Solomon

And the three medals 3th class together...

Bronze (awarded 1898-1916)

Steel (1916-1917)

Zinc (1917-1921)

Here is a really small one...

Here is also a original document for the vehicle master (Wagenmeister) August M?ller,

who awarded this medal on the 30 June 1910, shortly after it was spent.

The shown medal and the letter don?t really belong together,

but the date of manufacturing of this medal and the date of the letter are fitting well.

I hope you like this medal...if anybody has another medal, etc. feel free to show it ...

Greetings

Solomon

Back of the medal:

Hello,

I think, it?s time to show you once again a beautiful and rare order from the principal Lippe-Detmold:

This medal was spent at 29 February 1908 by Leopold IV.

It has to be returned when you got a higher class of the Leopold-Order.

It was worn at the left breast, but it was not allowed to wear the ribbon without the medal.

The silver medal to the Leopold-order was awarded only 331 times .

(and 84 golden and 335 bronzenen medails).

On the front, you can see Leopold IV and the inscription ?LEOPOLD IV F?RST ZUR LIPPE?

At the medals edge you can read ?SCHULZ F.? (F.=fecit), who designed this medal.

On the back you can read ?F?R VERDIENST? and two crossed laurel branch.

The red-white-red ribbon (silk) is the original ribbon.

The medal weighs exactly 12.5 grams, is made of silver, measures 28 mm in the diameter and is 2.5 mm thick.

The manufacturer of my medal is Carl B?sch from Hannover, who delievered between 1908 and 1914 this medal.

The two other manufactures were Godet and C F. Zimmermann, Pforzheim.

Here are my ICs 1st class:

1x KO (already sold)

1x KAG

1x SILBER (with special core...very rare!)

Greetings

Solomon

Here are my ICs:

1x KO

1x LW

2x WILM

1x U

1x Z

Greetings

Solomon

This is a interesting question.

I?m also actually searching for the award rolls for the cross for art and science 2nd class Schaumburg-Lippe.

If anybody can give a hint...

According to my information it is quite difficult to get any infos from the archive.

They are NOT public, like Lippe-Detmold.

Greetings

Solomon

Hi Solomon

very nice looking Cross but I can't help noticing that it suffered some damage at some time??

Kevin in Deva

Yes, you are right...at the upper cross-arm there is a small crack...but i?m not sure, if this might be a producing fault, because it almost looks unworn to me...

Greetings

Solomon

Rick, thank you for your information...the difficulty is, that none of his awards is really rare

(means less than 593 awards=silver merit medal)

Greetings

Solomon

a closer look at his awards...

He comes from Lippe (the photo was also taken in Lippe/Lemgo) and he is wearing:

at the medal bar:

-IC 2nd class 1914

-war honor cross Lippe-Detmold

-merit medal (quite sure from Lippe-Detmold, perhaps the silver merit medal)

-FA-cross 2nd class Oldenburg

at his uniform:

-IC 1st class 1914

-FA-cross 1st class Oldenburg

-wound badge, maybe black, form after 1918

and of course the war honor cross for heroic deeds Lippe-Detmold

Maybe Rick can help me to identify this person (by the rank list)

By the the way...this photo belongs NOT the the shown cross...i already own this photo much longer.

Greetings

Solomon

Last but not least a nice and very rare picture from a soldier who awarded this cross

I would start a quiz...when was this picture taken...but it might be too easy

This soldier belongs to the REICHSWEHR...it was taken after 1918 (the uniform and the wound badge are the hints)

A document (digital filled...it is normally blanc and wasn?t awarded...)

The cross

The closed case

This year starts with lots of surprises

I got this one very cheap from ebay, no idea why i got it so easy...

This cross was spent on 8th December 1914 by prince Leopold IV for heroic deeds in war.

The documents were signed by Leopold IV himself .

740 of these crosses were awarded. They havn?t to be returned after death.

The cross is made of bronce (painted golden).

It is a convex cross (size: 46x46mm / weight: 19,4 Gramm).

There was only one official manufactur: C.F. Zimmermann in Pforzheim.

The needle-system of my cross is typical for Zimmermann.

The case is an original one and looks like the cases for the IC 1st class.

It is wine-red and the Inlay is dark-blue with a cut for the needle.

The open case:

Thanks for your welcome ...

By now, I do not have that much real "beauties", but I'm still young

Am I allowed to post pictures? Are they very limited in size? I wasn't able to ...

Hi Sascha,

nice to see you here

I know that there are some beauties in your collection, don?t be so shy

Your english-teacher would be proud of you, when you improve your english by posting some items here

Greetings

Solomon

Hi Jerry,

it?s a nice post-war iron cross (1920-1930)...you can see it at the needle-system.

It is non-magnetic, isn?t it?

Greetings

Solomon

Thank you Deruelle. According to Nimmergut, there were 37 such awards.

Right, the "Lippe-book" confirms this number of awards...by the way...there were two makers of these crosses:

J.Godet & Sohn and C.F.Zimmermann

I like these crosses also very much...last year I missed the chance to get one (because of the price)

Greetings

Solomon

@ Solomon: Yes, you're completely right. Some of these medals from the little duchies or principalities are much rarer of a "sexy" (a least for many) Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes... Do you collect only Lippe?

No,no...my collection from Prussia is much bigger than from Lippe-Detmold.

There are also many photos and a few documents from my family (e.g. from my great grandfather) and

some WW II-awards (but I don?t really invest in this time)

But because I live next to Detmold, this principal is my favorite...

Greetings

Solomon

[...]

That's why sometimes a collector who wants to fill a gap in his very special collection would spend much more than the usual market price. Such bars were sold like peanuts at Thies auction houses and fetched very high prices.

I particularly liked this one (see below), but if I remember correctly, it went for much above of the 1'000.- Euros mark...

This bar came even with a name... Very nice indeed!

Ciao,

Claudio

Hi Claudio,

the prices for these awards of a small principality are high, that?s right.

But when you look at the number of awards and at the possibility how many still today exist, IMO the prices are quite fair.

For example, there is a nice golden merit-cross (Leopold-Orden) from C.F. Zimmermann at the bar you found in a catalogue...this cross was awarded only 107 times

Because of that I don?t think the price was too high...

(Maybe I?m also one of the insane collectors you mentioned )

Greetings

Solomon

I was an idiot to have ever sold this, but back in the mid 1990s, there were no award numbers available and-- who knew?

Scanned my "former baby" today with permission to share here with you all and most especially Solomon:

Really very,very nice bar of a non-combatant

The person who sold this rare example from Lippe-Detmold must be a crazy guy, I would never do that

Greetings

Solomon

Oh..there is one nice case, i?ve forgotten....no comment...guess what it is for...

...and, last but not least...silver merit medal Lippe-Detmold

Waldeck merit medal with swords