Napoleonic Era Awards Of All German States

[Jaybo]

Can any of you gentlemen educate me as to the details behind a Prussian (?) medal that was struck to commemorate the Allies victory over Napoleon in the Battle of Leipzig in 1813? It was a silver(?) oval shaped medal with the heraldic shields of Russia Austria, Prussia and Sweden on the obverse with the inscription "Suum Cuique" at the top and "Deutschland 1813" at the bottom . The reverse has the radiant all-seeing eye at the top and with the inscription (in German) "our God is our Castle".

I would like to know who struck it, when it was struck, who received it (combattants vs. non-combattants, etc.), ribbon type, current value, etc. Thank you.

[Christiania]

Dear Jaybo,

It was struck by Loos at Berliner Medaillen-Münze in 1813.

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Friedrich_Loos

It was sold to patriotic women in Germany to wear in a necklace. So it had no ribbon and was not awarded. "SUUM CUIQUE" is latin and means something like "EACH HIS OWN". At the top of the reverse you see the hebrew letters YHVH, which means Jehova.

[Jaybo]

Thank you Christiania. Did soldiers ever get it? It seems to turn up in Imperial Russian collections I am led to believe.

[Christiania]

As far as I know it was only sold. But of course some young lady could have given hers away or the soldier could have bought one. Loos also made a serie of small medals for all the battles in the 6th coalition war, which I guess many of the participants bought.

 

[Jaybo]

Thank you Christiania.

[Ulsterman]

I thought these were also sold as commemorative awards by enterprising jewelers. There does seem to be some evidence that these commemoratives were occasionally worn by older vets as added bling- notably a painting at the Munich City museum of the veterans’ parade in 1865 shows some older guys wearing these on red/white/black ribbons or black/ white ribbons- sort of how modern WW2 vets add specific purchased commemoratives to their groups. 

Edited January 27, 2019 by Ulsterman

[Jaybo]

Thank you Ulsterman. It is a shame that the history of these types of pieces is so shadowy.

[Stogieman]

I'll have to dig through my archives, but I used to own a cased set of both combatant and non-combatant medals from 1814!

[Homerjey]

Hello,

here my 1813/15 collection I love this theme!

 

regards

Thomas

[augustin1813]

Congratulations Thomas! Very nice.

I love that too!

[Jaybo]

That is a very nice collection. I still need to get an authentic 1813 EK 2 but they are indeed hard to find. I too love this thread.

[Christiania]

Here is actually one with a black ribbon.

 

[Jaybo]

On February 23, 2019 at 10:15, Christiania said:

Here is actually one with a black ribbon.

 

Is black significant because of Prussia perhaps?

[Christiania]

I don't think it is an official ribbon. It was sold to  wear in a necklace. So if I don't see a few more of this with the black ribbon I assume it was private made, but it could absolutely be by a Prussian.

Edited February 24, 2019 by Christiania

[Daniel Krause]

Did we have already a Hessen Homburg Schwerterkreuz?

It differs from the known examples in some details, so I am sure it is a private handmade piece.

 

Greetings 

Daniel

[augustin1813]

Here is one from my collection:

 

 

See also p. 9.

Edited June 11, 2019 by augustin1813