Bavarian Trapazoid Mounted Medal Bar

[Brad Posey]

If I take it apart I am really not out anything. Here is what I got in this lot. Everything in this photo for 130,- Euro includig the Hindenburg Cross back on the bar as I got it .

I agree with Don that if this were a TR KvK2 it wuold be correctly placed, but as everyone has pointed out, there are several issues with the medal bar that seem to point to a "Frankenstein".

I will decide what to do soon and if I take it apart I will be sure to post all of the photos here.

[Brad Posey]

Ok, here it is with the red felt removed from the back.

I burned a piece of every thread and ribbon on this thing and none of it was synthetic, or at least it passed the burn test. I would test with black light, but it just died.....go figure.....

To me the brass plate and its attachments looks like things I used to make in the garage as a kid. You can see grinder/file marks on the plate and an excessive amount of lead solder covering almost the entire back of the plate.

The ribbons are sewn on as seen here with a grey wool looking backing.


Question now; should I proceed with the "dissection"?





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[Brad Posey]

Here is another shot.


We can look at it a little closer with the ribbons removed..??

[Don D.]

I like the cased BMVK3mK.

[Brad Posey]

I like the cased BMVK3mK.

Don, me too, and that is why I bought this group because either way I the BMVK3mK is worth what I paid and the medals on the bar were free. The medal is also marked on the back of one of the swords: "GH" for Gebrueder Hemmerle", thier logo is on the inside of the lid in the photo above.



Back to the medal bar; I still cannot imagine why someone would have gone to all this trouble for no aparant gain.

What do you think of the "inside" views of the bar?


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[Brad Posey]

I like the cased BMVK3mK.

I like these too, but that is another story all together.




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[Don D.]

The whole BMVO/MVK series is underated imo. Beautiful awards at a decent price still.

Hard to say anything about the stiching from here. I see there is an underlayment on the spange. I wonder why they felt the need to change thread color from black to white?

[Brad Posey]

The whole BMVO/MVK series is underated imo. Beautiful awards at a decent price still.

Hard to say anything about the stiching from here. I see there is an underlayment on the spange. I wonder why they felt the need to change thread color from black to white?

My focus right now, as far as collecting awards goes, is looking for Bavarian military merit orders and crosses for the very reasons you cite here.


Is there still hope for the medal bar I originally posted or should I "dig" into it a little deeper? As you know from my SGT York discussion in the Living History Forum, I love to dig deeper and take things apart......



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[Don D.]

Let's wait and get some more opinions. No need to hurry.

[VtwinVince]

I would leave the bar 'as is', as it seems unlikely that a faker would put this combo together, although these days you never know. The BMVK3mK is a nice one, and not so common when they are marked.

[saschaw]

Regarding the series were underrated... the uncommon crosses are not.

Beware of anything but MVKs 3rd class and MVOs 4th class with swords. Anything else should be viewed critically by an expert. Much altered and faked pieces out there, unfortunally.