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This would be a quite rare knight 1st class with crown. Since the crown was only issued 1901 the periode for its award was not long. 664 Silver gilt ones and 33 golden ones have been awarded.

The actual number of surviving pieces must be a lot lower, since most of the crown recipients received the swords to the knight 1st with crown during WWI. Hence, the decorations had to be returned and given out again with swords.

This example is one of the earlier Scharffenberg pieces. They also ecist with the 3 piece medaillon.

Here a very nice Godet made Grand Cross star 1st model:

...and the reverse:

notice: no "S" on needle since both have real golden applications.

Also very interesting are the design phases of the grand cross stars. Here an star bady from 1840-50 on the right and the regular 1900 star body on the left. The early one was definetly adapted from a 1st model piece, meaning, they used the silver body and exchanged the center:

Dear Claudio,

thank you very much for your kind words. I totally agree, seeing is good, but having those decorations in hand is essential. I have always tried to attend as many auctions, medal fairs, collectors meetings as possible - and you are right, it is much easier to do this in Europe. Being in the US for some time now makes it a bit more difficult to meet with our kind of people. I still make a point of going to the annual OMSA meeting and at least to the SOS in Louisville, KY. The last one is actually driving distance for me (6-7 hours one way ). It is always worth it. Not just from seeing things, but more important for the networking portion.

Thos Albert pictures are unfortunately all from my old photo archive. All is gone - the price of college those days.

Anyway, here is a better picture of the "Kleinkreuz mit Schwertern" by Rothe from the 1870/71 war. Nicely dressed up on a trifold ribbon:

Those are two very nice late WWI Godet pieces. Here the Rose made cross with the seperate griffin:

the reverses:

Here a commander star with swords comparision (from my old photo archive):

Left the earlier type (still WWI) with the medaillon disk being two parts and right the later type with the medaillon disk being in one part. Both have silver gilt applications. The "S" on the needle indicates that.

This thread gets really Roesner heavy. Lets change to the 1st model for a minute. A Commander or Grand Cross with swords, made by Moritz Elimeyer:

I never had stars in my old collection with swords. Maybe somebody else can help?

Hi,

During the mobile warfare of 1914 he was a despatch rider carrying messages from the brigade to the front under enemy fire. The brigade saw some heavy action in this period, no easy job!

The 1st class must be related to his work on the staff where he seems to have had a rather important position, all his letters from superiors are glowing reports. From his records he had EK2, wound badge and the bavarian M.V.K. 3rd and 2nd class. (and tried for the 1st).

This was quicker then I could add the following:

"Just kidding. A bicycle messenger was no easy job"

Anybody who has remotly done some off-road biking can imaging that lead in the air takes all the fun away from biking.

But come on, cut me some slack here. It sounds funny as being German reading this in German: Radfahrer!

Well, my guess Andreas would be "He who can supply quality at the best price"? Economics is economics after all! ;>)

Correct, but Prussia and Bavaria were never to close....one would assume that this kind of work would go the patriotic way.

So Ludwig Weiss got his MVK 3 with swords because of: "T?chtigkeit und Unerschrockenheit als Radfahrer der Brigade", at least this is what it says on the Vorschlagliste?! No wonder they turned him down for the 1st class , and no wonder the 3rd class is so common.

P.S.: in english:"Proficiency and intrepidness as bicyclist of the brigade"

Just kidding. A bicycle messenger was no easy job

Albatros Werke GmbH

That would be very interesting. Early marketing !!!? Like: "I can only shoot down enemy aircraft flying an Albatros fighter plane !!!"

It still strikes me that the manufacturer of this badge is Poellath in Schrobenhausen, BAVARIA. Why would Albatros, being situated in Johannistal by Berlin, outsource in China, pardon, Bavaria?

Nice to see so many early and rare variations. I have tons more photos of what my Albert Collection was... but most are pretty small. The limits of 8 year old technology ;>)

Same here. What an ordeal it was to take pictures with SRL cameras and light tent....the results are horrific compared to today's technology.

I will still try to scan some of those picture for this thread. It is getting quite interesting.

I am sure everybody heard about the model change because of the initial order showing the wrong person on the medaillon. Here is the silver medal in case, first model:

...above labels where glued to this case:

Most Albert order cases have labels on their bottoms, indicating the manufacturer of the case, order and ribbon:

This is indeed fun with the Albert Order. One of the interesting things is that this order is one of the few ones where multiple classes of the same order could be worn simultaniously:

no name unfortunately. Maybe somebody can help....?

to makes things complete:

Quite rare as well is this Grand Cross star with swords made by Roesner:

Here now the early issue version of the golden star with swords. please pay special attention to the double wreath on the center medaillon. this one of course is made by Scharffenberg:

Sorry for the picture quality, but this is from my old photograph archive.

...and a nice example of a commander or grand cross (those are equal in size) in gold with silver gilt swords. The ring is actaully replaced, but....:

The crown of rue on the coat of arms is seperate to the coat of arms themselfs!

...and of course the reverse, showing the typical Glaser & Sohn design:

Oh boy, I used to collect those before I went to college and had to live off my collection.

Very interesting and those days (talking 80th) very inexpensive. The fall of the wall changed that.

Here a golden breast star with swords. This is a fine example of the 1918 produced low quality Glaser & Sohn star body with a high quality Scharffenberg center and swords. The order of Albert has a very strong affiliation to "LEGO". I will try to post the early verison later.

I am sure that the specialists already saw that the inner wreath on the medaillon center is missing. Not uncommon during the last war years.