Dave Danner

Mike, Some extra context. The Friedrichs-Orden mit Schwertern was W?rttemberg's main military order in World War One, basically equivalent to Bavaria's Milit?rverdienstorden and Baden's Order of the Z?hringen Lion. W?rttemberg's awards were based on rank, so this grade would typically go to captains and majors. Lieutenants got the Knight 2nd Class. Lt. Colonels and some majors might get the Order of the W?rttemberg Crown with Swords. Enlisted men were stuck mainly with the Silver Military Merit Medal. And for some Third Reich context, here are a few of the more prominent TR personalities who had your grade, the Knight 1st Class: GFM Walther von Brauchitsch - also had the RKGFM Georg von K?chler - also had the RK (1, 30.09.39), Oakleaves (273, 21.08.43)GFM Erich von Lewinski gen. von Manstein - also had the RK (19.07.40), Oakleaves (209, 14.03.43), Swords (59, 30.03.44) GFM Erwin Rommel - also had the Pour le m?rite (10.12.17), RK (43, 27.05.40), Oakleaves (10, 20.03.41), Swords (6, 20.01.42), Diamonds (6, 11.03.43); W?rttemberg Milit?r-Verdienstorden (08.04.15)GFM Hugo Sperrle - also had the RK (17.05.40); W?rttemberg Milit?r-Verdienstorden (21.06.15)Generaloberst Ludwig Beck Generaloberst Werner Freiherr von FritschGeneraloberst Curt Haase - also had the RK (08.06.40); W?rttemberg Milit?r-VerdienstordenGeneraloberst Georg Lindemann - also had the RK (162, 05.08.40), Oakleaves (275, 21.08.43) Generaloberst Richard Ruoff - also had the RK (30.06.41); W?rttemberg Milit?r-VerdienstordenGen. d. Inf. z.V. Hans Schmidt - also had the RK (530, 22.09.41), Oakleaves (334, 24.11.43), DKiG (06.11.42); W?rttemberg Milit?r-VerdienstordenGen. d. Art. Hans Behlendorff - also had the RK (562, 11.10.41)Gen. d. Inf. Walther Fischer von Weikersthal - also had the RK (06.08.41); W?rttemberg Milit?r-Verdienstorden; W?rttemberg Goldene Milit?r-VerdienstmedailleGen. d. Inf. Hermann Geyer - also had the RK (25.06.40); W?rttemberg Milit?r-VerdienstordenGenlt. Otto Ottenbacher - also had the RK (13.08.41); W?rttemberg Milit?r-VerdienstordenGenlt. Hans Graf von Sponeck - also had the RK (14.05.40)

Just to be clear. This is not a neck badge. This is the Knight 1st Class. The Friedrich Order's suspension is a little odd, making it look like a neck badge. This is a Commander's Cross, the neck badge: The most obvious differences are the size and the blue enameled ring around the center medallion with the "GOTT UND MEIN RECHT" motto. $400 is a good price for the Knight 1st Class, especially cased, even with the little enamel crack.

The design is obviously a crude copy of the Order of Devotion from Syria. The obverse of the Syrian order states al-sharaf wa al-akhlaas, or "Honor and Devotion." The reverse of the Syrian order has the letters "J . S", for al-jamhuuriyya al-suuriyya, or Syrian Republic. On yours, that second letter is not a shiin. The three dots for a shiin are above the letter, not below. The dots there appear to be a mess-up of the single dot on the Syrian order, which is just the period between the two letters. You can see the Syrian order here, at David Devine's site: http://rustyknight.topcities.com/Wisam.htm

That is proper Prussian precedence. The DA-Kreuz took precedence over campaign medals. For Prussian campaign medals, precedence was: - D?ppeler-Sturmkreuz 1864 - Alsen-Kreuz 1864 - Kriegsdenkm?nze 1870/71 - Erinnerungskreuz " K?niggr?tz," "Der Main-Armee 1866" or "Treuen Kriegern 1866" (only one could be worn) - Kriegs-Denkm?nze 1864 - Hohenzollernsches Denkm?nze 1848/49 When the various colonial-era medals - Kolonial-Denkm?nze, S?dwestafrika-Denkm?nze, China-Denkm?nze - were added, they came after the KDM 1864 and before the Hohenzollernsches Denkm?nze.

Jason, aside from the KVM that's an interesting combination. Combatant EK and Friedrich August Cross, with combatant Ehrenkreuz f?r Frontk?mpfer, plus the Red Cross Medals and a non-combatant Hungarian WW1 Commemorative. Front half says combat soldier and back half says medic.

Nice group! Has anyone ever seen a double-Danish medal bar, with both the 1848-49 war and 1864 represented? I know Baden, Bavaria, Braunschweig, Schaumburg-Lippe, Mecklenburg-Schwerin, Nassau, Oldenburg, Reuss, Saxony, Saxe-Altenburg, Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, Schleswig-Holstein, Waldeck and W?rttemberg all had service medals or campaign crosses for the first conflict, or at least for Eckernf?rde. Does anyone know of others? I always assumed, for no good reason, that Prussia's Hohenzollernsche Denkm?nze and Anhalt-Bernburg's Alexander Carl-Denkm?nze were for either the war with Denmark or the suppression of the Revolutions of 1848, or solely for the latter, but I realize I don't actually know.

Add Bulgarian. One of the breast stars looks like it might be the National Order for Military Merit. Also, the medal at the end of the medal bar may not be a Spanish MMO, but a Bulgarian Order of St. Alexander. It's hard to tell.

Another photo of Olbricht:

Most awards and most highly decorated are not the same thing. However, among the core conspirators, he was probably the most highly decorated. If you count Erwin Rommel, though, he would be much more highly decorated. Olbricht was one of the limited number of recipients of the Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes and one of the highest Imperial German military awards - in his case, the Military St. Henry Order of Saxony. Rommel had the RK and two of the highest Imperial awards, the Prussian Pour le Merite and the W?rttemberg Military Merit Order. Alexander von Falkenhausen, another person close to the conspirators, has the Pour le Merite but no RK. Hans Oster, a core conspirator, had the Military St. Henry Order but no RK. Olbricht's medal bar shows the EK2 1914 with 1939 Spange, the "Saxon trio" (MSHO, Merit Order and Albrecht Order) with another award mixed in in third place (possibly the 1939 KVK2x), the Ehrenkreuz f?r Frontk?mpfer, two Dienstauszeichnungen, and some other awards, including a Spanish order at the end. The breast stars appear to be a mix of Romanian, Spanish and Italian.

The second-to-last, red with yellow edges, is the Russian Order of St. Anne. The last is the Serbian Charity Cross. I suppose it's possible that a German might have gotten this, but its proper ribbon is pale blue, not whatever shade of puked-up orange juice that is.

There is only one type. The ribbons are the same. Orange-red center stripe with thinner stripes of yellow, orange-red and white radiating outward to the edges. The only difference I see is that on Jens' bar the ribbon stock must have been too red. Baden's colors were yellow and red, but the particular shade of red is pretty orange-ish. The medal was made of zinc, the center was silver-washed and the arms were gold-washed. But these were wartime production and weren't done well. Here is about as clean an example as I have ever seen:

And for someone who wasn't in the war. If the combination is military (I have no idea what civilians might have qualified for the Centenary Medal), probably a turn-of-the-century Hauptmann.

Another, by someone who spared some expense putting together his bar.

One more combination. An enlisted man who stayed on a few extra years beyond the two wars.

I suppose I can add something anyway:

Why do I always have to be the nitpicker? Not Saxon, but Grand Duchy of Saxe-Weimar. Unless the context is clear (e.g., "Saxon duchies" when referring to the three duchies of Saxe-Altenburg, Saxe-Coburg-Gotha and Saxe-Meiningen), to avoid confusion the term "Saxon" should be reserved for the Kingdom of Saxony. By the way, really nice bar. The Silver Merit Medal with Clasp and Swords (silberne Verdienstmedaille mit Bandschnalle und Schwertern), the Saxe-Weimar equivalent of the 1870 Iron Cross, is pretty uncommon. Saxe-Weimar's enlisted EK equivalent in World War One, the General Honor Decoration with Clasp and Swords (Allgemeines Ehrenzeichen mit Bandschnalle und Schwertern), is patterned after this award. Interestingly, Saxe-Weimar's regiment, IR 94, fought at W?rth, Sedan, and Orl?ans, but none of those bars are present. By the combination, the bar may have belonged to someone in another Saxon or Thuringian unit in the XII (Saxon) Army Corps. So maybe there's no nit to pick after all, as the recipient might have been a Weimeraner (the person, not the dog) in a Saxon unit or a Saxon who otherwise drew the Grand Duke's attention.

By the way, here is an article I wrote explaining what each of the clasps to the 1870-71 KDM were for: http://home.att.net/~david.danner/militaria/KDM_1870-71.htm It's sort of a clasp-driven summary history of the Franco-Prussian War.

IIRC = Internet speak for "If I remember correctly"

Andy, that's the second time I made that type of error. For some reason on another forum I wrote that the Army DSC for Afghanistan was posthumous even though I had actually seen the officer in question being decorated. Major league brain fart there. The Air Force Crosses were both posthumous, and somewhere I did manage to put together a list of most Air Force Silver Stars for Afghanistan.

IIRC, I got it when the euro was pretty weak (around $0.80) so it was cheaper than it otherwise would have been.

My only big one, with 1864 there to join 1866 and 1870-71:

I picked up on eBay a few years ago this set of four bars, obviously removed from a medal bar (the seller didn't have anything else, and wasn't the one who broke it apart):

Another simple one, without the 1866:

Nothing not to like. As you note, a lot of history and in great condition. To keep it going: Although the mounting styles are a little different, this one mirrors yours with a twist. The Centenarmedaille and the KDM for the Franco-Prussian War, and an 1866, but from the other side. In this case, Bavaria.

Technically, the bar is not over 130 yrs old. It dates from 1897 or just after, when, in honor of the centennial of the birth of Kaiser Wilhelm I, the Centenary Medal was issued to all active military personnel and veterans of the Wars of Unification. The other medals themselves, though, were probably the soldier's earlier issued ones newly mounted with the Centenary.