Are these medal bars possible??

[AndyD]

Hi!
can any of you help me out please,i just wondered whether these combinations were possible or not!

EK2/BAVARIAN MILITARY ORDER OF MERIT 1866/BAVARIAN LONG SERVICE 3RD CLASS.

And the 2nd one:
EK2/FRIEDRICH AUGUST MEDAL/CROSS OF HONOUR +SWORDS/1914 WAR SERVICE MEDAL.

Also if anyone could post pics of these medals apart from EK and Cross of Honour, i would be grateful!
One more thing,would you advise against buying an EK2 on non-combatant ribbon?Just wondered as if it's mounted on a bar i would assume that it was awarded,if it's just a single medal it would be easy to change the ribbon and sell it for a higher price,as you have no way of knowing if the ribbon is original to the medal or not.Any thoughts or advice you can give on these topics would be appreciated.
Kind regards,
Andy

[WNickel]

Hi Andy,

the combination of your bars are correct. I can post you a pic of as EK 2 for non-combatants at a bar....

Werner

[Rick Research]

The "Bavarian Military Order of Merit 1866" is presumably a Military Merit Cross 3rd Class with Swords WW1 as given to privates and junior NCOs. With that trio, to a bavarian, the correct order of mounting would be: MMC3X, IC2, Bav IX.

I certainly would not pay any premium for a LOOSE noncombatant EK2. IF the ribbon was original and silk, it would have some extra value, of course, but probably 99 out of 100 have new replacement ribbons and this is an attempt to boost the price.

Mounted in a group, they are indeed treasures-- 13,000 of them versus five MILLION of the combatant type!

[AndyD]

Rick,
does this mean that if the bar is mounted differently from how you describe that it is wrong?Also, any thoughts on the other bar i mentioned?And, finally, is the EK worth buying if the ribbon is silk and original,he is asking £35.
Kind regards,
Andy

[AndyD]

Rick or anybody,please could you answer the questions in my previous post,as i am seeing the dealer tomorrow!!!
Kind regards,
Andy

[Dave Danner]

I don't have a picture of the Bavarian long service medal, but here's a bar with the Iron Cross, Bavarian Military Merit Cross 3rd Class with Swords, and the WW1 Honor Cross for Combatants.



As you described it, the bar would be like this but with the Bavarian long service award in third place. What Rick was saying was that the lack of a WW1 Honor Cross would make this bar from 1935 or before, and customarily a Bavarian would wear his state's decorations ahead of Prussia's Iron Cross. Before the abolition of the Bavarian monarchy at the end of World War I, this would have been regulation rather than custom. In other words, if it is a 1920s or so bar, the order isn't bad, just odd.

As for the other bar, take a look at this thread for a three-medal bar with the Friedrich August Medal: http://dev.wehrmacht-awards.com/foru...threadid=16923 . I would guess that the 4th medal, the "1914 WAR SERVICE MEDAL", is an Austrian or Hungarian WW1 Commemorative Medal. These combinations, with or without the allied commemoratives, would be typical for a Saxon enlisted soldier.

As for a pic of the commemorative medal, here is a Reuss soldier's medal bar with the Reuss Silver Merit Medal with Swords. The soldier didn't get the Iron Cross, but padded out his medal bar with four commemoratives: Germany, Austria, Hungary and Bulgaria.


As for the loose EK2, £35 seems like a lot. I see generic EK2s on the various German dealers' sites for 30 to 35 euros. To me, even that's a lot, but I'm cheap.

I hope this helps.

Dave

Dave

[AndyD]

Thanks for your reply Dave.Was the Bavarian Military Merit Cross made without swords,as there is no mention of them on the dealers list.
Kind regards,
Andy

[Rick Research]

Ah! If a PEACETIME award, then would be on a white ribbon with a blue stripe near each edge, same as the last one in Stogie-Rick's "Who Am I?" thread--go to the end where I've put nice close scans in.

If on a ribbon with blue and black stripes like the one shown above, then what it is is a wartime cross with the swords removed....eeerrrrkkkkkkk!!!!

Peacetime awards are much scarcer, only awarded in this M1913 type for one year, basically. One that never had swords will have an upside down heart sort of shape in the suspension curlicue, whereas a wartime one that some dolt has taken the swords off of will have a round hole where the screw behind the swords went to the attachment nut.