Valter

Beautiful pieces here, gentlemen! I have only one, humble and common example of this award... Noor, yes, the double crown was used only on Karl pieces. Karl desperately tried to keep the collapsing empire together and this reflected also in some awards, where he tried to make them less "german" and more "multicultural" as his country was. Double crown on Signum laudis is one example, the other is change of the language on bravery medals - from German "Tapferkeit" to neutral latin "fortitudini".

That seems a reasonable explanation... I was thinking about some chemical reaction from yellow centenary ribbon, but that would probably affect the other half of the ribbon too?

and the reverse of Braunschweig spange... Thanks for looking!

Dear Gentlemen, I would like to get some opinions about these two spanges. With the first one (6) bothers me the sloppy arangement of ribbons. The Franco-prussian medal should not be there, but this could be changed later and doesn't make it necessary bad. The other problem is the uneven wear and tear to medals - EK2 is quite soiled, but Hindi and Prussian war effort are almost mint. Is the combination possible at all? The second one (Braunschweig) looks good to me, but I would like to get an opinion from ecpert members. Thank you very much for your input. Regards, Valter

What can I say - a real beauty!!! :love: I really like these colorful Baden ribbons. What's the cross on far right? 25 years service?

and reverse - hooks are maker marked "Nicholis" Ribbons are: 1. Officer's military merit cross with war decoration OR Signum laudis 2. Bravery medal (klass undistinguishable) OR some other decoration - this is a very common AO ribbon 3. Karl's troop cross 4. 1912-13 mobilisation cross

Maybe a bit off-top'ic, but I'd like to show a tipical AH ribbon bar, made of full-size ribbons.

Thanks Sascha! It appears real silver in hand, and I got it as such.. But I really appreciate expert's opinion! :cheers:

Finally, the loop. Thanks for any opinions. Regards, Valter

another side...

I know this is a common medal, but it never hurts to get an experts opinion. What bothers me is the fact that on most Baden verdienst medals the loop is closed (beanie-shaped), but this one is attached only of two points (C-shaped) - I hope you understand what I mean. Thanks alot for looking!

Sascha, you're right. I wasn't aware of this 1908 medal for inhaber-regiments... It is not listed in several lists of AH decorations and I always thought the sistem is simple: 1898 - medal, 1908 - cross, different ribbons for different recipients and that's it. Thanks for explaining this!

You meant full size 1912-13 mobilisation cross? Cut or folded in half - that could be an option. If we assume this guy was Austrian, the 6th ribbon could be not Luebeck, but AH 1898 medal for state officials... He could be still on some rear duty during WW2 at his 60-65, earning KVK2OX. But why only 25 years service cross, not 40? Maybe he discontinued service / state employment (hence no AH 1908 jubilee medal)? And what's the 4th blue ribbon? How could he earn Prussian LS if (IF!) he was mobilised in AH army in 1912-13?! This combination seems impossible for me with AH 1912-13 mobilisation cross... or am I missing something?

Good picture Sebastijan!!! This is from an oath-swearing ceremony. As you can see, the flag is of marine type (anchor in the star) and on one side the inscription is latin, on the other cyrilic. The officers are in ground units uniform, and without marine-infantry sleeve badge, what seems a bit odd.

Russian St. George /Soviet glory etc. had black and orange ribbons, not yellow. Black & yellow (gold) are colors of Austro-Hungarian empire, which was sometimes colloquially called "Black&yellow monarchy". But 1912-13 mobilisation cross had two black stripes on each side of ribbon, what is not like this one. The 5th ribbon here was (supposed to be) probably from some AH long service or jubilee decorations. It would make sense on the bar IF that would be 1908 jubilee cross FOR FOREIGNERS, which was awarded also to members of regiments whose honorary chief was Franz Joseph or some other member of Austrian royal house. If we omit the fact that the proportions of black and yellow stripes on this ribbon are not correct for AH long service/jubilee awards. Check here: http://www.medals.pl/at/at1.htm One more thing I noticed: there appears to be at least two tipes of stitching thread - black (or two blacks - thick and thin?) and some lighter color. Is this just a coincidence (which would rarely happen to professional bar maker, IMHO) or on purpose? Regards, Valter

I apologize if this is a bit off topic, but this seller sells also several very similar veteran association's mounted crosses (beside football pictures and other stuff). These crosses look good to me at first glance, but I notice they all have very similar reverse hardware (safety pin and light sew-in hook) so I wonder if these are fake too? http://shop.ebay.de/ludwigderbayer1/m.html?_trkparms=65%253A12%257C66%253A2%257C39%253A1%257C72%253A4881&rt=nc&_trksid=p3911.c0.m14.l1513&_pgn=1

For me, it sucks, not only for combination, but also for sloppy worksmanship. Off-centered wreath, swords are in the line of drunker's walking... Such a highly decorated officer (if he would exist!) would never put such a lousily made bar on his uniform. Not to mention that ALL ribbons have swords or other devices... Here's the link with more pics... http://cgi.ebay.de/9er-Feldspange-Sachsen-Baden-Anhalt-Auflagen-Orden-EK-/300547919062?pt=Militaria&hash=item45fa0d4cd6

There's a dealer in Canada (Slovenian guy) who sometimes has these medals (possibly not awarded pieces, but (genuine) leftovers from the defuncted producer) - drop him a note and maybe you'll get some: http://shop.ebay.com/militaryauctionhouse/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1&_from=&_ipg=&_trksid=p3686

Nice picture, what's the source? I don't have any of those flags in a collectuion, and never held one in my hands. I guess they are hard to find, as the post-SFRJ (Serbian) units kept them or gave them to museums etc. However, only the air force lag (bottom left) is of a pasrticular unit (96th air force regiment), the others on the picture are "generic" flags with no specific unit. Probably the unit name was on the other side?

There's a very similar one, openly sold as a copy. So we should expect another members of this "family" to turn up on the market. http://cgi.ebay.de/WWI-Kolonialdenkmunzen-Bandauflage-5-reihig-Kopie-/300482037025?pt=Militaria&hash=item45f6200521

Christer, this one looks convincing, but I'm not expert on these. Usual fakes have thin needle pin. And there's a second class cross sold openly as a copy - the deformed arms should be an obvious give-away, but it never hurts to add the image to fake galery. http://cgi.ebay.de/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=130482211123&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT

Gentlemen, thank you very much for your input! Maybe it was not the wisest purcase, but it will surely be fun and excitement by completing it. Of course I will post the final product. Regards, Valter

and the backside. Sorry for crappy cellphone pictures, my camera gave up but I'd rather buy another medal than camera :speechless:

another view...

Ribbons from the backside...