Austria-Hungary Iron Halfmoon Device

[joe campbell]

have to agree with ed...

this is WORSE than using your salad fork for the entree...

nicely executed, poorly planned.

kinda' like gallipoli...

joe

[David Gregory]

have to agree with ed...

this is WORSE than using your salad fork for the entree...

nicely executed, poorly planned.

kinda' like gallipoli...

joe

[Stogieman]

I dunno guys....... I'm thinking this was a real boo-boo of the period. Not some hack after-the-fact screw-up!

[Ed_Haynes]

Boo-boo of the period, probably. Serious muck-up, for sure. Imbecile desecration, obviously.

Some German tinkerer who had no idea of the award, or the language, or the award being "helpful" to some veteran who wanted to wear it on his medal bar (where it didn't belong). But, then, most similar Ottoman awards we see (in the "trade" and on this forum) are European jewelers' fantasies. A post-war ("after the fact") effort to take an Ottoman award (from a State that no longer existed, rather like Prussia) and make it "fit", using whatever size sledge hammer was required.

[Stogieman]

Hi Ed, I agree. Clearly the jeweler/outfitter had no clue what he was doing. This poor soldier probably dropped his nice private-purchase piece off and said "I'd prefer to wear this on the bar" and this is where it ended up. In someone's "whoops, sorry" drawer and forgotten for ever and a day. They were actually meant to be worn on the bar and we see no shortage of variation on that. So far, we've seen on medal bars:

Plain ribbon, no TWM

Ribbon w. TWM mounted by sewing, slipped through the pin assembly so it could come on and off and my personal favorite (on my desk as we speak) Mounted on Medal Bar ribbon and big honkin' safety pin soldered to back of TWM and then jammed on ribbon!!

There was certainly no shortage of efforts by the soldiers themselves "to make it fit"! Can you just imagine how incredible foolish the guy who did this felt when the soldier returned for his "prize"?? Incompetence for sure. The one I have is jammed on the bar and covers the Liaket medal next to it!! (and has a kyffhauserbund on the left!!) Talk about "anything goes".........

[Gerd Becker]

Here is another one, sold by an austrian auction house a while ago:

[Stogieman]

Hi Gerd, now that's an interesting star, ribbon and spange!!

[Bob Hunter]

I find the period boo-boos and mistakes interesting in their own right as they fall into RR's category of "The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly", these being ugly.

...and Joe, what's a salad fork?

[saschaw]

Here's my little bar with device, hope you like it.

[saschaw]

"Always show the back."

[Humberto Corado]

hello all,

there is any photografic evidence of a soldier wearing the TWM attached to ribbon in a medal bar????

[Guest Rick Research]

Yesssssss, but understand: that was NEVER correct and NEVER regulation.

Even worse was the quite stupid fashion of wearing an EMPTY ribbon for the star on a medal bar.

Here is then-Marine Oberzahlmeister August B?ning wearing the "empty ribbon" last on his medal bar, along with the proper pinback star. This was taken in 1924 in "Landmarine" Coastal Defense Battalion IV, Cuxhaven:

[Humberto Corado]

Yesssssss, but understand: that was NEVER correct and NEVER regulation.

Even worse was the quite stupid fashion of wearing an EMPTY ribbon for the star on a medal bar.

Here is then-Marine Oberzahlmeister August B?ning wearing the "empty ribbon" last on his medal bar, along with the proper pinback star. This was taken in 1924 in "Landmarine" Coastal Defense Battalion IV, Cuxhaven:

hello Rick,

thank you very much for show me this photo.

yes, I agree,I have always wondering why they would preffer to used the empty ribbon in the medal bar if they haved the chance to wear the TWM star itself!

I still would like to see a photo of a soldier wearing the TWM star attached to ribbon in a medal bar

[saschaw]

I still would like to see a photo of a soldier wearing the TWM star attached to ribbon in a medal bar

Your demand is my command ...

This freaky "Ober-Stabsarzt" wears indeed one on his breast AND one on the bar - well, why not?!

[saschaw]

And a little bigger:

[Guest Rick Research]

Well, why NOT wear his TURKISH medals wrong when he hasn't got his GERMAN ones correct, either?

I that Georgian Tamara Star, I do!

[Humberto Corado]

Your demand is my command ...

This freaky "Ober-Stabsarzt" wears indeed one on his breast AND one on the bar - well, why not?!

Thank you saschaw for posting this great phot too!!!! well..... this was common? to use the TWM star twice??

[Ulsterman]

well- not common, but not unknown either. Interesting Tamara shot-he's wearing medals from the Turks-and "against" the turks.

Rick, do you know who this (Bavarian) is?

[Guest Rick Research]

Nope. Not a clue. A "stray" Badener.

[Humberto Corado]

Yesssssss, but understand: that was NEVER correct and NEVER regulation.

Even worse was the quite stupid fashion of wearing an EMPTY ribbon for the star on a medal bar.

Here is then-Marine Oberzahlmeister August B?ning wearing the "empty ribbon" last on his medal bar, along with the proper pinback star. This was taken in 1924 in "Landmarine" Coastal Defense Battalion IV, Cuxhaven:

one last question please, the fashion of wearing an empty ribbon on a medal bar was used for the TWM star only ?? just used in Germany ? or also it was used by the Ottoman empire army?

thanks!

[Guest Rick Research]

I've only seen it in Germany, but then I have only a handful of ANY photos from Austrian military personnel between the wars and NONE from Turkey.

[Humberto Corado]

I've only seen it in Germany, but then I have only a handful of ANY photos from Austrian military personnel between the wars and NONE from Turkey.

thanks Rick!