Another BIG-BAR at german ebay:

[JensF.]

http://cgi.ebay.de/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?...category=34651

[JensF.]

In my opinion this medal-bar is ok:

[Klaus O.]

Jens,

I looks ok to me too, but I am just having some doubts about the last Belgian order...

Ciao,

Claudio

[Rick Research]

Looks VERY nice to me too, and SHOULD be traceable with a great deal of effort-- unless Werner already has it on his data base:

The Belgian Leopold IInd- Knight was given to Leutnants before the war--see Dragoon Regiment 16, etc. The Saxe Ernestine-Knight 2nd X was given to Leutnants and Oberleutnants, and the Bulgarian MMO with Crown to Oberleutnants. The Saxon Albert-Knight 1st X was given to Hauptleute-- so this all "fits."

Wehrmacht 12 rather than 18 means this retread (E) officer had no more than 17 years military service total by 1939, and since it took at least 9 years to make Captain during the First World War, that means he had to have joined between 1905 and 1909, depending on when he left Imperial service 1918-20 and when he rejoined in the big recall of 1933-35.

From all that, I doubt he was a Saxon officer.

The Turkish Liakat offers more opportunity to verify his identity, given my sources in that area.

So if one of our readers ends up with this bar, THEN a hunt through the various sources should turn him up after substantial effort.

Note that this appears to be an ORIGINAL "Prussian Flat Bottom" style bar, the type favored by current Frankenstein parts fraud sellers but that WAS an uncommon original type.

[Dave Danner]

The Belgian royal family, like the Bulgarian, British and Portuguese royal houses, were Saxe-Coburgs. So until the war the Belgians, like the Russians and British, had their contacts with their various German cousins.

Dave

[mott5ranch]

Anyone here going to bid on it?

[Klaus O.]

Gary & Jens,

I tried to bid on it, however unsuccessfully... It seems that it is almost impossible to win such auctions, if you aren't ready to outbid significantly in advance other interested people... It was sold for Eur 2'011.-, not really peanuts. If I calculate the value of the single medals I can't go more up than 1250-1500... maybe the add another 20-25% for the rarity of the combinations of foreign orders. Too bad, because also its ribbon bar is for sale separately... If I had bought it, I would have tried my best to get the ribbon bar, too.

Ciao,

Claudio

[Klaus O.]

Deleted by Claudio Ortelli

[WNickel]

Hi Claudio,

congratulations to you - I slept at the end of the auction...

Is it the belgium Leopold II order or the belgium crown???

Werner

[Klaus O.]

Werner,

It's the Belgian order of Leopold II... I didn't sleep during the auction of the medal bar, but the price went up so quickly that I couldn't top that (in 30 minutes price rose from Euro 1600.- up to 2010.-!!!).

Ciao,

Claudio

[Rick Research]

The oddest thing is that this guy only had 12 years Wehrmacht total service by 1939-- I'm working on this.

MUCH nicer scan of the obverse ribbon bar, Claudio.

[Brian S]

Claudio, what's a nice ribbon bar like this worth?

[Klaus O.]

Rick,

I think you're right: it's odd but impossible... He could have been a reservist (officer) in WWI and joined the Wehrmacht early 30ies. The backing is almost of the same color of the reverse of the medal bar, a bit darker (gray).

Brian,

It all depends how much you're prepared to pay... Considering today's prices it could be easely expensive; I would say definetely more than USD 100.-. I paid 156.- Euro for this one...

Ciao,

Claudio

[Daniel Krause]

Hi Claudio,

congratulations that You catched it! I was still at work....otherwise

Best regards

Daniel