Medal Bar Mounting Styles: A Catalog of Types

[Rick Research]

1) Prussian: padded, folded ribbons, with a "bow" on bottom. Introduced in the 1870s, until the end of WWI, this type was reserved for officers and (from just before 1914) senior NCOs. After 1918 it could be worn at the wearer's choice by anyone--

[Rick Research]

2) Bavarian: padded, folded ribbons, with a flat bottom. This style either has clips on the front for attachment or hooks on back, and was used by both enlisted and officer ranks, and remained popular into the beginning of WW2--

[Rick Research]

3) Saxon: like the Prussian--with folded ribbons (often unpadded), bow drape bottom, but with straight parallel sides. This is not a accident of hand mounting, but a distinct, frequently seen style. From Ted's collection.

For comparison here is a "Prussian" at left with bulging sides and padding under the ribbon, and a "Saxon" at left without thick padding and with straight sides--

[Rick Research]

4) "Westphalian": this is actually a DUTCH style, but in most cases when I have seen it, it has been worn by Westphalians/Rhinelanders. (This specific bar, in Ted's collection, belonged to a Torpederkapitänleutnant who had earned--and expected to simply replace, his old IX Years Service Medal with an XXV Years Service Cross).

Note the distinctly wider top tapering down to the bow bottom, more of a V than a U. Again, not a hand mounting result but a distinct style--

[Rick Research]

5) Prussian Trapezoid: this was the single 19th century style, but after the 1870s was normally only worn by enlisted ranks, for whom it was prescribed as the mandatory style until 1919. Hooks on back to slide the medals on and off. Ugly and an outdated style that caused its awards to bang back and forth with any movement, it was still hanging on out of favor into the 1930s, and very unusual examples can still be found as late as 1940, but the style was no longer popular. From Ted's collection--

[Rick Research]

6) Frock Bar: The German reversed order "Frackspange" is most often MIS-identified as "naval" or "diplomatic" when in fact it is simply a civilian dress style, worn with the knee length double breasted frock coats of the 19th century, or tuxedoes of the 20th. It was virtually NEVER worn by anyone in uniform, including naval officers. (I have seen ONE Luftwaffe officer's bar in this style, made for a waist length "monkey jacket"--that bar has appeared on the main Wehrmacht Forum)--

[McCulloh]

Isn't that "ringer" a Bulgarian medal style?
Cheers?
JeMc

[ccj]

Ribbon bars styles

Thanks for giving examples of the various types of medals ribbon mounts.
As to the last, it is similar to the Bulgarian ribbon mounts of early days or pre WWI. Most awards of the 1900s were Austrian.

Now, can anyone tell me the normal mount used by the Romanians? The ones I have seen appear to be Bavarian like in manufacture. I notice though that when only one award was worn they usually wore the ribbon like the French or the Americans.

I would post images but I cannot. I am not able.

[Rick Research]

Here is a low "British" style from Tom Y. Ugly type. Will post another from Ted's collection, 25mm wide and a height that makes it look exactly like a blown up 15mm ribbon bar, on detachable tabs backing when I can borrow it.

[Rick Research]

Bill--the spring clips on your EK2/Hindenburg bar are meant to be concealed under the overlap of the ribbon--the suspension rings should be rolled in and tucked up under the ribbon. They have simply worked out on top of the ribbons over time.

The single 5 sided mounting that Histaria shows was most commonly used for veterans' association badges and the like but was still to be found as late as 1939 in the Steinhauer & Lück catalog. An ugly style, and you wonder what the wearer could have been thinking.

[Dave Danner]

The "Bulgarian" style seems to be a transition between trifolds and the later pentagonal style of Com-Bloc countries:





Dave

[Dave Danner]

Both Romania and Poland favored an eyehook-type attachment with the medals looped over a bar. Some Serbian medals were mounted this way as well.

<u>Romanian</u>:



<u>Polish</u>:



French and Belgian bars also typically involved that looping, but were sewn on:



Dave

[Dave Danner]

Romanian mounted bars, at least the ones I've seen, follow a style which is similar to the "Bavarian", but the ribbons are folded so that the width is that of the ribbon and the appearance is not of the ribbon doubled over.

The image on this one might not last, because it's from a completed eBay auction:

<a href="http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1081210594">Romanian medal bar</a>

Dave

[Dave Danner]

A Swedish Order of the Sword, showing the bow drape, straight-sided "Saxon" style:



Dave

[Dave Danner]

The Bavarian-style, with hooks on the back:



This one is the same style as the one Bill posted, with the two ridges on the front. Also, for the Bavarian style with front clips, I would recommend not trying to get the clips back under the ribbon, because, although it will look better now, eventually it will cause too much wear to the ribbon.

Dave