Prussian Red Eagle Order 1st Class Star

[Guest Rick Research]

This star is in a friend's collection:

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Without the usual "cabbage" that would indicate a Prussian recipient who got it every lower class up in progression--so that this was a NON-Prussian recipient.

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The ONLY mark on it is the Austro-Hungarian Value Added tax paid chop "<FR>" on the pin:

[attachmentid=33681]

Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhkay, "made In Austria" then...

but when?

[Guest Rick Research]

The motto is intact-- the scanner reflection off the gilt lettering on white enamel simply "flashes" it away

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[Guest Rick Research]

no matter which way I turn it, one side is always flashed out!

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[Guest Rick Research]

zoom in on Big Red

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[Guest Rick Research]

Details of the hinge and very strange (to me) catch

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It's a neat little ball on the end to help prevent snagging-- or jabbing

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It is a MASSIVE chunk of highly vaulted silver-- and the LACK of silver hallmarks has always bothered me.

But I know absolutely ZERO about such exalted stuff.

Is this a circa 1910 piece or

circa 1970?

[Josef Rietveld]

Details of the hinge and very strange (to me) catch

[attachmentid=33685]

It's a neat little ball on the end to help prevent snagging-- or jabbing

[attachmentid=33686]

It is a MASSIVE chunk of highly vaulted silver-- and the LACK of silver hallmarks has always bothered me.

But I know absolutely ZERO about such exalted stuff.

Is this a circa 1910 piece or

circa 1970?

I'am no expert on REO myself, so it would be better if i kept silent but my gutfeeling and the missing hallmarks say, that it looks like a post-1945 rothe-copy

haynau

[Guest Brian von Etzel]

I'm curious how this one ends up. My guess would also be impossible but I have no knowledge... But to have an official RAO made in Austria seems implausible...

[medalnet]

Rothe made a lot of medals and order decorations way into our time.

the FR mark certainly indicates that this star may have been made by Rothe. Yet, if it would have been made before 1918 markins for the silver/gold content would have been punched somewhere as well.

[Red Eagle]

What du you think about this red eagle?

It will be sells from a german dealer.

It looks old, but not german. I wondered that the yellow color is not clear. Hve you senn this befor?

Red

[medalnet]

Same as way above, isn't it?

[Red Eagle]

Yes, it can be. The end of the needle is a litle bit different. No maker mark.

But why can fade out the yellow color in the enamel?

Edited January 16, 2007 by Red Eagle

[Stogieman]

Well the "goo" that is yellow/brown/black around the center eagle medallion is resin from when it was made...

[Tim Tezer]

I think the "FR" stamp is Rothe's mark, and the lack of silver assay marks is always puzzling. Regardless of when it was made - before 1918, after 1918, or 2007 - it should have a silver mark. But what is supposed to be done and what is actually done are two different things. Without a mark, it may not be possible to determine when it was made, and if it had a mark it would only give you a broad expanse of time during which the mark was used. I believe that current Austrian silver marks have not changed since 1922.

Tim