Hamburg cross help please...

[Mark Holmes]

Sup guys . Today saw the arrival of these two little beauties . I was originally after a Hamburg cross but took the other one because it was there , i believe there are 3 versions of this medal . Thats the first piece of clarification i need . What is the other one called ?
Secondly , am i right in thinking that there is a difference between the 2 ring and the 3 ring types.
i.e. is one type rarer than the other ?
Also are these the correct ribbon bars for these medals...

Any help appreciated or pointers towards where i might find this info...

[Don D.]

The Bremen cross is the third of the Hansa series.

[Claudius]

Hello Stomper;

Great looking cross! Good pick-ups. You have good instincts. Yes, there are three different Hanseatic crosses. All with red enamel arms. Hamburg, Lubeck and Bremen. The Hamburg with a castle in the center. The Lubeck with the eagle and the Bremen with a key. I noticed that your Lubeck has red feet and beak. That's good, because there is still some controversy over black feet and beak.

Three ring or two ring...I don't know much about the differences or rarity there. I do know that number issued were approximately;
Hamburg -50,000
Bremen -20,000
Lubeck -8,000

It was also my understanding that the medal rolls for the Lubeck are in existance, but just not published. That is of particular interest to me, but then, that's my windmill to tilt at.

The ribbons appear to be correct as well. Each with there own diffenent thickness of red and white. The Bremen ribbon has more, thinner stripes than the Hamburg.

I hope this helps...

-Claudius

[Scott M]

.

[Mark Holmes]

Claudius . Thanks for your reply , you know sometimes when you ask a question you kind of hope to get an answer along the lines of what you wrote but it never usually happens does it. You answered quickly and gave me the details i required , thanks also to the others who replied.

[ottomaton]

As an American, Northern European renaissance economic history isn't exactly taught anywhere but advanced college level courses. One of the things I like about collecting Imperial stuff is that it leads you to all sorts of interesting things that you probably would never have paid attention to otherwise.

I don't think I'd ever heard of the Hansiatic league until I started admiring the Hansiatic crosses, and began to wonder about the word 'Hansiatic'. This is probably old hat for many here but from the perspective of this member of the great unwashed masses it is interesting stuff.

Here is the Wikipedia article on the Hansiatic League.

Very pretty crosses BTW. You get a whole lot of pretty enamel for the price that these go for. The mounts are interesting too.

[regular122]

You said it Keith. My interest sparked on them when I was much younger as an exchange student to Germany near Lubeck in Schleswig-Holstein. The last free city status ended with the late thrities and the advent of World War II. But it was certainly an interesting arrangement. And these cities made the most handsome baseline bravery award for their soldiers in my opinion. Steve

[Claudius]

Claudius . Thanks for your reply , you know sometimes when you ask a question you kind of hope to get an answer along the lines of what you wrote but it never usually happens does it. You answered quickly and gave me the details i required , thanks also to the others who replied.

Your welcome Stomper. I'm glad the response was what you were looking for...but then, why the "thumbs-down" in the title? (Maybe thumbs-down means something different than in the USA.)

[Dave Danner]

As an American, Northern European renaissance economic history isn't exactly taught anywhere but advanced college level courses. One of the things I like about collecting Imperial stuff is that it leads you to all sorts of interesting things that you probably would never have paid attention to otherwise.

I don't think I'd ever heard of the Hansiatic league until I started admiring the Hansiatic crosses, and began to wonder about the word 'Hansiatic'. This is probably old hat for many here but from the perspective of this member of the great unwashed masses it is interesting stuff.

Here is the Wikipedia article on the Hansiatic League.

Very pretty crosses BTW. You get a whole lot of pretty enamel for the price that these go for. The mounts are interesting too.

Didn't you ever wonder why the airline was called Lufthansa?

Just to be nitpicky - Hanseatic League.

There are a few more links to resources on the Hanseatic League at the bottom of the page of mine to which Scott M linked.

[Mark Holmes]

Your welcome Stomper. I'm glad the response was what you were looking for...but then, why the "thumbs-down" in the title? (Maybe thumbs-down means something different than in the USA.)

Sorry claudius . Was a slip of the keys there...Problem fixed..
Again thanks.