Anhalt Anhalt Albert the Bear Knight Grand Cross Sash

[Bill Dienna]

Gentlemen:

I recently came into possession of a number of pieces of militaria, only some of which I plan to keep. I'm trying to obtain information about those other items that are outside my areas of knowledge before I do anything with them.

So here I am with this piece to ask for your help. First, have I described it correctly as the sash of the degree of Knight Grand Cross?

The badge and sash are definitely older, but I'm wondering if there is any way to determine when this piece might date from?

The badge is bronze gilt, with the gilt having become either worn or having toned to a dark color. As I measure the badge with a tape measure, it is about 5.1 cm long by 4.6 cm wide.

I can find no maker mark on it at all, but it has beautiful detail in all respects.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

[Bill Dienna]

Photo

[Bill Dienna]

*

[Bill Dienna]

I'm sorry for spreading these photos out in several posts, but even though all of the photos are the same size, when I tried to ost more than one at a time I received a message that the file was too large.

[Chris Boonzaier]

Hi,

I think this is one of those things that has a (*) instead of a price in catalogs....

Thats probably the price of that bar on the beach you want to open down in Florida!

[Bill Dienna]

Well, Chris, I've never had much interest in Florida.

I happen to like snow from time to time.

And I've never been known for trying to squeeze every penny out of an item that I'm going to sell.

But I do like to have at least some idea of what I'm talking about, though I'm sure that some of my posts would sugest otherwise!

[Chris Boonzaier]

I am guessing this is so top of the line that if it is good, you need to send it to Hermann Historica for auction, i.e. An extreme amount of dosh.

Anything else and you will kick yourself for years afterwards.

[Bill Dienna]

I may be making an error... but this is the Kollane des Grossmeisters is it not?

I have no idea.

[Chris Boonzaier]

I have no idea.

My error, it is not. That will teach me to look at stuff outside of my field. Ignore all my posts above, they are the product of wild speculation.

Whatever it is, in the complicated bog of Albert the Bear goodies... it looks to be a really nice piece.

[Bill Dienna]

Thanks, Chris.

But this item is really far afield from my areas of experience, so any input at all is most appreciated!

[saschaw]

It's the "Großkreuz", and I have no idea if it's good.

I actually don't like what the sash lloks like. This tattering(?) I don't know from old silk ribbons.

[VtwinVince]

These 'Honig-Baeren', or Honey Bears, are extremely heavily faked. I would get one of the Anhalt experts from the SDA to have a look at it.

[Bill Dienna]

Forgive my ignorance, but what is the "SDA" ?

[922F]

Sash, as Saschaw notes, curious and quite similar to those sold by E. Blass, among others, from 1989-2003. Price in 2003 was about US$30.

Edited March 22, 2012 by 922F

[Bill Dienna]

I appreciate the replies, but can you explain what you mean by "curious"?

In other words, in what way is it different from what would be expected?

Is it simply the way in which the ends of the sash were finished? In my experience, most of the sash orders that I have seen had the sash finished in exactly the same way. The zig-zag finishing of the ends of the sash kept the material from unraveling.

As far as the age, I do know that it pre-dates the 1980's.

I certainly am not trying to argue that this is an awarded example by any means.

I was simply hoping that someone might have some more precise information, such as "That is one of the old collector copies made by ____ during the 19__'s, and you can tell because.....".

Or "It looks to be identical to offical specimens that were made for award, particularly with respect to.....".

But, in light of the limited extent of Anhalt material, I suppose that I was hoping for too much.

Edited March 22, 2012 by Bill Dienna

[VtwinVince]

SDA is Sammlergemeinschaft deutscher Auszeichnungen, a site with people who could tell you one way or the other.

Edited March 22, 2012 by VtwinVince

[922F]

If you have not already seen the thread Order of Albrecht the Bear (Anhalt) a look there may be useful.

As to sashes, most pre-1940 made sash material is markedly thicker than more recent material, usually composed of silk on silk [warp & woof] material sewn with silk thread. It is true that plenty of old stock is still around and it is possible to fabricate silk on silk material today--at a price. However, even most high quality modern made sashes are all rayon or rayon on cotton. Some have a printed morie 'watered' pattern but that is generally only on one side. The 1980s Bear sashes I referenced are made of rayon---burning a loose thread will reveal the composition --and have very, if not exactly, similar zig-zag [pinking] finishing to the sash 'tails'. These appear about 2/3 to 1/2 the thickness of pre-1920 made material.

I do not have Gerd Scharfenberg's 1999 Die Orden und Ehrenzeichen der Anhaltischen Staaten available: That work includes images of original badges. It may discuss differences between original and copy badges.

Detailed analysis of differences between original and copy Albert the Bear insignia exists in several German language SDA/BDOS Journal reports and I seem to recall that at least one article on the subject appeared in the JOMSA [perhaps in the 1970s?]. I do not have access to any of this material but another GMIC member may have them available. Commander badges seem to be the most often copied pieces. Some copied lower classes lack detail.

Original badges have certainly been 'married' with replacement sashes.

[Bill Dienna]

Thanks VERY much, gentlemen!

I appreciate your thoughts and advice!

[Bill Dienna]

Just as further information:

I was able to remove a few threads from the sash and give them the "burn test."

The threads burned completely. There was no residue as would be found if there were any synthetic materials in the sash.