Imperial German Medal and Order Ribbons

[kaiserzeit]

G'day Everyone!

I have been able to locate a manufacturer who will make silk ribbons for me in the old style, all widths from 1 cm. to 10 cm.

My question for you is which ribbons would you like to see first?

Perish the thought I should state the obvious but I am going to do trial runs of 1813, 1870 and 1918 Iron Cross Second Class, all three types.

Please give me your input and I will do my best to broaden my offering to the collecting community.

Thank you in advance for your input.

Kind regards,

Laurie Thomson

[Tim Tezer]

I guess the question is, how much will it cost to produce the ribbon? Most of the more common ribbons are already available (I don't know why you'd even bother making 1918 Iron Cross ribbon, as there is a lot of it available). The rare ribbons are not available mostly because there isn't much demand, so unless it can be produced very inexpensively, it usually isn't worthwhile. For example, I know someone who is looking for ribbons for reproduction Imperial German neck badges. Since they are only reproductions, he wouldn't be willing to pay more than a few dollars for the ribbons.

Tim

[Daniel Murphy]

Well since I believe there is a need for these, I will open this Pandora's box. I would like to see peacetime RAO, PKO, Bavarian MVO/MVK, and ribbons for some of the more hard to find 1914 EK equivalent crosses. Anhalt, Mecklenburg, Schaumburg-Lippe, Lippe-Detmold etc. I personally have medals bought many years ago, that I do not display due to their not having ribbons. I absolutely refuse to put one of the new nylon (or whatever) ribbons on them because to me it looks like crap. I have also passed on some hard to find pieces because they have not had ribbons. These would be good for someone who needs them for his collection. The problem comes in when the medals, decorations or orders are then passed on as having original ribbons when they are not. This is crossing the line. I feel you will get a lot of feedback about this pro and con. What I WOULD NOT MAKE, is ribbon bar size ribbons. God knows there are enough ribbon bars being faked as is and this only opens the door for more fraud. However FULL SIZE silk replacement ribbons for collectors who need them would fill a void IMHO. The next problem would be fake medals bars.....
A lot of people will probably give me a over going this far on the subject.
Dan Murphy

[McCulloh]

Kyfserbund ribbon, 1813/4/5 campaign ribbons, Bavarian Luitpold Commemorative ribbons, the Saxe Weimar Honor medal ribbon, Marinekorps Flanders medal ribbon, Oldenburg cross-combat ants' version

[kaiserzeit]

Thank you, gentlemen.

I find myself caught betwixt and between with this issue. I don't want to create any problems down the road for people looking to purchase a piece with my "new" old-style ribbon on it.

I have decided that I will be marking all of my repro pickelhaube parts with UV dye. It seems like that's the sporting thing to do for my ribbons as well.

Dan, it was your reasoning that got me off on this tangent. Over the years I have had many fine example which I haven't bothered to display because I didn't have the ribbons, or I have turned down pieces (and regretted it later) that were ribbonless.

Tim's point about price is well-taken. I find a lot of collectors would like a replacement part. ribbon or what-have-you but are seldom willing to pay enough to cover its current costs of production, which sort of makes staying in business difficult.

I must think....

Kind regards,

Laurie

[Tim Tezer]

Please don't take my prior posting the wrong way - I was not trying to discourage you. We all want to have those hard-to-find replacement ribbons available, and in the best possible quality.

Since I never answered the question of what I would like to see in Imperial ribbons, my most practical suggestions would be the Baden Order of the Zahringen Lion, Bavarian Military Merit Order WITHOUT swords, and Saxon Order of Albert.

A much harder thing to find (but also to sell, as the demand is going to be low) would be ribbons for orders that do not share a ribbon with a more common award. In other words, it is not difficult to get a ribbon for the Wuerttemburg Military Merit Order, because the common silver bravery medal uses the same ribbon. But there are several orders that have no such shared ribbon, for example: Baden, the Order of Berthold; Bavaria, Merit Order of the Bavarian Crown; Brunswick, Order of Henry the Lion; Hannover, Ernst-August Order; Hessen-Darmstadt, Order of Phillip the Magnanimous, etc., etc.

Tim

[kaiserzeit]

Hi Tim,

Thank you for your continued encouragement and the input. I have much cogitating to do.

I have to approach this business carefully as the minimum order quantities are not small. As long as collectors are willing to be realistic about the actual cost of this stuff - I will do my best to keep prices in line.

That is the type of service that I want to offer - Good quality replacement parts at reasonable prices.

I'll keep you posted.

If anyone else has ideas/input as to what sort of ribbons they'd like to see, I really value your input.

Cheers,

Laurie

[Eric Gaumann]

I'd be interested

I could use a ribbon for:
Crown Order medal
Hindeburg noncombatent
Lubeck Hansa cross
Allgemeines Ehrenzichen (WIIR)
Konigsgratz cross
the obligatory EK ribbons, of course
Bavarian MVK3

These are what I can think of off the top of my noggin'.

[kaiserzeit]

Hi Eric,

Thank you for your input, it is all in the right direction.

I'll keep you posted of my progress but please be patient. Developing these new products takes months but I will get there.

To the rest of you: Please pitch in, too. Your input is much-valued, this exercise will be beneficial to the collecting community, overall, if I can do what I plan.

Cheers,

Laurie

[Robin Lumsden]

I've been looking for a length of ribbon for the Iron Division Medal for over 10 years.

[kaiserzeit]

Hi Robin,

Careful now, I confuse easily.

I have seen photos of the 47th Div. - Iron Division pinback medal but wasn't aware that there was a suspended version as well. Can you post a photo? Obviously, I need educating.

Cheers,

Laurie