Beau Newman

And a Lubeck group withthe Zahringen Lion:

A Hamburg group with both the Prussian and Princely Hohenzollerns:

Posted elsewhwere but, one from Lippe:

A lot of enamel but, an NCO group all the same:

The best "tell" on the Military Merit Cross is the fact that all the WWI silver gilt ones were struck from a single pair of dies with a small flaw in the "T" on the reverse that got more pronounced the more they were used. I believe there is a very good article on Medalnets website that goes into this in detail.

If you can lift the edge of the ribbon or backing a bit, you may be able to tell if the blue has faded slightly in the exposed areas.

The reverse:

This showed up yesterday. It was a bit pricey but, I don't know when I'll ever find a nicer one.

Thanks!

That appears to be the 1918 Golden Jubilee Medal.

There is a price guide in German that is revised every couple of years by Jorg Nimmergut called "Deutsche Orden und Ehrenzeichen 1800-1945". This is known to collectors as the OEK. This is strictly an illustrated listing of awards with prices in Euros. It is usually available on the German ebay site. There is also a separate ribbon catalog.

Nimmergut has also published a huge 5 volume work in large format hard cover that has a great deal of information in German on each award. This is very expensive with used sets starting around $1000.

You can sometimes find copies of a reprint of Hessenthal & Schreiber's "Die Ehrenzeichen dei Deutschen Reich". This has a few black & white photos and extensive information on the medals. It is limited to medals and decorations (no orders).

In English, the best available is Neal O'Connors 7 volume "Aviation Awards of Imperial Germany in World War I", which is limited in scope to the 1914-18 period. The 1st 2 volumes are hard to find and expensive. Volumes 3 - 7 show up individually on ebay from time to time.

There are other books that focus on a particular award or state but, these are the best general references. Unfortunately, they can take considerable time and expense to round up.

Good luck

The reverse, showing the maker's label:

Here is the 2nd Class in a group. The Merit Order is a Scharffenburg piece simply marked "S" in the crook of the edge of the bottom arm. It includes the matching ribbon bar - he apparently never got around to adding the WWII MVK to his group.

A Godet example with the added hooks.

Definitely messed with. The campaign bars are unofficial WWI, not Franco-Prussian and the Hamburg Cross is definitely WWI. The EK is a bad repro.

I don't like the pin & it looks cast to me.

The pieces accepted as "issue" types have the same suspension as yours and the engraver's name "R. KOWARZIK" in raised letters just below the neck truncation. I can't tell from your photo if the name is there. It is scarce with both Nimmergut and Gert Efler showing a total number of awards of 300+ with slightly more going to women than men. It was awarded by the small German state of Waldeck for home front war relief and welfare service.

The top of the lid:

An old topic and the Olga Order has been shown but, I thought some of you would like to see a cased one:

I've posted this elsewhere but, here is a mounted group w/matching mini:

One theory I have heard is that Bavaria awarded the 4th Class with swords widely, even to recipients that had no particular connection to Bavaria. It is, by far, the most common of the wartime Knight's grade awards. However, they were much more restrictive on higher grades of the award, including the 4th Class with Crown & Swords. This would seem to explain the big dropoff in the numbers seen.

This is my only group with one and it is definitely a Bavarian.

Would a war aid medal really be mounted in front of an order of the red eagle?

Wartime awards were often placed ahead of peacetime awards, even house orders. The orange/white ribbon could also be a General Honor Decoration.

That is the Member's Eagle of the Royal (Prussian) Hohezollern House Order.

Nimmergut notes that 251 of the gold grade were awarded between 1861 and 1876 including 7 or 8 to "NCOs and Soldiers" for 1866 and 44 for 1870/71. I think, however, that this was primarily a civilian award for service to the crown or state.

Indeed I did. It is now residing in my gun safe.