Meet Rittmeister Oskar Freiherr Kress von Kressenstein - medal bars and documents

[Claudio]

Dear forumites,

Here I would like to show you a nice complete group of an aristocratic Cavalry officer.

Decorations on the medal bar:

Photographs:

Documents (list):


    

 

Claudio

[laurentius]

That's a lovely bar, I especially love the Orden Heinrich des Löwens

[Claudio]

Thanks Laurentius.

Here I'm posting all the documents that the Bavarian State archives could find on him; they were extremely helpful and very efficient and sent me all these documents in PDF format on a CD.

There are some "Qualifikations-Bericht" that I can't read. Especially those of 1914 and 1913, same "shitty" hand writing... Maybe someone could help me?

Thanks in advance!

Sincerely,

Claudio

Edited July 9, 2019 by Claudio
grammatical mistakes

[VtwinVince]

That's a really great Schnalle, Claudio, I especially like these with 'Foreigners' on them, and to a member of this famous family is even better. But I'm confused, this is not a Godet bar, so you should send it to me....

[Claudio]

2 hours ago, VtwinVince said:

That's a really great Schnalle, Claudio, I especially like these with 'Foreigners' on them, and to a member of this famous family is even better. But I'm confused, this is not a Godet bar, so you should send it to me....

Sure! You’re right.... ???? No Godet this time... but I had to have it since I saw it already on Thies auction in 2006, coming from the famous Seymour’s collection...

[Claudius]

Wonderful bar Claudio!  But I especially like that you have the gentleman's significant career dates with battle history and award dates.  I sympathize with the "Qualifikations-Bericht".  I don't know what it is suppose to communicate.  It almost looks like a letter...to outline his qualifications to the promotions personnel? 

Might have to send those pages to a devoted Sutterlin translator. 

[Schießplatzmeister]

Hello Claudio,

Congratulations on owning this fantastic group.

I once had the pleasure of seeing George Seymour's collection before he passed away.  He was a very nice gentleman with one of the best collections this side of the Atlantic.

I have recently seen the items for Franz Kress von Kressenstein that came onto the market.  I purchased one item that was family-related.  It is interesting how these family items come onto the market from time to time.

MfG,

Edited July 9, 2019 by Schießplatzmeister

[JasonA]

The world-class collection continues.

?

Cheers my friend.  Amazing!

J-

 

[Komtur]

14 hours ago, Claudius said:

...  I sympathize with the "Qualifikations-Bericht".  I don't know what it is suppose to communicate.  It almost looks like a letter...to outline his qualifications to the promotions personnel?

The advancement in the German armies follows the principle of seniority and capability. The seniority was well-defined by the date of enlistment as an officer in the army. The capability for the next higher level of rank was judged by the commander of an officer. From the beginning of the 19th century the German armies developed specific regulations who, when and with what content these Qualifkationsberichte had to issue.

For more information about this complex theme I can recommend the book Untersuchungen zur Geschichte des Offizierskorps / Anciennität und Beförderung nach Leistung, Stuttgart 1962.

Regards, Komtur.

Edited July 10, 2019 by Komtur

[Paul C]

I knew this bar rang a bell. I saw it before when it was up for auction. Nice bar and glad it went to a good home.

[VtwinVince]

Aha, I didn't know if was an ex-Seymour piece. He did have very good taste in medal bars. I was lucky enough to get a couple from his collection shortly after he died.

[Stogieman]

Beautiful Claudio, just beautiful, especially with all the documents!

[BlackcowboyBS]

Great medalbar Claudio,

as you may know the later Duke Ernst August of Brunswick served in the bavarian regiment 1. Kgl Schweren Reiter. When he climbed the throne in Brunswick in 1913 he awarded many orders to former comrades of this regiment on the ocasion of the 100 years jubilee of that regiment.

Oskar and Franz Kress von Kressenstein, I believe that they were brothers both served in this regiment and both got the 4th class of the Henry the Lion order.

 

 

Edited July 15, 2020 by BlackcowboyBS

[David M]

On 09/07/2019 at 10:45, Claudio said:

Thanks Laurentius.

Here I'm posting all the documents that the Bavarian State archives could find on him; they were extremely helpful and very efficient and sent me all these documents in PDF format on a CD.

There are some "Qualifikations-Bericht" that I can't read. Especially those of 1914 and 1913, same "shitty" hand writing... Maybe someone could help me?

Thanks in advance!

Sincerely,

Claudio

Did you already get the texts transcribed? If not, send me a DM and I can see what I can do