Saxony Silver Merit Cross of the Merit Order

[joemiller]

I have a Silver Merit Cross on its way to me from Germany. It is mounted on a bow ribbon. Is this a legitimate award to a woman or is this something that someone would have just used an extra long ribbon to put together sometime in the past. I have seen these before and often wondered about them. I wanted the Merit Cross so I'll keep it no matter what but I was just curious if any of you could shed light on this?