Opinions Requested on a Missing Medal

[Mark M]

I picked up a little 4 place medal bar that is missing its last award. The ribbons are a bit tattered on the obverse, but otherwise it is a nice bar. The awards that are on the bar are as follows:

1914 EK2, BrK2, Austrian silver merit cross with crown and unknown

The ribbon for the missing award appears to be a Baden long service award. From the indentation in the ribbon this appears to have been a 15 year LS cross.

My question is this: why would a Baden LS award be mounted behind the foreign Austrian award? Especially when there are no other awards from Baden mounted on the bar- only Brunswick! Does anyone know of any other foreign awards that used this ribbon?

Thanks in advance,

Mark

[attachmentid=56093]

[Mark M]

Reverse of the bar:

[attachmentid=56094]

[Mark M]

Here is a close up of the indentaion left in the last ribbon and padding:

[attachmentid=56095]

And is this the missing award:

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Edited October 5, 2006 by Mark M

[Stogieman]

Brunswick

Henry the Lion

Peace-time

Probably Merit Cross or Medal.

????

[Great Dane]

Russian Order of St. Anne?

(or is that too far out for a German recipient?)

/Mike

[Mark M]

Rick/Mike

Thank you for the suggestions. I don't know about the St. Anne's, but the Henry the Lion might work. The measurements from the top of the indentation to where the bottom of the awards hang is 35mm. Does anyone have the sizes on either of these awards?

Regards,

Mark

[Wild Card]

Hi Mark,

With the presence of the Brunswick MVK2 and being a Brunswick aficionado, I naturally favor theory of the Henry the Lion order. In this particular case, as Stogie has pointed out in post #4, you would be looking at a merit cross first or second class, or less likely one of the honor decorations (medals). The Russian St. Anne is not impossible either.

The Brunswick Henry the Lion merit cross measures 36 x 28 mm and the honor decorations are 31 mm. The St. Anne 3rd class measures roughly 34 x 34 mm; and I say roughly because these badges were made on an individual basis by a number of jewelers, so there is a range, not an exact dimension.

I would conclude that there is no way of really knowing for sure.

Best wishes,

Wild Card

[saschaw]

I prefer thinking of an Russian award - not the Annen order but something of lower level using the same ribbon. At least it is 1000% sure not a Baden LS award.

A Brunswick pre war merit might also be possible, as a homecountry peace awards could either be worn in front of any foreign or after all(!) war merit awards - and the Austrian is a war merit award, as is has the bravery ribbon.

Nice and interessing bar, by the way. I've seen it on Ebay and IF the last one was Baden as the seller said, I think it would have been me who had bought it.

[Wild Card]

Hello again,

I just remembered something. If, as you say, you ?prefer thinking of a Russian award - not the Annen order but something of lower level using the same ribbon?, perhaps a ?medal for zeal? would work? Notice the difference between the Brunswick ribbon and the Russian one.

[Stogieman]

After thinking about this some more, I believe this would be the missing piece:

[Tom Y]

Seems to match the impression in the ribbon pretty well if I got the scale right.

[Mark M]

Gents

I tend to agree with the Henry the Lion Merit Medal 2nd class. If is very close in size to the open spot, and it does tie in to the Brunswick theme. Being 800 silver it would also explain it being "liberated: from the bar.

The Russian medal for zeal ribbon looks close, but the missing award is cross shaped while the zeal medal is round. The St. Anne medal is too large to fit.

Now to just track down one of those little Brunswick fellows......

Thanks to all for the help and suggestions. I appreciate it!

Regards,

Mark

[Mark M]

The Henry the Lion Merit Medal 2 arrived today and is a pretty darned good fit. Thanks to all who took the time to help with this id. I appreciate it!

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[Wild Card]

[Stogieman]

Nice job Mark. A little patina and it will be perfect.