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    Oldenburg Red Cross medal - a few questions


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    All, I recently got this,

    Is it correct that the ribbon is the same as for the House Order, 35 mm and equal sized red stribes?

    Would anybody have a length of original ribbon or should I turn to eBay?

    According to Schemeit this should be gilded bronze, but this piece is gilded Silver (marked 930 as I see it). Assuming Schemeit is correct, is this then a private purchase or earlier/later type or did they came in both gilded bronze and Silver?

    Would anybody here have a spare miniature of this decoration?

    /Lars

     

    1632004035_OldenburgRK.jpg.9ed97de66a927059afe1387b22e4bf8e.jpg

    Edited by larsb001
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    • 2 months later...

    I'm a bit late to this thread, but it would be great if we could have some further discussion on this medal. I too have an example of this on a medal bar, and the back is stamped with the same silver mark as in the opening post of this thread. A cursory search on google images shows the backs of four of these medals, only one of which is marked in a similar fashion.

    Does anyone know why the discrepancy in materials used for an award which was bestowed in such low numbers? Was the bronze version awarded first and the award later made out of silver? Is this plausible in light of a wartime economy, when other awards that had been using precious metals were now being made out of cheaper materials? Furthermore, does anyone know the true number awarded - figures range from 18 (which seems absurdly low, considering there is at least half that number thrown up in a quick google search) to a few hundred?

    Lars - on the examples that I've seen for this medal, in most cases the ribbon's red stripes seem to be narrower than those on the ribbon of the Friedrich August Kreuz and House Order.

    Regards,

    Matthew

     

     

     

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    According to the sources I've been looking at,  the  Oldenburg firm of  Knauer delivered only 50 examples of this medal. From this, 18 pieces were awarded between 22nd January 1908 and 22nd October 1918. 16 of which were to women and 2 to men. 

    It would seem the first issues were in silver (950) the rest bronze.

     

    For further information see below:

    https://www.kuenker.de/de/archiv/stueck/84366

    https://www.trave-militaria.de/archiv/1035-oldenburg-rot-kreuz-medaille-im-originaletui-nur-18-verleihungen.htm

    https://www.ehrenzeichen-orden.de/deutsche-staaten/oldenburg-rote-kreuz-medaille-1907.html

     

    Regards

    Paul H.

    Edited by ÖSTA
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    14 minutes ago, ÖSTA said:

    According to the sources I've been looking at,  the  Oldenburg firm of  Knauer delivered only 50 examples of this medal. From this, 18 pieces were awarded between 22nd January 1908 and 22nd October 1918. 16 of which were to women and 2 to men. 

    It would seem the first issues were in silver (950) the rest bronze.

     

    For further information see below:

    https://www.kuenker.de/de/archiv/stueck/84366

    https://www.trave-militaria.de/archiv/1035-oldenburg-rot-kreuz-medaille-im-originaletui-nur-18-verleihungen.htm

    https://www.ehrenzeichen-orden.de/deutsche-staaten/oldenburg-rote-kreuz-medaille-1907.html

    Hello ÖSTA, unfortunately your claims are not correct. I recommend the appropriate specialist literature:

    https://www.amazon.de/Hausorden-tragbaren-Ehrenzeichen-Gro%C3%9Fherzogtums-Oldenburg/dp/393153331X

    Kind regards
    Andreas

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    Hi Andreas,  thanks for the reference.   For the benefit of myself and others interested in this rare award, could you please briefly say what is not correct with the information above.

    Many thanks

    Paul H.

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    1 minute ago, ÖSTA said:

    Hi Andreas,  thanks for the reference.   For the benefit of myself and others interested in this rare award, could you please briefly say what is not correct with the information above.

    Many thanks

    Paul H.

    Hi Paul,

    On 11/08/2018 at 11:43, dedehansen said:

    Hi Lars,

    my medal ist the first model and bronze gilded, this medal was

    awarded on 11.1.1916, shortly thereafter, there must have been

    a change from bronze gilded to silver.

    Kind regards
    Andreas

    Kind regards

    Andreas

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    1 hour ago, dedehansen said:

     

     

    Just expand on Andreas' post. Another reference affectively states that; from 1916 further examples of this medal were produced in gold plated silver (bronze being needed for the war effort)

        'Die nachfolgenden Exemplare waren – wohl aus Materialproblemen (ab 1916 durfte kriegsbedingt keine Bronze mehr verwendet werden) – Silbervergoldet (950er Silber) hergestellt'.

    Werner Heinz und K. P. Christian Spath: Die Rote-Kreuz-Medaille des Großherzogtums Oldenburg unter besonderer Berücksichtigung der Verleihungen im Fürstentum Birkenfeld. In: Orden und Ehrenzeichen, 15. Jg., Nr. 85, Juni 2013, Seite 156.

     With regard to the book recommended by Andreas: 

     (Friedhelm Beyreiß: Der Hausorden und die tragbaren Ehrenzeichen des Großherzogtum Oldenburg 1813-1918. Militair-Verlag Klaus D. Patzwall. Norderstedt 1997).

     The information re: number of  awards given, should be treated with some caution.*  

     *  Werner Heinz, K. P. Christian Spath: Die Rote-Kreuz-Medaille des Großherzogtums Oldenburg unter besonderer Berücksichtigung der Verleihungen im Fürstentum Birkenfeld. In: Orden und Ehrenzeichen. 15. Jg., Nr. 85, Juni 2013.

     This reference indicates up to 450 awards.

     To cut a long story short:

     Early pieces were goldplated/gilded bronze. Post 1916 examples goldplated/gilded 950 silver.  Up to 450 awards could have been made.

    Cheers

    Paul H.

     

    Edited by ÖSTA
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    • 5 years later...

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