1864-1866: German campaign-awards

[Blitz]

Hello, mates. I am thinking about buying "Mainarmee", "Königkraz" and the "danish wars campaign awards. So i wan't know everything i can about them. Are there any fakes around? I know that they aren't that expensive... All info and pics are appreciated!

[Tom Y]

I've never heard of fakes. Don't forget the Treuen Kriegern and the Austrian Danish War with the cyphers reversed. Here are the 3 1866's and the Prussian Danish. Sorry about the condition of the TK, but it's the hardest to find of the 3. The Königgratz is a scarce maker marked one. The only one I've ever seen.

[Tom Y]

And to make it complete the Alsen- and Düppel- Sturmkreuzes

[John Harman]

Tom,
I loooooove that marked Königgrätz Great piece! It has the grooved eyelet of official pieces but made by a private firm? Interesting...

Blitz,
There are many different types of these crosses to collect. The pieces with the grooved eyelet are the official pieces from the Prussian Mint. There are many different private purchase pieces which are a little different(eagle design, shape of date, etc). Many of the private pieces were much more detailed than the official pieces. The real treasure is to find period ribbon on these! Like you said, they aren't too uncommon, not too expensive, and they symbolize the campaigns which made Prussia the dominant German state. Neat stuff!

[Eagle]

Here are a piece of a old ribbon:




The revers is a little bit damaged.

Best regards

Eagle

[Dave Danner]

One thing to watch out for is there are a lot of "private purchase" Königgrätz crosses which have a rather cheap appearance. The are flatter, with sharper and more crudely cut edges, and lack good detail.

By the way, another thing to keep in mind is that there were two German-Danish Wars - one in 1864 and the earlier conflict in 1848-1851 - both over Schleswig-Holstein. There is no general commemorative for the First Schleswig-Holstein War, AKA the Three Years' War, probably because for all intents and purposes the Germans lost (although it would be hard to say the Danes won). However, several states - including Bavaria, Braunschweig/Brunswick, Mecklenburg-Schwerin, Nassau, Oldenburg, Reuss, Saxony, Saxe-Coburg, Schaumburg-Lippe, Waldeck and Württemberg - had their own campaign medal or cross for the war. Several specifically commemorated the naval battle at Eckernförde in April 1849, where the German Confederation forces, including ships and shore batteries, defeated the Danish Navy.

These, as well as the various German state medals for 1864 and 1866, tend to be more expensive than the main service medals and crosses.

Here is a medal bar covering the three wars of unification - 1864, 1866 and 1870-71:

[stogieman]

Don't forget the Non-Combattant!

Here's my 1866 on an original non-combattant ribbon! Had it on the eStand, but no-one wanted it
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<img src=http://www.imperialorders.com/ebaypix/17471.jpg><img src=http://www.imperialorders.com/ebaypix/17472.jpg>

[Blitz]

Thanks for the wonderfull pics and the info, mates!