Saxe-Coburg-Gotha Carl Eduard Verdienstmedaille in silver with swords

[Chris Boonzaier]

Hi,

As most of you know, if its not an EK, I am lost... so no surprise... I know nothing about this award....

Can anyone tell me how many were awarded... and (blush) what they look like?

I have eneded up paying through my nose, on a whim, and buying an award document for one...

Thanks

Chris

[Ulsterman]

Hmmmmmm...away from my library at the mo-but as I recall, more than you think....... @ 20-50K?

Can we see the doc?

Does it say what year the bar was?

[Dave Danner]

There wasn't a medal with that name. There is either (1) the oval silver Herzog Carl-Eduard-Medaille which was silver and could be awarded with a swords clasp, or (2) the Saxe-Coburg version of the silberne Verdienstmedaille of the Ducal Saxe-Ernestine House Order (SEHO). Can you clarify which one by the document?

Number (1) was very rare, awarded without regard to rank a total of 344 times. Number (2) was the basic Iron Cross 2nd Class equivalent of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha for junior enlisted soldiers, awarded about 9800 times. I'm not sure, but the 9800 might include the Silver SEHO medals of the other two Saxon duchies, but theirs would only be a small portion, since they awarded the Saxe-Altenburg Bravery Medal and the Saxe-Meiningen Medal for Merit in War as their basic Iron Cross 2nd Class equivalent.

Here is (1):

Here is (2):

And

Edited October 18, 2011 by Dave Danner

[Chris Boonzaier]

Hi,

so far I just have a terrible pic.... will post it as soon as it arrives. Ithink it must be the latter.

[Dave Danner]

I should note that even though (2) is more common than (1) doesn't mean that it is common. After all, Saxe-Coburg-Gotha was not very big - it was the 15th largest German state, ranking in population after Saxe-Meiningen and just before the combined Reuß principalities.

As I said above, the various grades of the Ducal Saxe Ernestine House Order were basically the Iron Cross analogs for Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. The Silver Merit Medal of the order with the swords clasp would be the grade for soldiers in the rank of Unteroffizier, Sergeant, Gefreiter and below. The golden Merit Medal went to soldiers in the rank of Feldwebel/Wachtmeister and VIzefeldwebel/Vizewachtmeister and their equivalents in the medical and Beamten ranks (Waffenmeister, Zahlmeister-Stellvertreter, Feldunterarzt, etc.) and the navy, though there were very few navy awards from this landlocked state. For Offizier-Stellvertreter and Feldwebelleutnants and their equivalents, it was the Merit Cross with Swords of the order.

The Bavarian equivalent to the silver Merit Medal would be the Military Merit Crosses 3rd Class and 3rd Class with Crown. For comparison, there were about 290,000 awards of the 3rd Class with Swords and 73,000 of the 3rd Class with Crown and Swords.

Adding to the rarity is that the silver Merit Medal's swords clasp was dated. They are dated with either the year awarded ("1914", "1915", etc.) or 1914 and the year awarded ("1914/5", "1914/6", etc.). I think there might be other variants - Nimmergut's catalog mentions a "1915/6". If your document is for this medal, the document should say which clasp and if it doesn't, you'd have to go by the date of the document.

Regards,

Dave

[Chris Boonzaier]

Sorry for the delay, I have finally dug the doc up...

Here you go...

[Deruelle]

Very nice Chris, your example is for the second medal Dave has shown above. Congrats.

Just to compare, here is a document, made postwar, for the CM2X.

Christophe

[Chris Boonzaier]

Hi,

although that one is the Begleitschreiben and not the award doc. (It has "Anlagen - 1/Besitzzeugnis") botton left.

What unit was your guy in?

Best

Chris

[Deruelle]

Hi Chris,

here is the link about Rittmeister Rose

http://gmic.co.uk/index.php/topic/36517-bavarian-officer-albert-rose-with-coburg-medals/page__hl__%20rittmeister%20%20rose

Christophe