Great Dane

Interestingly, in the Norwegian State Calendar (1908), there are 2 v. Kessel in the same list... are these 2 different v. Kessels?

(I know members of noble families often had similar names and similar careers...)

Order of St. Olav, Grand Cross:

"v. Kessel, G. E. B. B., Prussian general. 15/12 1906"

Order of St. Olav, Commander 2nd Class:

"v. Kessel, G., Prussian general (infantry), aide to the Emperor, 2/7 1890."

Danish Order of Dannebrog:

Commander 1. class: 30. July 1888

Grand Cross: 19. Nov. 1906

I bet these listings will be removed "for violating ebay's policies", while the auctions with fakes he is referring to will stay... 

It looks like the Danish coat-of-arms for the 1903-1947 period.

I have seen this medal before, but can't place it precisely... surely something non-official. 

I think it's a medal associated with the Danish "Motorordonnanskorps" (a motorcycle based military messenger corps).

What about Lippe-Schaumburg Kreuz für Treue Dienste (non-combattant)?

Could it be one of the Austria-Hungary Assay City letters referenced here?

I have never come across anything official... the Centrale Personregister (CPR) would have the information, but is restricted and not open to public queries. Also it was created sometime in the 1960's, so wouldn't have older deaths registered anyway...

Sorry to not be of more help... 

What I normally do for any Danish 'non-celebrity' - provided he was decorated with the Order of Dannebrog - is to see when he disappears from the Court- and State-Calendars. Not a fool-proof method (those calendars are not 100% accurate), but 9 out of 10 times the result is valid.

This method only works for those awarded the Dannebrog before, say, 1960s, since newer calendars only list those that received the order in the previous year (i.e. not all living recipients).

Don't forget that adhering to regulations was not as strict when it came to miniature bars...

Sometimes what was used was what the jeweller had.

Another anomaly:

There should be no rosette on the Dannebrog ribbon as there was only one knight class at that time, but there are many examples of recipients 'dressing up' the one-class knight class with a rosette.

Well, I'm afraid of stating the obvious, but the middle one is not a Düppel cross, but an Alsen cros (same war, different battle).

OK, I see the subject line was changed, so you already know that 

Thank you. Much apprciated.

German awards are not my specialty.

I need some opinions from German WWI awards experts...

Some time ago I researched a Danish guy who was born and grew up in the part of Denmark, that between the 2nd Danish-Prussian war (1864) and the Plebiscite (1920) was part of Germany.
Thus in WWI he participated on the German side.

After some detective work in various personnel lists and biographies, his awards could be determined as:

• Iron Cross 2nd Class 1914 - awarded 1918
• Austria, Merit Cross (silver w/o crown) on war ribbon - awarded 1915
• Bulgaria, Medal of Merit (bronze w. crown) on war ribbon - awarded 1916
• Sachsen-Coburg-Gotha, Medal of Merit (silver w. swords) - awarded Oct. 1917
• Turkey, "Iftihar Madalyasi" (red/white ribbon) - awarded 1916

Recently I saw the bar below on auction, which appears to be a 100% match (even the year on the bar).

The question is, how unique would this combination be? Could it be attributed to him with some certainty or were these awards mostly "I was there" awards?

If the latter, I assume many of his fellow soldiers in the regiment would have the same bar?

Some years ago I created a Photoshop B/W filter (tweaking the R, G, B, C, M, Y and K channels) so they corresponded to the B/W photos of the 'past'. I calibrated it using a clear hi-res B/W photo from the period and had the exact bar in colour from an auction catalog.

I took a shot at these based on Wikipedia ribbons:

Color and 'converted' to B/W:

Note I didn't tweak the filter for this specific purpose, just used the filter I had already created as-is.

For comparison

Could it be the Africa General Service Medal (yellow has a tendency to appear very dark on these photos) and the one next to it could be the Naval General Service Medal (not the Africa medal)?

The list is for those awarded the lifesaving medal, but - as Andreas says - that Wichmann's profession is listed as "Schiffer" (i.e. skipper, sailor, bargee), so probably not your Baron Wichmann.

One question that puzzles me (I know nothing about Imperial German decorations):

Speaking of the one faker in question, are all the fakes of a specific decoration identical or does he even have variations in his fakes?

I believe it's for the "Spanish Cross for Next of Kin".

In Freud und Leid liebe(?) Kameraden

Franz

Bonn 6.9.24

According to the Swedish State Calender , he was awarded the GC of Vasa on Dec. 1st, 1879

Didn't Lukasz already answer that (in the other thread)?

Polish Polonia Restituta and USSR Order of Suvorov.

Based on how the stripes are distributed (in the B/W photo), last one might be the Belgian Croix de Guerre.

The inscription is: "Lýðveldi endurreist á Islandi 17. júni 1944" ("Republic restored in Iceland on June 17, 1944").

I don't think you can be 100% certain it was awarded to an Austrian.

I have a handful of other medals on triangular ribbons awarded to known recipients (and none of them Austrian) - from the 'pro' version with the hook (as yours) to more or less homemade trifolds.

I believe this ribbon shape became popular around 1880-1900 and was copied frequently.

The Sveinn Björnsson medal was instituted by decree of February 26th, 1953.

The Skalholt medal was instituted July 11th, 1963.

Björnsson medal:

"Awarded to persons who had worked for or with Sveinn Björnsson."

Second one:

"Heiðurspeningur til minningar um vígslu Skálholtskirkju og afhendingu Skálholtskirkju til þjóðkirkjunnar 1963" ("Commemorative Medal for the Inauguration of Skalholt Church 1963")

Medals awarded: 104

According to some research done in 2010, it was planned to be awarded during the inauguration - and a list of recipients was created - but was forgotten about(!). A few were unofficially 'awarded' on the inauguration day in 1963, but a stash was found in a box in a government building - medals, cases, award documents (unnamed but signed) - in 2010.

I did not know about the Icelandic Crisis Response Force Medal... I assume it's an official one?

Do you know about the medals for Iceland's Red Cross?

Two classes - Class 1 to be worn around the neck and class 2 to be worn as a breast badge.

A specimen of each were on auction recently (first time I have seen either for sale/auction ever).

Class 2 from eMedals:

https://www.emedals.com/europe/iceland/iceland-republic-a-cross-of-the-icelandic-red-cross-ii-class

I forgot where I saw the class 1 on auction... (was it ebay?)

Megan,
I can help you with info (and photos) of the first 2.

First up... "Heiðurspeningur til minningar um herra Svein Björnsson forseta" ("Commemorative Medal for President Svein Björnsson")

I have 2 sources:

1. "Den Islandske Falkeorden og De Islandske Medaljer" by Peter J. Jørgensen (1981). A publication as scarce as the medals...

2. Íslensk Heiðursmerki" by Birgir Thorlacius (1999).

The B/W is from source 1 and states the ribbon is the ribbon of the Order of the Falcon.

The color photo is from source 2 and shows the medal on a blue ribbon.

According to source 1 awarded 16 times + president Asgeirsson (on Feb. 27th, 1953)