Kaiser Wilhelm I Shooting Medal

[Guest Rick Research]

This solid Chunk O' Silver was shown to me by a friend at yesterday's militaria show.

It is almost as big as an MEZ 2.

I have never seen one

this big

this much silver

this "anonymous."

If it was a regimental prize, I'd have expected that unit to be in the design...

soooooo

what I am wondering is:

MIGHT this be an extra little gift to the marksmen who only got to wear their Kaiserpreis on their sleeve for one year after winning the army corps competitions?

[Paul R]

Nice one, Rick!

[Wild Card]

Really, really nice.

This one just does not follow the sort of ?carnival? theme; but has a very official look to it. From here it looks as though there may be an engravers name under the bust?

[saschaw]

I actually don't know if they're for military or any good "Sch?tzen", but what I know: they're actually pretty common. Often seen with Wilhelm I. and Wilhelm II., not thaaat common with Friedrich Wilhelm IV. or Friedrich II., of course.

But ever seen one mounted on a medal bar?! I've to look for old crappy pictures, think my father used to have one a looong time ago ...

[paul wood]

There were 4 in the American Numismatic Society collection, Friedrich Wilhem III; Wilhelm I; Friedrich III and a named piece with a portrait medal of Freidrich der Grosse and dated 1851. They all made ?50 each (almost $100). I suspect the were awarded annually for regimental shooting competitons within the Prussian Army.

Paul

I actually don't know if they're for military or any good "Sch?tzen", but what I know: they're actually pretty common. Often seen with Wilhelm I. and Wilhelm II., not thaaat common with Friedrich Wilhelm IV. or Friedrich II., of course.

But ever seen one mounted on a medal bar?! I've to look for old crappy pictures, think my father used to have one a looong time ago ...

[Schießplatzmeister]

Hello Rick:

A very nice shooting medal indeed!

These were official State awards. They were "Schie?preismedaillen" (shooting prize medals) of the War Ministry. They were awarded from 1818 until 1894. They were awarded in various sizes in silver. The first awards were made to the three best shots at Bataillon level. The larger the size, the higher the award.

The piece that you show has the die-sinker's mark "E. WEIGAND FEC." for Emil Weigand (*1837-+1906). It was either struck from June 1883 to May 1887 or from March 1884 until July 1887 (there are two similar die variations where the reverse die changed and I cannot tell them apart from the information that I have).

Some of the pieces are extremely rare, and some of them are very common depending on the coinage. These pieces were awarded as "table medals". The piece that you have has had a suspension loop added by the recipient. This was common as they were usually turned into watch chain fobs by the recipients.

These pieces were thoroughly covered in an article by Lothar Tewes "Die preu?ischen Milit?rschie?preismedaillen von 1818-1894" in "Beitr?ge zur Brandenburgisch/Preussischen Numismatik, Numismatisches Heft 1998, Nr. 5".

Best regards,

"SPM"

Edited July 4, 2007 by Schie?platzmeister

[Guest Rick Research]

Thanks very much for all the help. There was quite a cluster of us around this medal last Sunday, drawn by the coin quality, size and weight of the medal. None of us has ever seen another one.

I didn't measure it at the time, but it is almost as big as an MEZ2 and bigger than a Hessian General Decoration (much thicker, too).

What were the sizes of each class/level?

[Schießplatzmeister]

Hello again Rick:

For the first type:

The size is only listed as 34.4mm (it would therefore seem that they only varied by thickness, but there were probably other sizes)

3 Mark (14.62g)

4-1/2 Mark (21.93g)

6 Mark (29.24g)

9 Mark (43.86g)

For the second type:

3 Mark (14.5g) 30.0mm

4-1/2 Mark (22.0g) 34.8mm

6 Mark (29.5g) 38mm

7-1/2 Mark (36.5g) 40.2mm

9 Mark (44.0g) 42mm

12 Mark (58.5g) 42mm

As you can see the prize was equivalent to currency at the time and had a real "monetary" value.

Best regards,

"SPM"

[Guest Rick Research]

Ahhhh, thanks-- will have to weigh it then! It was fairly thick-- more so than "real medals" of its size.

[Guest Rick Research]

It came by to visit today, and as close as I could get with my millimeter ruler, it is 36mm wide and 3mm thick: