Solomon

Oh I have a picture of Lammers in my collection.
No.3 is the Lippe-Detmold house order with swords (no idea which class, as he is wearing the 2nd class at the neck)
No.4 is the Lippe-Detmold war merit cross.

...and I know, why he got the Lippe-Detmold house order 2nd class with swords:

There was recently an interesting article in our local newspaper about it.
The adjudant and personal friend of the former Prince Leopold IV of Lippe-Detmold Georg Freiherr von Eppstein got arrested and deported by the Nazis in 1942.

Leopold IV. tried to convince Lammers that von Eppstein would be allowed to emigrate to The Netherlands, which was denied.
For this Lammers received for sure the 2nd class of his house-order without success.
Georg von Lammers died in the KZ Teresienstadt in 1942.

...and another intersting fact:
Lammers was in the same regiment as von Eppstein during WW1.

Here is the article about the Lammers-von Eppstein story (in German):

https://www.westfalen-blatt.de/OWL/Kreis-Lippe/Detmold/3696981-Briefe-zeigen-Lippes-letzter-Herrscher-wollte-Freund-vor-dem-KZ-bewahren-Enkel-kauft-Grab-Wie-der-Fuerst-um-das-Leben-eines-Juden-kaempfte

I won´t exclude this at all.

This cross came along with a mixture of other badges / awards (see picture below) from a private person for small money.

Already the mixture of two British awards from WW1 and WW2 with a badge of a German veteran´s meeting from 1936
was quite unusual and the seller had no idea from where these medals / crosses were coming except that these ones were coming from her grandmother 35 years ago.

BR.
Roman

I know the usual iron propaganda crosses "For Kaiser", "For Kultur" etc....it might be a biker´s cross or decoration,
but it is at least 35 years old.

IMO for a biker´s cross it is too ugly...a quite strange piece.

Hello,

this little (ugly) fellow came along with two British stars and I´m wondering if it is a propaganda IC or one of the crosses, you could buy in UK for money during WW1?

The cross is unmagnetic, quite heavy (17,6 grams), smaller than the original equivalent and crooked / non-symetric.
The core is black painted.

Can anybody help me with some additional information or maybe pictures of a similar cross?
I´m pretty sure, that it is quite old, not a modern fake.

Thanks in advance.

BR
Roman

Wow, thank you for the additional information...quite interesting!

Thanks for your help, which is really appreciated.

Unfortunately there are no more additional information from the seller (private person) on this cross and the rest of the badges and awards which were sold with this one.

I will show you, once the stuff arrived.

BR
Roman

Hi,

I just got offered and bought the 1914-15 star medal shown below.
In my opinion it should be an original award, or?

Now I need some help in identifying the previous owner.

I read

2262
L-Cpl. J.Botham,
Linc.R.

L-Cpl. should stand for Lance Corporal (J.Botham)...does Linc.R. mean Royal Lincolnshire Regiment?

What would be the value of this medal, as it is definitely not my area of collection.

Thanks in advance.

BR

Roman

No, a Lippe-Detmold war merit cross 1st class doesn´t exist...but it pretty much looks like a Lippe-Detmold cross for heroic deeds, like the attached one. In addition the guy wears also the ribbon for the war merit cross Lippe-Detmold.
Do I see correctly a "55" on the shoulder of the upper left guy?

If yes, everything would fit, as the 55 infantry-regiment was the one from Lippe-Detmold.

Best regards

Roman

On 28/12/2019 at 05:49, Paul R said:

This is the first time Ive seen that medal on a bar.  How many times was it awarded?  Is it a valor medal?

No, not only a valor award, it was also awarded by non-combatants, e.g. teachers.
It was somehow turned into a valor award for the veterans of the war 1870/71 by spending later the swords for the ribbon.

Tztztz...lovely nice little bar...everything fits including the swords on the ribbon (showing that the former owner awarded
the silver cross during the war 1870/71 and "awarded" in 1912 as a veteran).

By the way, here is a very similar medalbar from my collection, unfortunately without swords....

Best regards
Roman

Thanks for the correction...you are right...

By the way, with Google Maps I found the place, where this picture was taken...there is still a restaurant with the same name.

Regards

Roman

Nice idea....here is a rare one from my collection (snapshot of my great grandfather):

A marine officer is greating together with some paratroopers an officer of the Luftwaffe (see flag on the car).
The marine officer is also wearing the Kuban shield...

Hi Dave,

difficult question, which only can be answered with the help of the award receipts (stored in the archive).
In general since 1915 the LMVM was lower ranked than the LK, which was usually awarded together with the IC2.
But even here exceptions exist, as I have documents in my collection stating the LMVM award and later the award of the IC2,
without having the LK.

By the way, formely the LMVM without swords on the medal was only awarded y high ranked officers and was turned in 1915 into a medal for the troops.
Officers got during the WW1 at least the LK and / or the house-order.

Regards
Roman

Just discovered this nice topic regarding Sturm-Bataillon....

I also have to contribute something from my collection, directly received from the descendants of

Fritz Kleineges, Wachtmeister at Sturmbat. No.5 (Rohr) / Haubitzen-Batterie

- award document for Lippe-Detmold cross for heroic deeds (received on 11th June 1918)
- the rest of his awards (IC1, black wound-badge, Feldehrenzeichen)

Regards
Roman

Hi gents,

I would like to show you a quite rare picture of
Prince Woldemar zur Lippe-Detmold,
who was ruling the principal Lippe-Detmold from 1875-1895.

Pictures of him are quite rare...on this one he is wearing the uniform of a "Rechtsritter des Johanniter-Orden" ?

Regards
Roman

To be honest I don´t know exactly.
I think I was reading somewhere, that these medals were given during a visit of the Prince to "his" soldiers, as the IR 55 was always considered as the Lippe-Regiment.
My guess would be a retrospective ceremony.

18 hours ago, laurentius said:

Dear Solomon,

lovely bar, as always. I do have one question, did the Military Merit Medal always have to be returned after receiving the war merit cross? Only yesterday I saw a lovely medalbar with both.

Kind regards, Laurentius

Hello Laurentius,

thank you ?

I asked a very good question, which already caused 100 years ago a quite significant confusion.

In fact, following the statutes, the military merit medal was awarded, when the deeds of the soldier were not sufficent enough to receive the war merit cross (and / or the Prussian Iron Cross).
But especially at the beginning of the war (1914-1916) almost nobody returned his military merit medal after receiving the cross and even the "Staatsministerium" was unsure about the returning procedure.
So the Prince was officially asked about it and in 1917 the "Militärkabinett" sent an official letter to the Staatsministerium
in order to clearify that the medal had to be returned after receiving the cross (I have a copy of this letter in my files).
If you go through the receipts of the military merit medal you will find various stamped receipts, stating that the medal was returned after awarding the cross.
To summarize...some did it and some not. That´s why you find medalbars with both awards as well.

There was only one exception: In 1915 the Prince ordered to award 55 wounded soldiers of the IR 55 with the military merit medal (without swords!), used more like a wound badge...these 55 medals had not to be returned!.

Below you will find an example of such a stamped receipt of the war merit cross.

I hope, I explained it in an understandable way...quite complicate topic.

Regards
Roman

Here is a medalbar from Lippe-Detmold, showing the silver merit-cross Brunswig at its end.
The 2nd place is empty (ribbon of the military merit medal Lippe-Detmold), as it had been returned after receiving the war merit cross Lippe-Detmold.

Regards
Roman

Yes, I guess he received the golden merit cross for his retirement, as he was already 65 years old, when he got it.

Hi Claudio,

I took a closer look on the list and I count even 31 candidates, who awarded the combination silver + golden merit cross Schaumburg-Lippe (and I already deleted the entries with other known awards).
So there are even more possible candidates, as the Schaumburg rolls unfortunately don´t show their birthdays (with which
at least some can be excluded)....nevertheless a really nice medalbar!

On 22/09/2019 at 18:37, VtwinVince said:

Don't show that one to Roman!

Haha...it´s "only" Schaumburg-Lippe, so I´m pretty relaxed.
 

I have the (incomplete) rolls for Schaumburg-Lippe here, but there are already more than 20 possible candiates (incl. Adolf Krauß), who got beside the golden merit cross also the silver one.
So the identification of this bar might be not possible.

Regards
Roman

Dear all,

I would like to show you the latest receipt to my collection (maybe you also saw the auction on Ebay).

This quite unusual medalbar was, due to its awards, quite easily IDable.
The former owner can only be the Gendarm (police-officer) Casimir Ignatz Hasse from Salzuflen, as he was the only candidate with a fitting age.
He was born on 27th March 1841 in Sabbenhausen (Lippe-Detmold) and he awarded the folllowing medals/orders:

- Lippe-Detmold Goldenes Verdienstkreuz / golden merit cross (25th September 1906 / No. 91 of the list) // early version in gold

- Lippe-Detmold Silbernes Verdienstkreuz / silver merit cross (18th April 1886 / No. 295 of the list)

- Lippe-Detmold Feldzugsmedaille 1866 / war memorial medal 1866 (awarded in 1867)

- Preußen Erinnerungskreuz Mainarmee 1866 / Prussia war memorial cross Mainarmee 1866

- Preußen Erinnerungsmedaille für Kämpfer 1870/71 / Prussia war memorial medal for combatants 1870/71

- Lippe-Detmold Goldene Verdienstmedaille / golden merit medal (awarded on 9th June1898 / No. 36 of the list)

- Lippe-Detmold Erinnerungsmedaille an den Einzug des Grafregenten Ernst 1897 / Throne-medal 1897 (No. 143)

- Preußen Centenarmedaille 1897 / Prussia century medal 1897

In the original state the golden merit medal Lippe-Detmold was missing (see also the picture of it below), I added another one from my collection for this scan.
To proof that Hasse was the former owner, I also added an extract of his receipt for the golden merit cross (chronologically the last award),
where he listed all shown awards.

I hope you, like it as I do ?

Regards
Roman

Here is another small contribution...
- war honor medal Lippe-Detmold for NC
- house-order 4th class div. A Lippe-Detmold (made by C.F. Zimmermann, late piece)

? Nice ribbonbar...would fit exactly in my collection!

On his revers for the LDH4 with swords Robert Franz Strehle noted in the column "other awards and orders" on 12th September 1917:
E.K.2
Pr.K.O.4
Bayr.Mil.Verd.Ord. 4 m. Schw.
Würtb. Ritterkr. I Kl. m. Schw. des Friedr.Ord.
Lipp.Kr.Verd.Kr.
Hamb.Hanseaten Kr.
Hess.Kr.Ehrenzeichen

Regards
Roman

Haha, luckily just a Schaumburg house-order on it....