Oldenburg Peter Friedrich Ludwig House Order

[Mike Cauvin]

Hello all

I came across a medal that I would like to ask the forums help with if I could please.
From what I've been able to find, I believe it is an Oldenburg Knights Cross Second Class with Swords, or sword in this case. What would be the the dates these were issued, and for what was it given?
Thank you for any assistance and any comments appreciated.

Mike

[Mike Cauvin]

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[Mike Cauvin]

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[VtwinVince]

Mike, your identification is correct. These were awarded for military merit, hence the swords, and I believe the crown denotes a prior award. In this class they were given to officers in the major-colonel range. I would guess yours is a WW1 silver-gilt example.

[streptile]

I have always liked this award a lot. Very nice example. Too bad about the one sword. Did it come with the hilt separately?

Here is a nice one for sale:
http://www.emedals.ca/catalog.asp?item=GST724#bigPic

[Gerdan]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_a...rederick_Louis

http://www.medalnet.net/Kapitularzeichen.htm

Gerdan

[Mike Cauvin]

Thanks

Thank you for the information guys.

Trevor, unfortunately the hilt wasn't with the medal.
Gerdan, thanks for the links. I had seen the Wiki one but had missed the founding of the order info. I was also confused when it said that the 2nd class differed from the first class by not having a crown though.

I have noticed that the versions with and without swords have different coat of arms layouts. Did the painted centers remain similar for the 80 years these were issued, or are there differences over time that would indicate the age of the medal?

Mike

[Claudius]

The House and Merit Order of Duke Peter Friedrich Ludwig

The DPF or sometimes just "OV" is Oldenburg's house order.

The back of the cross has the hand-painted coat of arms in the center surrounded by dates on the arms.
At 12 o'clock is "17. Jan 1755" the birthday of Duke Peter Friedrich Ludwig
At 3 o'clock is “21. Mai 1829" the date of his death.
At 6 o'clock is "27. Nov 1838" the date of the foundation of the order, and
At 9 o'clock is "6. Jul 1838" the date of his accession to the throne.

The obverse has "Ein Gott, Ein Recht, Eine Warhheit" (One God, One Law, One Truth) surrounding the center medallion -the crowned cypher of DPFL.

The order came in many grades, yours is the Knight's Cross 2nd Class with Crown and Swords. The Swords are, of course, for a combatant award. The crown is part of the award and found on all orders, EXCEPT the lowest enameled Knight's Cross 2nd Class with, or without swords.

Whether the Knight's Cross 2nd Class was awarded with, or without the crown seems to be more of a matter of rank, than merit or previous award. The well documented aviator, Walter Boning received the 2nd Class with swords, but without the crown because his rank was Lieutenant.

Some sources have over 247 of the Knight's Cross 2nd Class with Crown and swords awarded between 1839-1918. There were 18 or 20 awarded in 1918 alone. Approximately 4 in 1917 and 1 in 1919.

There doesn't appear to be any difference in the hand-painted areas if the award was for peace-time without swords or wartime with swords. Like the Red Eagle order, there may have been different manufacturers of the order and therefore subtle differences in style and there may have been changes in style over the 1839-1918 time periods. Many DPFLs from the known makers would need to be looked at to establish this.

Looking at your example, it shows age from a piece that was awarded and worn frequently. (I like them that way) The missing sword is unfortunate, but could be repaired. In fact many of these awards were designed to be disassembled when a good cleaning was needed. If another matching hilt could be found I would recommend attaching it. But this debate whether to repair/clean has been long argued over. A length of ribbon would be nice as well. Fortunately, the order uses the same ribbon as the Friedrich August Cross (2nd class) and shouldn't be too hard to locate.

Nice piece

[Mike Cauvin]

Second award

I appreciate you all taking the time to help.

Could I ask all your input on a second medal that came from the same estate please? It is 50mm to the 40mm of the first award. Would this award be a Knights Cross first class without swords due to the gold color?

Mike

[Mike Cauvin]

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[streptile]

Thank you for that very interesting explanation, Claudius.

[Mike Cauvin]

Size difference

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[VtwinVince]

Mike, I believe you have either a Commander or Grand Cross there, either of which you don't see every day