Prussian Medal possibly a Veteran's Association?

[Brian Wolfe]

Hello Everyone,

I picked this little medal up at a local antiques mall a few days ago and cannot identify it. The 25 mm ribbon looks original and is dark blue so I am thinking it is Prussian. The whole thing was very grubby when I purchased it and I have cleaned the medal up but the ribbon is not something I am about to attempt to clean.

The medal is smaller than a regular medal at 28.5 mm though I do have smaller medals from Prussia. There is no date so I am hopng that someone can identify it and give me a time frame as to the date of this medal. My first thought was that it is a veteran's association medal going by the wording on the reverse and possibly issued after WWI.

Any opinions or thoughts regarding identification and date would be greatly appreciated.

Regards

Brian

Edited September 18, 2010 by Brian Wolfe

[Brian Wolfe]

Sorry about the size of the last photo.

You may want to use the Ctrl+ trick to have a closer look.

Here is the reverse.

Thanks again for your help.

Regards

Brian

[Great Dane]

A quick Google search reveals that Vohenstrauss is in Bavaria, so it seems to be a Veteran's Association medal from Bavaria.

[Brian Wolfe]

A quick Google search reveals that Vohenstrauss is in Bavaria, so it seems to be a Veteran's Association medal from Bavaria.

Bavrian? Well, that's interesting.

Thanks for the added information. Do you think the ribbon is original to the medal? I didn't show it as it was just as dirty as the medal and I figured they belonged together but it is dark blue.

Would you say this is a WWI veteran's medal?

[IrishGunner]

Brian, this has more of a look of pre-WWI to me, especially the design of the obverse; and the words "Einigkeit macht stark" = "Unity makes strength" is very Bismarckian sounding, adding to the 1870 feeling of the piece...something to commemorate the veterans of 1870-71.

A Google search in German showed that the Bavarian village of Vohenstrauss erected a memorial in 1896 to honor the fallen soldiers of the village at the Battle of Sedan. Very possible that this medal had something to do with the same commemoration.

Here's a picture of the memorial:

[Brian Wolfe]

Brian, this has more of a look of pre-WWI to me, especially the design of the obverse; and the words "Einigkeit macht stark" = "Unity makes strength" is very Bismarckian sounding, adding to the 1870 feeling of the piece...something to commemorate the veterans of 1870-71.

A Google search in German showed that the Bavarian village of Vohenstrauss erected a memorial in 1896 to honor the fallen soldiers of the village at the Battle of Sedan. Very possible that this medal had something to do with the same commemoration.

Here's a picture of the memorial:

Thanks Irishgunner,

That's great news, actually I had hoped that it was an earlier medal than WWI but it was only hope until I read your reply. As a matter of fact I just got a nice the medal group in from a fellow GMIC member and the 1870-71 Medal has the Sedan bar as one of the two on the ribbon. This will be a nice addition to that group.

Regards

Brian