbon is for military officials, so it is not uncommon to see it being worn with swords. Kind regards, Laurentius

Dear fellow collectors Emedals had an update which showed this grade of the Leopold-orden, I have never before encountered such a piece and I wondered if any of you could provide any info on it. https://www.emedals.com/europe/austria-imperial/orders/order-of-leopold/austria-empire-an-imperial-order-of-leopold-badge-for-officers-officials-second-model Kind regards, Laurentius

Dear fellow collectors Last sunday was the Houten militaria fair in the Netherlands and I was able to buy this lovely hanseatic bar. I already framed it so there is no picture of the back most unfortenatly. I especially like the early orange ribbon on the KVK. Normally I'm not really a WW2 collector but I did not mind these two on my bar. Kind regards, Laurentius

Dear Kriegsmarine Admiral I don't know what it is, it could be a Braunschweig Kriegsverdienstkreus 1. Klasse. I only meant to say that the argument that there is a size-difference is wrong. I think we need better pictures before we can make a proper judgement. Kind regards, Laurentius

Dear Webr55 I looked at it and I put a ruler against my screen to measure them, the EK1 and the KVK1 are roughly the same size Kind regards, laurentius

dear Webr55 The Brunswick Ernst-August cross 1st class is 41 MM whilst the EK1 is around 42 MM (sizes may differ a bit per maker). So the KVK1 and the EK1 are roughly the same size. It is the cross 2nd class that is 30 MM, the one you are probably thinking of. Kind regards, Laurentius

Dear fellow collectors To me the award looked a bit like the Steckkreuz für Treue Dienste from Schaumburg-lippe, the cross 1st class. The arms seem less wide than those of the Iron cross, and we see a small emblem in the center of the cross, which could very well be the capital 'A' on the cross. I will attach some pictures. Kind regards, Laurentius

Dear Drspeck The lovely bars seem to keep coming, another tremendous beauty for your collection. Regarding the Bavarian award I would think it to be a MVO. The RAO, KO and SA are all awards given to officers, so a MVK seems unlikely. Once again, a true beauty. Kind regards, Laurentius

Dear Drspeck Lovely bar once again, a gorgeous Prussian-first bar. I agree that the second to last ribbon could very well be the Hessian medal for bravery. Kind regards, Laurentius

Dear Alex K Yeah, it is described as a Großkreuz in Sonderstufe, which translates to grandcross in special class. This one was apparently made for the rulers of Lippe-detmold and Schaumburg-Lippe, and since the creation of the Fürstlich Lippischer Hausorden (1869) only 7 rulers of the Lippe kingdoms have lived (if we count both the kingdoms without the regents for Alexander von Lippe who was mentally ill). That makes 7 grandcrosses in this special size, and the rulers would likely have had a pair of them, in case one got damaged. That's sometimes the problem with the collecting of awards from the German states, some medals were given out so little that it is sometimes impossible to find info or pictures. Kind regards, Laurentius

Dear Alex K The laurel between the arms was only in the Sonderstufe (special grade) which was only worn by the monarch of Lippe-detmold. It was for sale at the last Zeige auction at the beginning of the year. I have the catalogue with a A4 size picture of it. I found the catalogue online so here are the pictures. Kind regards, Laurentius

Dear Drspeck The bar looks original to me, and the double RAO is also not a problem IMO. I think it's a 4th class cross with crown and a 3rd class cross with Schleife. Lovely pre-WW1 medalbar. Kind regards, Laurentius

Dear 03fahnen I was thinking that too, but how would a german WW1 officer/soldier have gotten those? It was mainly awarded to germans during the Spanish civil war, but there is no FEK so I doubt that as a possibility. Maybe some Freikorp award? Kind regards, Laurentius

Dear fellow collectors I was browsing one of my favorite websites and I came across this nice ribbonbar. I most unfortunatly couldn't identify the third award, could any of you help me? Kind regards, and thanks in advance, Laurentius

Dear alan Pieces are getting harder to find, that is true, but that is happening all over the world, with all the medals. I recently went to a militaria fair with a good friend of mine who collects EK's from WW2. He was willing to pay 140 euro for an Einzelspange EK2 1939. I was quite stunned by his willingness to pay such a large amount, especially since I know that he likes to get cheap deals (who doesn't ?). After he had bought it he told me that it is rare nowadays to come across such a piece, while in the 70's and 80's you could buy 10 at the time. In dutch we call it 'de opdrogende waterval' which literally means 'the waterfall that is drying up'. I think this 'drying up' is caused by the new collectors from Russia, the Middle-East and Asia. People collect there, and often pay extreme amounts for normal medals. Pieces go there, but they don't come back. Sometimes when I go through the catalog of an auctionhouse I come across pieces of which I knew the former owner. But we don't see this happening in Asia, Russia and the Middle-east. Pieces go there, but they don't come back anymore, causing the 'drying up'. Quite sad indeed. Kind regards, Laurentius

Dear alan Although I am a collector of awards from the German States and awards from WW1 my mecklenburg collection is rather small, especially considering yours. The only thing from Mecklenburg I have is a nice ribbonbar with a Mecklenburg Military Merit Cross and a Mecklenburg service cross. I'll add a picture for you. Kind regards, Laurentius

Dear alan Is that lovely collection of Mecklenburg awards yours? All very beautiful pieces. Kind regards, Laurentius

Dear Lew It's a beautiful bar, and IMHO a genuine piece. I am afraid that identification will not be possible, since the combination is not unique. Kind regards, Laurentius

Dear Peter You're right, Prince Phillip, the duke of Edinburgh, is indeed a descendant of the greek royal family. But to be completly honest the greek rulers were of Danish descent. All the royal houses were intertwined back in those days, I can remember that Prince Phillip once donated blood which was used to determine whether 2 bodies found in russie belonged to the last tsarevich and the last grandduchess of Russia. They and Prince Phillip came from the same family as the Danish royal house often married into the Romanov family. That is also the reason the russian wear their medals in the Danish manner, being a pentagon. Kind regards, Laurentius