Streptile

Hi Jim. Missed this post the first time around. I've emailed you my congratulations about this piece, but allow me to repeat them here. Great piece. A masterpiece of craftsmanship and design. Congratulations!

Do you have total confidence in your trade partner? Just checking because that bar is currently for sale on a dealer's site. Anyway, I'm pretty sure that's a good bar.

Magnificent piece!

The medals look ok. The EK2 is a Godet.

Good original A Type.

Without good photos, it's not really possible to assess the ribbons, construction, or even really the awards.

Beautiful collection Rudi, congratulations.

This is my only Zähringer Löwen bar:

Very nice. Interesting that the combatant's bar seems to be a Frack. So in fact the EK2 is in the first place on both bars.

True. The 500-marked cross-shaped backplate is from a Meybauer EK1. It's a bit odd since the Meybauer is a much more desirable and valuable cross, but who knows why someone would swap the parts around some time within the last 100 years...

Good one, I agree.

Late to the thread, I know. That is a bad EK2.

The EK2, the KDM and the ZM are all original. As for the bar, it's a bit hard to say without a closer look. But the awards are good. Some original 1870 EK2s had a lug to affix the small ring to the frame, but most did not. Wagners, for example, did not.

Great bar, congratulations.

Very nice, congrats

GMIC member Paul C. published the book so I bet he can help you. I got mine on abebooks.com. They're not that easy to find.

Well, Red Eagle Orders and Hohenzollern House Orders are only "starter" awards if you have a decent budget, but they're definitely very nice. There are a lot of very beautiful medals under those high orders that would qualify as "starter" awards for a more modest budget. Have look through these web pages: Saxony Prussia They will give you an idea of what's out there to collect, some history and some pricing. This is beginner information, but you are a beginner, so it should be valuable. Not every award is listed but many are. The webmaster there does a very good job on his site. It's in German but it readily understandable with a rudimentary knowledge of the language.

You've been given recommendations to some of the old classic books. O'Connor's books discuss in some detail the people who earned the awards; H&S has great info (in German) about institution dates, history, ribbons, etc.; and the OEK will give you a rough idea of prices. I'd also add Eric Ludvigsen's Prussian and other Imperial German Award Statistics. But nothing on the list so far will help you with the different makers and types of awards, or distinguishing fakes from authentic pieces There is a whole new generation of books that is more focused on the awards themselves: Who made them? How to tell an award piece from a duplicate piece? How did the awards evolve over time with respect to materials and design? What do the originals look like? These are beautifully illustrated books. For recommendations on these titles, it would be helpful to know what you plan to collect because there are a few too many to list for every single German award. But the best place to start is Karsten Klingbeil's books, Orden 1700-2000. Prussia is Vol. 3 and Saxony is (I think) Vol. 4. Steve Previtera's book on the Pour Le Mérite (Prussian Blue) is also terrific. For the Iron Cross, Dr. Frank Wernitz's books are the best. All of these books have flaws but are pretty great anyway.

That was my first thought. I'd say +/- 20% of Frack bars I've seen have "normal" pins (catch on the left).

I think it's too common a combination to ID but I'm no expert.

The most unfortunate thing is that this is not true. I've found that unless a bar is identifiable, or if the combination is very unusual, it usually sells for less than the sum of its parts. Have others noticed a different pattern?

Very nice presentation and group; thank you.

Thank you Claudio. I love that HOH3X Spangenstück with the smoother reverse. I don't think I've ever seen one of those. Anyway, just a great story and great bar.

Great story and big congratulations on this major reunite, Claudio. Can you show a photo of the reverse of the bar?

With only about 600 awards of this type, I doubt there was ever a high demand for them. They're very rare. A good RAO4 should cost under $300, while a good award-type RAO4X would cost $2000+ if you can find one. So I guess the incentive is there for someone to fake it.