Help with Imperial ODM ID's

[tom2001]

First, let me say that I'm not an Imperial German collector. I went over to my friends' home for Thanksgiving Day, and, to make a long story short, he pulls out a bunch of medals/orders that his Dad "liberated" during WWII.

He's not a collector either, but would like to know what he has, and, if someone is kind enough, a general valuation. I've got a general idea of what he has, but I don't have the reference material to nail it down exactly. So, without further ado, here are some pics. Thanks in advance for the help!!

[McCulloh]

Those are some rare and valuable Saxon awards.
I can't say if they are originals, but they are so high up they are beyond my collecting experience. I've never had any of these in my hands nor even seen any "live" examples.
However, I can safely say that at LEAST $500 each item is rock bottom minimum, if original (and I suspect they are, they seem to have original collectors' tags on them).
Expect to be contacted by Dealers via pm shortly....

[Wild Card]

Hi Tom 2001,

First I would recommend that your friend should plan to hold on to these three pieces for a while so that he can get a true valuation of them. You are dealing with three high end decorations; and, say even 10% either way, could mean some money. Time is tight for me at the moment; but I promise to get back with some numbers. Meanwhile, what you have is a Saxon Ernestine House Order commander’s badge, a Reuss House Order commander’s badge and a Saxon Albert Order gold grand cross star with silver crown.

Stay tuned,

Wild Card

[tom2001]

Thanks WC. I was kinda surprised at the lack of responses to this thread. I appreciate the help. For a non-imperial collector like myself, it's hard to ID this type of ODM, especially when trying to determine the different classes.

I'll talk to my buddy this weekend and see if he's interested in selling.

[Don D.]

All I can say is WOW!!! Most of us have never even seen these awards before.

[Dave Danner]

The Saxe-Ernestine House Order commander's cross should be gold. It should be somewhere in the $1500 range.

The officer's cross of the Princely Reuss Honor Cross is at least $1000.

The Grand Cross breast star with crown is a special class of the Albert Order of Saxony. If original, and it looks good on first impression (Scharffenberg was one of the main Saxon court jewelers), it is over $4000.

These are rough guesses. The Imperial market has gone crazy over the past few years.

For reference and comparison, there is an Albert Order breast star without crown in the upcoming Thies auction with an opening gavel price of 2000 euros (lot #89). One with swords (lot #604) has an opening gavel price of 3200 euros. There is an officer's cross of the Princely Reuss Honor Cross with swords (a more valuable class) with an opening gavel price of 2000 euros. (lot #206). Lot #626 is a commander's cross of the Saxe-Ernestine House Order with an opening gavel price of 1200 euros.

[Wild Card]

Hi Tom2001,

I’m back. Dave’s information in post #6 is on the mark. I do have a couple of additional points which I hope might be helpful.

1. Ernestine commander’s cross. I go along with Dave’s estimate of $1,500; but I would go a bit higher mainly because of the weak $.

2. Reuss Honor Cross. A similar cased piece sold at Thies auction in April of ‘05 for 1600 Euros and an uncased piece sold in April of ‘06 for the same price. There would also be an additional commission of 23% on both sales.

3. This star is very difficult to estimate. Aside from Dave’s example, the only other one that I can find presently is one which was offered as part of a complete set in November of ‘04 at a starting price of 6.000 Euros (plus 23% commission) which went unsold. Based on this, I would expect a price upwards of $4,000+.

This is the best I can do; but I must close by saying that it is always a risk to estimate such things. After seeing a Hannoverian Guelph knight’s badge with swords sell for 8,300 Euro on top of an estimate of 1,500 in July, I am convinced that anything is possible.

Best wishes,

Wild Card

[tom2001]

Thanks Dave and WC. At least I can tell my buddy that we're talking in the thousands, rather than hundreds of dollars.

If he decides he wants to sell I may "pester" you guys for for additional information.

My sincere thanks again. It's always great to find stand-up guys like you two who are willing to help out a newbie in the field, even one who's just out there collecting information!!