Non-combatant group of 4 w/ Military Merit Cross

[Brian Wolfe]

Hello Everyone,

This group of four just arrived yesterday and I was hoping that the members might have some opinions as to what position this fellow might have held that kept him out of combat yet earned him a Bavarian Military Merit Cross with crossed swords. I am pretty confident that this group is authentic, though I am still quite new to Imperial German collecting.

In 1897 he recieved the Prussian 100th anniversary of Kaiser Wilhelm I's birth medal so he was in the army before WWI. At some point, probably during the War, he revieced the Military Merit Cross for his contributions to the War efforts.The Kyffhauserbund Medal would indicate that he survived the war and joined this particular veteran's association. Then in 1934 he was awarded the Honour Cross (aka Hindenberg Cross) and added it to the group that had already been mounted up after he received the Kyffhauserbund Medal. The group would have had to have been changed after 1936 to conform with regulations since the Kyffhauserbund Medal was banned from wear after that date. He either passed away before having the changes made or, perhaps lacking the funds, decided to leave the group as it was.

Was it common to continue to wear the Kyffhauserbund Medal after 1936?

The Honour Cross is for non-combatants (due to the absence of the crossed swords which indicates combat service) so he never saw action. Would this indicate that he was in some sort of administrative role?

I would really like to hear your comments.

Regards

Brian

[Brian Wolfe]

Here is a view of the reverse. You can clearly see that the Honour Cross was added after the group had been mounted up. The pin is not attached and is just sitting there. I can't see how to re-attach it so I'll probably leave it as it is. I don't want to disturb the back of the mount and whether the pin is attached or not makes little difference to the group (in my opinion). At least the pin is there.

Thanks again for your opinions, as always they are most welcomed.

Regards

Brian

[Claudius]

Hello Brian;

IMHO -

I don't see anything out of order here. Your breakdown is quite correct. He was in the army in 1897, to earn the Centennial and was around in 1934 to get the Hindenburg. He was a minimum of 55 years old -probably older- when he added that HK to the medalbar end. Yes, the Kyffhauserbund medal was no longer used, but either it was in the in-between years he did this, or he just didn't care. He was an old soldier and no youngster was going to tell him how to wear his medals.

The BMVO could be with or without swords. The without swords version awarded for peacetime. The swords for wartime. The BMVK was modeled on the Bav. Order. I believe that Bavarians wanted to award with swords for any soldier who served during wwi. Regardless if bullets were flying over head and he had a rifle in his hand. The HK is without swords because the cross is already a war veteran award. The swords were for distinguishing between an active fighter or non-combatant war veteran.

Nice little bar to a wwi veteran, perhaps a NCO.

[Brian Wolfe]

Hello Brian;

IMHO -

I don't see anything out of order here. Your breakdown is quite correct. He was in the army in 1897, to earn the Centennial and was around in 1934 to get the Hindenburg. He was a minimum of 55 years old -probably older- when he added that HK to the medalbar end. Yes, the Kyffhauserbund medal was no longer used, but either it was in the in-between years he did this, or he just didn't care. He was an old soldier and no youngster was going to tell him how to wear his medals.

The BMVO could be with or without swords. The without swords version awarded for peacetime. The swords for wartime. The BMVK was modeled on the Bav. Order. I believe that Bavarians wanted to award with swords for any soldier who served during wwi. Regardless if bullets were flying over head and he had a rifle in his hand. The HK is without swords because the cross is already a war veteran award. The swords were for distinguishing between an active fighter or non-combatant war veteran.

Nice little bar to a wwi veteran, perhaps a NCO.

Hello Claudius,

Thank you for the comments. I really liked the bar when I saw it but I was wondering about the swords on the Merit Cross as opposed to no swords on the HK. Thanks for clearing that one up.

Regards

Brian

[Kev in Deva]

I think the Kyfferhaüser award is on the wrong ribbon.

Any chance of a close u?

Kevin in Deva :beer:

Edited September 1, 2010 by Kev in Deva

[Brian Wolfe]

Hi Kevin,

Here's a close up with a full sized ribbon behind it for comparison.

I was looking at this style of mount with the idea of mounting up some of my Imperial singles in this manner and noticed that it looks like they use the ribbon size that we woud use on a miniture if we were mounting up British medals. This may be the reason it looks strange compared with the full sized ribbon.

I'm pretty sure the ribbon is correct.

What do you think?

Regards

Brian