Carlo

it's difficult to say, as the others have already said, Rothe also produced on commission. The certain thing is that it was certainly not officially issued, but it could certainly be a commissioned production.

This is certainly a good point of view, also because when talking about personal knowledge you cannot think you know everything. Many years have passed since the production of these decorations and certainly only a few of them have reached the present day. I too thought that Resch production was limited to a few prestigious decorations and in precious materials, until I found (by chance) a service cross with the Resch mark, which I personally thought was impossible having never seen any and being a decoration usually made of bronze which is certainly not an expensive material. Since then I have started to discuss and ask for information from the more experts in order to expand my knowledge on the subject, and this topic is the proof. Greetings Carlo

Interesting, I'll definitely keep that in mind. I didn't post the photo, but this decoration has the Diana head mark of 900 silver, which makes sense as it was produced pre 1918 (I think)

Thank you! Considering the other decorations and the markings of the material I think it could be. Unfortunately with the chains you never know if they are original since the miniatures can be removed or added. In this case the only decoration with the welded ring is the marianerkreuz, so I believe that decoration has never been modified.

Interesting, at the moment I have no memory of Austrian date stamps, (maybe I'm wrong) but it could be. Unfortunately, like other marks that are sometimes found on decorations, this one is not yet identified, like many others. One thing I've noticed is that you often find unknown marks on the War Cross for Civil Merit and on the Karl trupprnkreuz. This makes me think that having (along with the red cross decorations) been established near the end of the empire and having all been produced by numerous manufacturers due to high demand (especially the KTK and the red cross decorations) there was time to keep track of the manufactutrer. Obviously this is my hypothesis, I'm certainly not the best expert in this sector, so all I can do is formulate hypotheses and discuss them with others. But I think this is one of the beautiful things about collecting, together with: studying, researching and dealing with the most experienced collectors to expand your own knowledge.

An excellent research, which as you say leads to more questions than answers, but from a certain point of view it is an interesting part of the collector's "profession"!

After some research I found an excerpt from the catalog of Johann Menner from 1903 where this medal cost from 5 to 7 crowns. While in the 1910 Heinrich Ulbricht's Widow catalog the same medal costs 3 crowns, the same price as in the Schneider Brothers catalog of the same year. Instead in the catalog of H.Schall & Son of 1908 it is 3.70 crowns. Based on these prices (all referring to medals without ribbon) I believe that this box can be dated to around the early 1900s. What do you think?? Could be??

I think this is the most plausible explanation.

It could be, in the silver hallmarks of 1872 - 1922, among the letters indicating the city of production, the F stands for L'viv/Lemberg. But the medal is marked with Diana's head and the letter A, indicating that it was made in Vienna.

I thought about it, but looking closely unfortunately it doesn't seem to be the right one.....

Good morning everyone, I recently got this beautiful decoration of the Red Cross (2nd class) on a women's bow, nothing rare, but still a beautiful decoration. As I was inspecting it I found the classic maker's marks (GAS in this case) and material marks, but on the body I found another mark I hadn't seen yet, an F on the lower right portion of the central medallion. I was hoping some of you knew more so I could identify it. Carlo

Very interesting!! It's a fact that certainly adds value to the history of this piece! Very true, practically all the orders and decorations with the advent of the great war have become increasingly common, considering the large number of soldiers and officers to be rewarded. This has certainly led to a "devaluation" of the decoration itself, see for example the bars for multiple awards...

Wow, that's called knowing what you're talking about! I couldn't figure out what was written on the back of the box, but now that you mention it it reads clearly! Many thanks for this information!! It is a very plausible explanation, pity that the manufacturer/seller is not known.

Thanks!!

Thanks! I am quite convinced that the medallion is gold, when it arrived one of the two medallions was detached, and the color inside looked just like rose gold This is true, it could be the initial of silver (Argento in Italian) even if in real life it does not appear to be of this material.

Many thanks!!

Thank you, rosettes are a subject that I have recently started to appreciate, and I have noticed that they are not very popular with collectors.

Hello everyone, for a while now I have had this Commander's Cross of the Order of the Crown of Italy in my collection, contained in a velvet-lined box imprinted with the monogram of King Vittorio Emanuele III. Both the body of the cross and the ribbon ring are marked with the letter A, but up until now I haven't been able to figure out what they mean. Does anyone know? Carlo

Hi all, I have had this miniature chain for a while, clearly from an officer who survived the war, based on the toucan silver mark W 4 used since 1922. In addition to this it also have a manufacturer's mark F-S, which I haven't been able to identify yet, does anyone know anything about it? Carlo

Hello everyone, I recently received this silver merit cross with crown, in very good condition but unfortunately with the mark in the ring difficult to read. I was wondering if anyone had one with a similar mark so I could give some insight into the identification. The other mark appears to be a Dog's head with the number 3. Carlo

Good morning everyone, I recently purchased this beautiful 40 year service cross, in perfect condition and marked Zimbler in the ring. I know that this decoration was introduced in 1890 and awarded until the end of the war, being a relatively long period of awarding I was wondering if there was any detail that could allow me to understand more or less in which year it was produced. Carlo

A thousand thanks! I'll keep researching, at the moment the most probable manufacturer is Rothe, but I can't say with full certainty yet.

Thank you!! Actually, now that I think about it, I know very few Italians who collect this kind of items.

Good evening gentlemen, I recently purchased this medal for 40 years of faithful service. The medal itself has nothing special, but the box does: it is a flat leather box with a black interior bordered with gold thread. I'm pretty sure the box was privately procured, perhaps as a gift piece or just a box to store the decoration. The question is, does anyone know what period it could be? Before the great war, post-war or something else?

A truly magnificent piece, and a very well done research!!