Well, I have shown previously a few medal Bars with different combinations from German States and other countries. But the one today is quite different. It contains the following decorations:
– Roter Adler Orden 4. Klasse.
– Dienstauszeichnung für Offiziere.
– Zentenarmedaille.
– Orden der Krone von Rumänien (Ritter)
This medal bar had a “tough past”. A previous owner just separated the whole thing: bar in one side, the orden and medals in another, and sold them separately to get more money. Or this is what I presume. Somebody got the bar, took the time of reconstructing it and now it is in my collection.
It is a medal bar, that contains a decoration of an enemy country of Germany during the First World War. It is obvious, that the bar was made before 1914, put in a box during or after the war and forgotten. Many of the Bars containing Russian, Italian, Rumanian or even Japanese Medals/Orden may have been dismantled after the war. Something quite logical… this is why, it is not easy to find this type of pre-war “Ordensspange” with “enemy” decorations there.
There were MANY of this type of “Ordensschnalle” circulating all over Germany. This is very easy to find having a look at the wonderful “Rangliste der Königlich Preußischen Armee und des XIII. (Königlich Württembergischen) Armeekorps”. This is the yearly published list of all of the officers of the Prussian Army and the German states, except the Kingdom of Bavaria and the Kingdom of Saxony. What it makes this book so wonderful, is that besides each of the officers, it comes the decorations received for him in that moment. Of course, it is not 100% accurate, but for collectors it is a good source for investigation. Today, I am going to show you many picture of the contents of that book.
Many German Regiments were named in Honour of a member of the Royal Family of Prussia or other States, for example, the “Infanterie Regiment Herzog Karl von Mecklenburg (6. Ostpreußisches) Nr. 43”. This is easy to see in the book: “Traditions of the Imperial German Infantry Regiments (Chris Dale)”.
There were also many Regiments with a “Inhaber” (Holder) from other country, for example, the Royal Bavarian 5th Field Artillerie Regiment, King Alfons XIII from Spain, or the 9th Dragons Regiment King Carl I from Rumania (1st from Hannover). If you see the list of the most important Officers, many of them have Italians (codes JMX, JKX for the St. Mauritius and St. Lazarus Orden and the Orden of the Italian Crown) and Rumanian ones (code RumStX, RumKX for Orden of the Star and the Orden of the Crown).
From the point of view of the collectors, this type of Medal Bar is quite demanded and normally offered at very high prices, which in many cases, well exceed the prices of the individual medals and the % for being in a Medal Bar. This is the rule followed by many collectors for the valuation of an “Ordensspange”: the price of each individual decoration plus a percentage (between 10% and 20%) depending on how rare is the combination. The problem is, that with this type of “Ordensschnalle”, this “rule” is not applied with medal bars with foreign decorations, especially with countries different from the “Central Powers”.
Coming back to my Medal Bar, made by one of the most famous makers in the German Empire, Godet, I found a few possible “owners” of it. Of course it is possible that there were other people with that combination, who went into the Reserve. These Officers are not included in the list, unlike in the Rank lists of the Bavarian Army.
I hope to put my hands in a Medal Bar with Spanish Decorations, but this will be difficult and, of course, expensive. In one of the pictures, that I attach to this article, you see some Spanish and Bavarian officers. If you see closely, some of the Bavarian ones have Medal Bars with Bavarian and Spanish decorations…. Hope to see them some day on sale.