A rarity from Wuerttemberg & Schaumburg-Lippe

[Solomon]

Hi gentlemen,

as requested, I would like to show you a a very nice medalbar from Wuerttemberg and Schaumburg-Lippe.

Another collector, who owns this rarity, asked me to help him with the identification of the former owner.

(No, it?s not my medalbar...and I?m lucky that there isn?t any award from Lippe-Detmold on it )

Once again Rick did the ID easily...and now it?s my turn to make some advertisement for his book

Now, Rick...please let the others know who the former owner was (I already know it )

Best regards

Solomon

P.S. I?m sure Daniel is also interested in it

[Guest Rick Research]

This took 5 seconds... because

1) the combination of WF3b and the W?rttemberg Silver Merit Medal (peacetime one) with long service NCO cross for 21 years (silver) immediately identifies... a paymaster:

and

2) there was ONE regiment in W?rttemberg with a "Schaumburg" connection:

WHY Schaumburg awards to THIS regiment?--

Because its Honorary Chief Queen Charlotte (of the wartime Charlottenkreuz) was born...

Princess of Schaumburg-Lippe.

[Guest Rick Research]

Now this would NOT be easy to have found just from the Schaumburg-Lippe Honor Cross rolls because this is exactly what they look like before the Magic Added Research is attached by Daniel and me--

Keim's Silver Merit Cross:

Keim's SLH4:

In fact, on the old style published rolls, the only way anyone would know that anyone HAD both these classes would have been to check every single name for every single class. I have done that work FOR everybody when the published roll will come out, since multiple awards are cross-indicated.

(No, the Vatican has not called yet with my halo. )

[Guest Rick Research]

But... how do we know what Keim got during the war?

Well, thanks to the eternal labours of the Arcane Society of Research Gnomes? Daniel and Glenn have both been working in W?rttemberg.

Keim's Wilhelmskreuz mit Schwertern:

[Guest Rick Research]

Oddly enough, Paymasters didn't have their rank dates listed in the Prussian/W?rttemberg Rank Lists but no matter. We of the ASRG? have our Secret Sources. Keim in April 1917 =

and of course the 1914-1918 Honor Rank List (Paul C's CD version) =

but that's not all!

[Guest Rick Research]

Complete birth-to-death on Herr Keim, thanks to the pre-war W?rttemberg Milit?r Handb?cher(too fragile to scan) so--

Gustav KEIM

born Stuttgart 20 May 1866

died 17 September 1921

entered Royal W?rttemberg Army 1 October 1881 as a 15 year old volunteer from an Unteroffizier Vorschule.

Zahlmeister 21 December 1905

Oberzahlmeister 15 December 1916

with W?rttemberg Ulan Regiment 20

Died on active duty with the Reichsheer.

Medal bar?

Prussian 1914 Iron Cross 2nd Class on ?white black? noncombatant ribbon

W?rttemberg Wilhelmskreuz with Swords gazetted in Personal Nachrichten 5 October 1916 as Zahlmeister in the Replacement Squadron of Ulan Regiment 20, Ludwigsburg

W?rttemberg Friedrich Order-Knight 2nd Class

W?rttemberg Silver Merit Medal

W?rttemberg XXV Years Service Cross 1st Class for officers and NCOs

W?rttemberg XXI Years Service Cross 2nd Class for NCOs

Schaumburg-Lippe Honor Cross 4th Class 10 June 1913 as ?Zahlmeister?

Schaumburg-Lippe Honor Cross Silver Merit Cross 24 June 1909 as ?Zahlmeister?

Schaumburg-Lippe Silver Merit Medal

Birth data, entry date information, and promotion date as Paymaster from 1913 W?rttemberg Milit?r Handbuch,

1914 awards from Prussia-W?rttemberg Army Rank List,

Senior Paymaster promotion date and assignment from secret April 1917 W?rttemberg Home Establishment Rank List,

Dates of Schaumburg-Lippe awards from 1869-1918 rolls of the Honor Cross transcribed by me,

Wilhelmskreuz award data from W?rttemberg Personal Nachrichten as transcribed by Daniel Krause?s ongoing work to be published on the kingdom?s wartime 1914-1918 military awards and actual WPN images thanks to Glenn J,

Death date and status from 1914-1918 Army Honor Rank List.

[Guest Rick Research]

More may perhaps be added later. Right now the first convention of the Arcane Society of Research Gnomes? is going on in Berlin.

[sambolini]

Holy cow! Unbelievable how you gentleman do this.

Regards,

Sam

P. S. Great bar. Did he receive his Schaumburg-Lippe Honor Cross and Merit medal as an enlisted man? I've always thought these types of awards affiliated with orders were given to senior enlisted/civilian equivalent ranks.

[Solomon]

More may perhaps be added later. Right now the first convention of the Arcane Society of Research Gnomes? is going on in Berlin.

Fantastic work...thank you very,very much!

The owner of the medalbar will be very pleased to read all the information...

Best regards

Solomon

[Guest Rick Research]

Sam: oddly enough, he received BOTH the Silver Merit Cross AND the Honor Cross 4 (which equates with a Knight 2nd in other Orders) in the same rank-- Zahlmeister. The first was rather insulting as it was beneath his rank equivalent (this disregard for pay masters was quite common in many German award systems) and the latter rather surprising so soon afterwards--also skipping the grade of Gold

http://gmic.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=21755

Merit Cross. The Silver Merit Medals from Schaumburg (this design last awarded in 1905, I think) and W?rttemberg he got in his loooooooooooooooooooong years as an NCO. Notice that not only do the Schaumburg Honor Cross rolls fail to give any UNIT, they doesn't even note that he was a "K.W." military Beamter and not a "Prussian!"

This is the first time I have noticed a GRADUATE of an NCOs Preparatory School graduating at age 15!!!!

Keim's medal bar combination is literally unique. Sometimes-- just sometimes-- the most obscure person's awards are literaally

One Of A Kind.

I forgot to mention--

From creation in 1887 to 1890, there were 74 SLH4s (of which 39 were returned), and from 1890-1918 another 611. The same proportion can be assumed for returns after the recipients' deaths but no returns were noted for any grade after 1890 bestowals.

SVKs from 1st awards in 1871 to 1890 were 127 (of which 45 are noted as returned), while there were 447 awards made for this class from 1890 to 1918.

BOTH grades of the Schaumburg crosses were thus rarer than a Pour le Merite.

And for those of you occasionally baffled by our secret code "Rangliste-Speak," here are the abbreviations and emblems which match up with awards:

[sambolini]

Fantastic lesson Rick. Greatly appreciated. I just love the history behind these bars.

Regards,

Sam

[Glenn J]

More may perhaps be added later. Right now the first convention of the Arcane Society of Research Gnomes? is going on in Berlin.

Just back

Seems these guys waited years to fill "dead mens' shoes". This from the 1900 Siekmann's Taschenkalander f?r Beamte der Milit?r-Verwaltung showing Herr Keim's seniority as a Zahlmeister-Aspirant. A Zahlmeister-Aspirant since 27 November 1889, he held that rank for 16 years before his first appointment as a Zahlmeister in Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 125. He returned to his old regiment in 1907/08.

Regards

Glenn

[Guest Rick Research]

That is far worse than the Navy!!!

And yet... Keim ended up with a "rack" many an officer would have been glad with.

[Ulsterman]

Do you think these two men ever worked together?

Edited October 7, 2007 by Ulsterman