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    laurentius

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    Posts posted by laurentius

    1. Dear fellow collectors,

      I have recently taken a great interest in Saxon orders, and I have been able to acquire several, but there is one thing that I'm still not sure about. When reading literature I sometimes come across numbers that say there were roughly 11,000 awards of the Albrechtsorden 2nd class, whereas others say there were only around 7700 Albrechtsorden 2nd class with swords, plus around 1500 without swords. Is there someone who can give me a clear number or estimate?

      Kind regards, Laurentius

    2. Dear CCJ,

      I agree that the loops on the left side are for the Iron Crescent. The horizontal loops on the right side are for a medal/ribbonbar which can be filled by any piece which is appropriate for the rank. Talking about rank, I don't have a great view of the shoulderboards but I think it is a colonel if my eyes do not deceive me, this would allow for some lovely steckkreuzen together with an EK1 on the lower right side. 

      Kind regards, Laurentius

    3. Dear Andreas,

      I do not have enough experience with Dutch medals (despite being Dutch), so I don't know if this man's career has been written down anywhere. That being said, there have been dozens of Germans serving in the Dutch East-Indies both before and after WW1. I have seen several pictures and medalbars, plus atleast one frackspange of German veterans. I think one of the Dutch collectors here has a frackspange with an EK2 and Military Order of William :whistle:

      Kind regards, Laurentius

    4. Dear fellow collectors,

      as every collector does I keep a keen eye out for anything that might fit well within my collection. Having surfed the internet for medalbars, pictures and decorations for a few years now I have noticed that it has become en vogue for dealers to give stories to medalbars. To be clear, these medalbars have not been identified, and they rarely have any form of provenence. This is ofcourse done solely to increase the value of the piece and the prestige of the dealer.

      For example, let's say we have a medalbar for sale of a junior officer, nothing too exciting, let's say an EK2, HH, ÖMVK medalbar. A dealer might now be inclined to say that this medalbar MUST have belonged to a junior officer who fought on the Eastern/Italian/Balkan front, for that is the place where the Austrians were. But this isn't true, we know that there were atleast two moments at which Austrians were present at the Western front (Early in 1914 with the Skoda guns and in 1918 at the end of the war).

      Other medals of which some dealers claim (for not all dealers do this, only some) are the Hungarian 'Pro Deo et Patria' and the Bulgarian Medal for WW1. If any of these medals are on a medalbar it is in there eyes clear evidence that this piece must have belonged to someone who served on the Eastern/Balkan front. But aren't these medals just decorations you apply for, the only requirement being having served during WW1?

      I know this topic is about non-German decorations so the Imperial section might not be too well-suited for it, however it is about decorations on German medalbars. I'd love to hear your thoughts on the matter.

      Kind regards, Laurentius

    5. Dear Scottplen,

      this is a bad bar, even with the mediocre pictures you can see the terrible quality of the ribbon and of the sowing on the back. I hope a collector of Austrian awards can join in, it wouldn't surprise me if a number of the decorations also turn out to be fake.

      Kind regards, Laurentius

    6. Dear fellow forumites,

      I was lucky today and I managed to buy a lovely photograph of a German Oberst (colonel) from 1940, I will post it in this thread once I'm able to make a proper picture. He is wearing a medalbar with a EK2, HE3x, FEK, and an unknown medal (for the moment, I will dive in to find out what it is). I was wondering how many Princely House Orders of Hohenzollern 3rd class with swords were awarded during the first world war, would anyone be able to help me with this?

      Kind regards, and thanks in advance, Laurentius

    7. 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

    8. 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.

      1461551829_download(3).jpeg.3d79f3f72ebcf6b962ca60341bbf6c64.jpeg

      Kind regards, Laurentius

       

    9. 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

    10. 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

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