Austria-Hungary Iron Halfmoon Device

[webr55]

Nothing particularly special, but I like ribbon bars with the halfmoon device. Here's mine:

Anyone else?

Edited November 14, 2017 by webr55

[webr55]

Closeup of the halfmoon:

Edited November 14, 2017 by webr55

[joe campbell]

the first i've seen of this one.

very nice!

and nice bar, too!

joe

[Deruelle]

Hi,

Here's mine

Regards

Christophe

[HeikoGrusdat]

this one is really great !!!! Do you have the name of the owner???

Heiko

[Deruelle]

This bar belonged to Major Kurt Treitschke

Christophe

[Guest Rick Research]

Mine:

[attachmentid=14170]

Still no "points up" though

[Bob Hunter]

Interesting trio, Rick. I remember the feux pas over the center bar.

[webr55]

Great bars!

Rick, I have never seen that mini star before! I suppose that was meant for lapel bows originally?

[Stogieman]

I think the devices for the first might have originally been intended for Lapel Chains, but our "Over The Top" buyer wanted no mistakes made as to what he was wearing! That bar is also one of the very few non-saxon bars you will find with a miniatured EK device!!

[Stogieman]

PS: Nice ribbon bars that started the thread!!

[Ed_Haynes]

Aren't we making a mistake expecting too much standardization in these ribbon bars? They are lovely things, to be sure, but aren't they ultimately all just the products of the fertile imaginations of inter-war European jewelers, producing entirely unofficial things that would sell to veterans, representing awards from defunct states.

Just a stupid question from an outsider.

[Stogieman]

Hi Ed, not a bad question at all, certainly not a stupid one! But remember between the wars is probably the most interesting time, when literally "anything goes"... But having said that, during WW1 and WW2 there were specific regulations that should have been followed. As with all such things, they were frequently flaunted, flouted and downright ignored depending on the man himself. many medal bars and ribbon bars show such deviation from the norm as to be clearly explainable only by some personal "fashion statement" of the buyer!

All ribbon bars tell a story. Sometimes a speculative one, but more often than not, they represent a real soldier who ultimately might be identifiable from the story told in his bar.

To the folks who collect these, I can state emphatically that they are just as beautiful and just as important as (oh say) a cased Military Order of Saint Henry.... or maybe a Turkish Imtiaz w. Battle bars, etc.

[joe campbell]

ed -

very far from a stupid question, this subject addresses

one of the bigger reasons i switched from TR to

things imperial...

the variations, the relative freedom of a jewellers

expression are ONE OF THE LOVELY THINGS ABOUT PRE-1933

pieces!

even in my first love - EK's - variety is the spice of life!

nice thought!

joe

[Stogieman]

Good points Joe. It seems there's much more personal variance and attempts to stretch the envelope of the regulations with Imperial stuff. Especially from about 1920 through 1934...

[Bob Hunter]

There is a term for those variations. It's call artistic license and as Joe notes it is what makes these items so attractive.

[Guest Rick Research]

The star device on the TWM mini shows up on wartime TURKISH bars-- though what THEIR regulations were, who knows???

[attachmentid=14779]

This officer had also picked up a cetrain Bad Saxon Habit....

[Stogieman]

........ wondered when that photo would appear....... maybe show them the "bigger picture" eh?

[webr55]

Yeah, I remember the pic. That was the one which proved that the Saxon habit was not just a Saxon one, right?

[Stogieman]

it's weird though... I have had Liaket medals on ribbon bars with no devices, battle/saber bars, and swords alone... three different ways of wearing the same ribbon!

[Biro]

I confess to being a 'half moon virgin'... I've only just bought my first BB&Co pinback...

So I was interestyed to see this a while ago - I was under the impression medalbars with the Halbmond ribbon were 'hardware free'... but Detlev stated this was how it was made..

And isn't it mounted from the wrong star-tip??

Can someone tell me any more about this piece?

Marshall

[Josef Rietveld]

Hi Biro, I know this kind of stars from austrian-hungarian officers, who wore the halfmoon on trifiold ribbon as breast decoration during WWI and afterwards. are there any hallmarks?

regrads

josef

[Biro]

Josef..

Thanks for the info.

This is not one I own - just one I saw on Niemanns site a few weeks ago.

I don't see any hallmarks and no mention was made of such in Detlevs description..

Marshall

[Stogieman]

I saw this one on Detlev's as well and chuckled a bit. Someone made an attempt to make an easy mount for the piece on a medal bar and soldered on the wrong tip. Made me laugh, so much for quality control!

[Ed_Haynes]

Laugh? More like cry . . .

. . . that some illiterate made it up wrong, spoiling what might have been an interesting (if novelty) item.