Two Non Combatant 1914 EK2 Medal Bars

[Brian R]

Here are two recent pick ups from ebay...

The first is a beautiful Baden bar. Although it shows a bit of wear/dirt, it certainly will go down as a new favorite. I was able to obtain it from an ebay seller in Karlsruhe - it seems it came from a rear area fellow who proudly wore it in the mid to late 30s. I love the War Merit Cross and 9 Year Service Medal.

The second bar is a little cleaner but seems to have a little less character. However, it's still a great bar from a Prussian Landwehr type who certainly spent his time out of harm's way.

I encourage your comments and/or feedback.
Brian

[Brian R]

Reverse...

[Carlo Pozza]

I always love to see that white/black ribbon. Both are beautiful Brian!

[Blitz]

I seem to find nothing wrong with them. However.. You'd best send them to me for fuerther evaluation.

[Vadim K]

...and thank yer lucky stars I stayed out of your way on the Baden bar... Well done!

[Rick Research]

Though no way to tell without documents, I'd venture that

the upper bar belonged to an older NCO who left after his 12-14 years enlistment before creation of the XII Years Medal in 1913, and was retreaded back for WW1. That is one of the cleanest and nicest Baden War Effort Crosses I have seen-- they are usually icky SCALY corroded yuckies!

The lower bar belonged to an officer level official. Note the ACTIVE duty XXV paired with the Reserve-Landwehr Medal. That is NOT a mistake or a post 1936 "two Wehrmachts..." error. Active and Reserve COULD be worn together-- but Beamten only received active duty long services (at all) in 1920. This man did his minimum obligation time as a Reserve/Landwher officer-- for the social status and right to carry an officer's sword-- and then continued on as a Beamter with "Oberleutnant dL aD" or whatever after his name.

ALWAYS, ALWAYS nice to see "White-Black" EK2 medal bars!

[Brian R]

Guys-

Thanks so much for the comments!!

Rick, thanks for additional perspective on the backgrounds of these soldiers.

Vadim- Thanks for steering clear on ebay

It is always nice to see these combos. I keep my eyes out for them all the time - it's rare to see two come along within about a week.

Brian

[Brian R]

Well, after two months the third bar came in the mail (I was shooting for three noncom bars on ebay within such a short period of time ) After a lot of worrying/communication gaps with the seller, this one finally arrived - it was supposed to come at about the same time as the two above. Big problem though, the Centennial medal snapped off in transit - I know it was intact before it was sent from the pictures that I saw. The seller wrapped it up too tight (usually things break because they are not wrapped up enough, imagine that). Anyway, here it is... a nice pre 1934 bar to a Beamter. I took the photo below to make it look like it was all still intact.

By the way, have any of you guys had anything like this repaired by a jeweler? The eyelet has separated from the actual medal . It's a small break but it's completely separated. I'd love to get it fixed.

Brian

[Brian R]

Reverse...

[Rick Research]

Are the rings SEWN DOWN up under the ribbons, or are they held in by spring clips? I can see the first four awards were sewn AT the rings to prevent swinging, but what about the large rings up UNDER the draped ribbons?

If it will just slip in and out, it would be easier to simply replace the 1897. If the ring us sewn in under there, you are So Screwed because there is no neat or proper way to repair a permanently assembled bar!

[Brian R]

Rick-

It is the latter (I am screwed ). The medal was initially sewn down (which I think helped it to snap). There will be no way to cleanly fix this, however, I just realized that I have a friend who is a jeweler. I'll ask her to do the best she can.

Here's a picture of what it used to look like...

Brian

[Gerd Becker]

Great bars, Brian Non-com medalbars are still cheaper to buy than combattant bars. I have a few non-com groups and like them very much.


best,
Gerd