This medalbar group breaks the "usually" rules

[Paul C]

This group of medal bar, ribbon bar and EK1 comes direct from the person grandson. I will not provide the officers name for confidentiality reasons. Everything goes together. The officer was a Prussian and retired after 1919 as a OberstLt. He entered service in 1894, served in the Marine-Infantry from about 1905 to 1908. He made Hauptman in 1911 and Major in November 1916. He was a pure Prussian. His awards listed the the 1914 RL are Sax-Albert Order Knight, 2nd class.

His medal bar consists of the 1914 EK2, Hindenburg with swords and since the other awards, Red Eagle Order 4th class, Saxon Albert, 25 year LCS and Centennial, are AFTER the Hindenburg then they should be peacetime awards. So he received the RAO4 with out being a Major, which was the usual rank that the RAO was awarded at. What is also interesting is that the backing is blue (Navy usually) and not red (army usually). Maybe since he spent sometime in the Marine Infantry he decided on a Navy backing.

His ribbon bar is also of great interest. The ribbon bar the EK2, Hindenburg w/swords, Saxon-Albert, LS and Centennial. The ribbons are mounted in the Bayern style and the RAO ribbon is missing!!!! Why the Bayern style? There is no family connection to Bayern. And where is the RAO ribbon. There is an ordenschain that goes with the group and it has the RAO4 on it. My only quess is that the person who made the ribbon bars screwed up or was not told to put the RAO ribbon on it. I know it is the correct ribbon bar as the pictures shows the officer wearing it. So what is usual is not always the rule!!

[Paul C]

medal bar back

[Paul C]

ribbon bar and EK1

[Paul C]

back

[Paul C]

Picture of officer circa 1939

[Paul C]

I am surprised that nobody comments on this.

[Ed_Haynes]

I am surprised that nobody comments on this.

Me too. Was hoping to learn from the learned wise ones.

[Claudio]

I have seen also non-bavarian officer using the Bavarian style ribbon bars. Maybe it was also a "fashion statement", since Bavarian type of ribbon bars with their nicely folded ribbons looks nicer (like the big brother ones) than just plain strait ribbons. Here below you can see one non-Bavarian officer who wore the typical Bavarian style ribbon bar. This ribbon doesn't belong in my collection, it was sold by Niemann a couple of years ago.

Btw, great group Paul! Congrats!

It seems like in this very interesting forum there are always the same guys to post... maybe it's just my opinion... or maybe it's summer time and everybody is in vacation! Good for all the people at the beach...

Ciao,

Claudio

Edited July 20, 2007 by Claudio

[Paul C]

Thanks for the kind comments. This forum has been slow recently. I find that in the summer months most forums and ebay tend to be very, very slow.

[webr55]

Very interesting group. He must have been very old in the picture.

It's difficult to comment without a name, maybe you could give a hint for the regiment? (by PM?)

[HeikoGrusdat]

or maybe it's summer time and everybody is in vacation! Good for all the people at the beach...

that`s it..... greetings from Andalusia / south spain

[Daniel Krause]

mini chain was requested...

here it is.

It is indeed highly unusual, that he received the RAO4 short before the outbreak of the war in 1914, he shows it at the big bar and the mini chain but it does NOT appear at the ribbon bar....

Best regards

Daniel

[Chris Boonzaier]

Can the bar be considered "Bavarian style"?

I am not a bar guy, but I think of this style as standard style in the 30s and 40s.

Best

Chris

[Paul C]

I believe that the ribbon folds on the ribbon bar are still considered "bayern style".