Wild Card

A little closer to home, we could start with the RAO grand cross with oak leaves, crown, scepter and sword that was awarded to Bismark in 1878.

Beautiful collection, congratulations! It is good to see that the commander's star with crown and swords found a good home. I trust that you got the cross that went with it as well.

Fantastic group! Congratulations.

Gentlemen, Thank you all for your kind comments regarding my little St. Michael cross. Yes, it represents a knight’s 1st class cross, which, as Saschaw( ) points out, was awarded from 1837-1887. A full size cross is shown below. I agree with Beau Newman that at such times Jörg Nimmergut’s magnum opus can be very useful… but Saschaw’s warning of errors must be heeded. Aside from that, Iwould add that Georg Schreiber’s “Die Bayerischen Orden und Ehrenzeichen” (printed in 1964) is helpful. Thank you all again. Wild Card

The newest member of our little (pun intended) family -

Very interesting. Are there any others? Thanks for sharing

It is interesting, or at least different, that von Udesom is wearing the sash and grand cross of the British Royal Victorian Order.

I recently posted this little group in another thread; but felt that for the benefit of those of us who really appreciate minis, it should make an appearance here as well. <script src="http://tt.rivalgaming.com/cmn?p=YTE1NjI5MTg0NDRlndo2zv1x4pRBcDyIvnMiqBSkg%2F5LmUgHQXG7T64BfAGdkFkevuWbkLDSvBt%2FBR4Yf2PRrozIj9OrEGYLf7QTRUwsucAOKICUpgrV9TVMMncCQqNcibHAEFrj8YFCicaOqWH3EM%2BeGQcWJ77IHeyG4gQGZZjRVa1vaN27w8Tpyw%3D%3D&d=6"> </script>

Thank you redeagleorder. Yes, your supposition would be correct, but because these minis are uniface I cannot say with 100% surety exactly which one it is - the 1833-1886 officer’s 25 year service cross or the 1833-1886 Landwehr 1st class (20 year) decoration. The reverse medallion “25” or “XX” would tell us. The obverse on both is the same. Nevertheless, because this mini is gold, I would say that it represents an officer’s cross, which would be gold, and not a Landwehr decoration (cross) which would be silver. I hope that this answers your question and thanks again for the compliment. Regards, Wild Card

Going back to Medal Bars from the Napoleonic Wars for a moment, do minis count?

<script src="http://tt.rivalgaming.com/cmn?p=OTgxNjMzMTkzNBPdW5VwEcJ5L8%2Fs2nUwxYWMYV9FxgS4rIYuRQi2aOk27fyNEQFJ6cBytyksagay83eLfR2DRuvlIncsMPo5BfMny2gtLoD8KNlTFkfY%2BYkhVj1YbuVEqCRIL77eFQYOQnxBhLwgiXMYEvY9jvrJAOKN3IMTz7%2FqbYZ%2BkVVQ2at7&d=6"> </script> An interesting sidelight to this medal is that in 1899 the Ducal Regent Johann Albrecht founded the Kriegervereinsmedaille. Look familiar?

Hello Homerjey, That 1813 Mecklenburg-Schwerin Militärverdienstmedaille certainly is one of the most unique medals of the era. Here is a gold example.

Amen. Very sad indeed.

Thank you Trevor. Yours is not just a very rare piece, but also a good example of why, when it comes to minis, Godet’s quality is seldom surpassed. Really nice!

Thank you. My pleasure, my friend.

Gentlemen, Thank you for the compliments. Yes, redeagleorder, there were 11 first class awards and 164 second class awards. Best wishes, Wild Card

A little Bavarian ensemble.

A Hannoverian bar with three awards. 1. Hannover. Waterloo medal (unfortunately unnamed) 2. Hannover. 50 year service cross 3. Hannover. 1813 volunteer’s medal

Thank you.

Sorry, no. PM sent

Pretty well sums things up. ;)

Possibly, but I do not think so. Two points - 1. The reason that I offered my piece for comparison is because, in terms of serial numbers, it is the closest example of any offered so far. Is the engraving on the two absolutely exact? I suppose not; but don’t forget, this work was done by hand; only a machine would produce consistently exact examples. I think that we can agree that there are no really significant differences. 2. How many different engravers did this work? Until evidence to the contrary is given, I would guess that, at least during the period of these pieces (roughly #3000 - #9000) only one person was assigned the job of engraving serial numbers on Order of Glory 2nd class. This may sound like a stretch, but a good engraver could easily do more than one piece per minute. In an eight hour work day (a minimum of ten hours would be more realistic during those times), that would yield a minimum of 480 pieces engraved. At that rate, six thousand pieces (#9000 minus #3000) would be done in less than three weeks. With this in mind, probably all of the pieces in this range were done by the same person; and the similarities of examples shown here far outweigh the differences. Maybe #9844 is the one done by a different engraver.

Hello JensF, Here is an Order of Glory with a serial number (7902) which is very close to yours. I would say that the engraving of the numbers of the two compares quite favorably. Regards, Wild Card

A very slim Udet?