Dave Danner

I also have this 2nd Class with Swords. I don't have any specific issues with the cross, but I've never seen uniface swords on a Bavarian MVO/MVK.

I have none of my own, only 2nd and 3rd Classes. The two which I have illustrated belong to forum member Claudio O. It was mentioned to me at one time by Sascha Zimmermann that there might be issues with some of the crosses, but what the specific issues were I wasn't told. Here are the two, which I can't really tell based on the images if they have the enamel issue.

I think WittWorldWide is pretty good and knowledgeable: http://www.wittworldwide.com/

They are almost impossible to find outside of libraries, and then only in a few. Mine are on loan for my MMJO project.

Here are what the books look like. The July-December 1916 volume is the thickest book I have ever seen.

The Bavarian Milit?r-Verdordnungsblatt has Beilagen which list awards of Bavarian decorations and of non-Bavarian decorations to Bavarians. It is a good resource because it is indexed and because it includes first names. It is cumbersome to use, though, because officers active in 1914 are listed by their prewar units, and officers commissioned during the war are often listed by unit, but often simply as "Reserve der Infanterie" or "Reserve der Artillerie", etc. I've been using the MVB to find Iron Crosses and confirm some other awards missing from published rolls to update my Military Order of Max Joseph recipients list. This is made a little easier because I have the full name, units, and dates of rank already. The updated list should appear soon. Thanks to Rick's reading of the card above, I had similar information for Luger - name, unit, approximate rank and timeframe for the award - so looking up Luger and eliminating other Lugers was relatively easy. Here is the entry for Luger and others from his unit decorated on the same day, as well as a couple other regiments:

He was not a Sergeant when he received the BMVK3XmKr. He was an Unteroffizier. His first name is Franz. The award was on February 15, 1915.

The War Ministry was part of the Prussian government, not the German government, unlike the Naval Ministry. So it would be in the Prussian Court and State Handbook, not the German State Handbook. In both cases, in any event, the German and Prussian Handbooks omitted the military ministries during the war. The stated reason was that the information changed too rapidly as military personnel moved from assignment to assignment, but security probably also played a role.

The Bundesrat was, as it is today, an appointed body. Members and their deputies (Vertreter) were appointed by the member states of the German Empire (and today by the member states of the Federal Republic). The imperial Bundesrat was far more powereful than the current one, as its consent was required for legislation from the Reichstag, the elected parliament. Below is a section from one page from the Bundesrat. Among the general range of senior civil servants, a few names jump out: Heinrich Sche?ch: listed there as a Generalmajor Chief of the War Office in the War Ministry, he would become a Generalleutnant and War Minister in October 1918. He was previously commander of the 29. Infanterie-Brigade and 33. Infanterie-Division. He has the Pour le Merite and a slew of other decorations.Emil Friedrich: a Generalmajor and Chief of the Unterkunfts-Department. He died in September 1918.Erhard Deutelmoser: listed as a Director in the Foreign Ministry, he was also an Oberstleutnant a.D. who had been on active duty until 1917.Ernst von Wrisberg: Commander of the 18. Reserve-Division. His Pour le Merite, received in April 1918, is listed. Sche?ch also received his PLM in April 1918, so that tells you that the Handbuch came out after that date.

Not to steal Paul's thunder, but here is the title page:

Well, there was a POW camp in Theresienstadt.

And to round out the five types, 1 Shilling with the "O" for Oceania:

Here is 1000 Pesos from the Philippines:

If anyone is interested in continuing this thread, I can add some other examples. When I collected coins and paper money, my main focus was military and occupation money. We've already seen 10 Dollars from Malaysia and 100 Rupees from Burma. Here is 10 Gulden from the Netherlands East Indies:

The term used here is pad or cravat pad. The smaller type was used on the Army MOH from 1944 to 1964, and is referred to as Type V. The larger pad is Type VI, from 1964 to today. For the Navy MOH, the 1944-1964 small cravat pad version is Type IX, and the large pad version is Type X. The Air Force MOH has just one type. I think hunyadi is correct that the introduction of the Air Force design prompted the change in the cravat pads for the Army and Navy Medals.

And a Merit Cross 4th Class with Swords:

Merit Cross 3rd Class with Swords:

It is hard to tell, but the second Signum Laudis looks like it might have a dual crown, so a Karl type, not an FJ. The bust looks a little thinner too.

Frackspange:

Karl Franz Kopsch. In 1914 in the Verkehrs-Abteilung of the Kriegsministerium. Last wartime command was Armee-Nachrichtenkommandeur 26.

There are two more from 13.bay.IR. One you can discount, though. Hilmar Ritter von Mittelberger also was from 13th, but he received his MMJO as a captain on the general staff of the 3.bay.Inf.Div. The other is a possibility along woth Weber. Oblt.d.R. Karl Ritter von Reif of the reserve of the regiment won the MMJO as Fhr., 3./bay.RIR 13. Reif also survived the war. Ritter von Reif was recalled in 1939 and eventually became an Oberst. He died in 1959. Ritter von Weber remained in the 100,000 man army after the war. He was promoted to Generalmajor on December 1, 1940 and died of wounds on July 20, 1941 near Smolensk, USSR.

The white cross on the German Oberstleutnant is the Order of the Crown of King Zvonimir. The black cross on the Croatian general is the Order of the Iron Trefoil. Both orders are from the Independent State of Croatia, the puppet state in occupied Croatia in World War II.

I think the British system, discussed in one of Ed's links, was fairly standardized by the Napoleonic Era. The French system of the ancien regime was a mess, as you can see if you look at the discussion of the Marquis de Sade on Wikipedia. Below Duc, titles such as marquis and comte were often assumed without any regard to status or claim. I'm not sure if the Imperial system under Napoleon was more standardized. The German and German-influenced states in and out of the Holy Roman Empire (abolished by Napoleon) were the mix of titles mentioned above. The abolition of the Holy Roman Empire added to the mess, as many formerly sovereign houses were mediatized, keeping titles but losing their sovereignty.

You know, you're right. My bad. Looking at French and British precedence, Marquis/Marquess ranks ahead of count/earl. I assume the same is true of Markgraf, though I imagine it was a mess to keep clear Markgrafen, Pfalzgrafen, Landgrafen, Burggrafen, and all the other variations on Graf.

No argument. As I'm sure we've discussed before either here or at OMSA's forum, for any really serious topic, Wikipedia is unreliable at best. For any controversial topic, Wikipedia is especially unreliable. But for basic questions, it can be helpful - a World Book Encyclopedia rather than an Encyclopaedia Britannica. If I were in your shoes, I wouldn't allow a student to cite Wikipedia as a source. As to the initial question, the simplest answer, avoiding all the detail, is that dukes outrank earls and earls outrank barons. Earls are generally equal to counts. A marquis, margrave or a marchess is also generally equal to an earl or count. Indeed, the German word for this, Markgraf, means "count of the mark" (with mark or march being a borderland). The titled nobility rank ahead of those with just a noble name, such as "von somebody". Monarchies generally maintain a register which establishes where someone stands. When someone is ennobled, he or she is matriculated, or added to the register. In Bavaria and Austria, this register was called an Adelsmatrikel.