avadski

Last one says that both the award certificate and cross are copies for collectors. At least some honesty there.

Another one from same seller...

Hi, how can you tell it's an 1870 commemorative medal and not 1935 honor cross? There appears to be the centenary medal at the very end - that would perhaps mark his start date around 1897. I can imagine a long service cross for 24 years next to it... Just asking and trying to learn as i'm no expert on these 🍺

Thanks Andreas for looking that up! Unbelievable that it's real.

I spotted this on reddit - supposedly a bar that belonged to Major Hermann Miller, an adjutant to prince Rupprecht. Some internet sources say that Ruprecht's adjutant was actually Otto von Stetten (pictured with his medal bar on the B&W photograph below) but Rupprecht probably had couple of adjutants during his lifetime so who knows. Nevertheless is the bar ok? Or is it just one of those monster bars sometimes offered on eBay? 19 awards must have been pretty uncomfortable to carry. Original link:

Styria has lots of white/green ribbons up to these days, maybe they had them in the past as well...

Is it actually a ribbon? Seems more like some sort of fabric lying between the metal part and an actual (missing) ribbon? Try peeking under the other ribbons maybe it's there too.. 🤔

Me as a civilian can say that if you called it a "Military Service Book" then I'd have a pretty good idea what it is. Since it contained personal data, promotions, units served, battle participation and much more it basically covered soldiers entire military career i.e. military service.

Thank you guys! Very informative, much appreciated.

Hi, in one of my MVK award documents I can read the following: Krankenvärter der Reserve-Sanitäts-Kompagnie No.1 Sebastian Riedersberger. Could any of the native German speakers tell me who exactly a "Krankenvärter" was? Google translates it as medical nurse, so do we have a male equivalent of a medical nurse here? Thanks very much in advance.

This MVK is the first model (out of 3) in the production of Jacob Leser (a fairly rare piece). The nut holding the swords is either missing or was damaged and sort of repaired at some point in time. There is also a possibility that this cross was initially awarded without swords and they were only added later (Note that this is the only model which was handed out without swords - any other variation from this maker you find without swords got them removed by monkey fingers)

Hello Heiko, records show he was there since Sept. 1914 till at least June 1916 (that's when he got his MVK). Unfortunately the locations are not readable, I'm pretty sure one of them starts with "Kaisers...." which would point to Koblenz but as far as I know that HQ moved from there already in August... Thanks.

Hello Gerd, thanks very much for your reply, much appreciated! In the meantime I found an article on Wikipedia saying: Stabswache[Bearbeiten | Quelltext bearbeiten] Als Ehren- und Schutzwache des Großen Hauptquartiers hatte die Stabswache drei Teile: Die Kavalleriestabswache war eine zusammengesetzte Schwadron mit ausnahmslos adeligen Offizieren. Sie diente rein repräsentativen Zwecken. Die Infanteriestabswache hatte den Wachtdienst in und um die „Kaiservilla“, vor Hindenburgs Wohnsitz, vor den Unterkünften der „Allerhöchsten“ Besucher und vor demGeneralstabsgebäude. Die Artilleriestabswache....... I think you don't need translation My original assumption of what the guy did during wartime was pretty accurate as it seems per the Wiki article that Kavallerie's role was mostly representative. I'd say there's a pretty big chance he met some of the great names like Ludendorf or Hindenburg in person. Thanks also for the link. Regards, Viliam.