help w/ 9 piece medal bar

[Claudius]

It is getting redundant -but that is a really nice bar!

It is not surprising that it can be identified because of the specific awards. It's also not surprising that you were getting a lot of PMs on it. I'm guessing....to purchase it???

There is a bit of "push" and "pull" with this one. The combination alone warrants a serious price for the bar, but the condition really pulls it down.

A purist (who wouldn't restore the bar) would merely pull the value down because of the detracting condition. A "restorer" owner would discount the value to reflect the new awards or centers that would have to be purchased.

I know someone who wouldn't like it because of the condition...but then there is everyone else!!!

Regardless, please keep us updated, and thank you for showing it!

[morel5000]

Nbolinger:

To replace the dutch medal should be 200 or so

Please show me were I can buy one at that price...

[PaulChep]

The combination of decorations on the bar make it traceable. The award rolls for the Waldeck awards are published and, well as, the Mecklenberg Griffin. The original owner was a major.

The story of the guys grandfather having shot the person to get the bar is pure B.S. as the original owner of the bar did not die during the war.

[Rommel1933]

Really beautiful medal bar IMO...

I also agree that the original owner of this bar did not die during the war.

Thank you for sharing!
Scott

[NBolinger]

Bernard
check emedals and ebay past auctions and present auctions.There not rare at all. One sold for 153.50 just a few days ago.

[McCulloh]

Oh.
My.
That is the best bar of the year!
Yeah- he was easy to trace. It took me a whopping 12 minutes!
Is it for sale?
It's a prize (and a valuable one too- @ $1500??)
May I have a picture of it to email to Rick please? He'd LOVE to see this.

[MauserKar98k]

The combination of decorations on the bar make it traceable. The award rolls for the Waldeck awards are published and, well as, the Mecklenberg Griffin. The original owner was a major.

The story of the guys grandfather having shot the person to get the bar is pure B.S. as the original owner of the bar did not die during the war.

So this one did get IDed? If so, please share!

Also, where can one find the rolls for the Waldek and the Mecklenberg Griffen? I saw that a bunch of guys including Rick Research were working on them over on the Gentleman's Forum. I didn't know that they had finished any of the rolls.

[Dave Danner]

So this one did get IDed? If so, please share!

Also, where can one find the rolls for the Waldek and the Mecklenberg Griffen? I saw that a bunch of guys including Rick Research were working on them over on the Gentleman's Forum. I didn't know that they had finished any of the rolls.

The Mecklenburg Griffin is a prewar award. It is in officer's rank list entries, and in his entry in the 1909 Deutsche Ordens-Almanach, which Paul has published on CD. I think there are other sources on Mecklenburg non-wartime awards, but I am not sure, and if so I don't have them.

The Mecklenburg-Schwerin Military Merit Cross rolls have not been published yet. My own incomplete list only has early war awards and stops at about 44,000 awards.

A revised and updated volume of Waldeck's wartime awards was published by Rick and Daniel Krause a few years ago.

Regarding replacing the Dutch Order of Orange-Nassau: there are a number of Knight's Crosses out there, but you would need an older one and with swords. I am not sure that would be as easy to find.

Although we have all heard these stories before the Grandson of the Veteran I purchased this from said his grandfather shot the guy who was wearing this bar in WW1.
I doubt that story.

The story of the guys grandfather having shot the person to get the bar is pure B.S. as the original owner of the bar did not die during the war.

Worse than BS. If it were true, the guy's grandfather might have nothing to be proud of, since the recipient was a Major z.D., who may not have even seen combat, and wouldn't have worn the bar in the field anyway. So if the veteran shot him, it would probably have been murder. More likely, the veteran grandfather didn't see much action himself and got the bar, and a story, as a souvenir from someone else returning from the front, who either looted or traded for it. Or he got it while on occupation duty after the war.

The medal bar's owner served as a staff officer in a stellv. Korpskommando in the homeland, the equivalent of a Wehrkreis staff job, and commanded a Landsturm Infantry Replacement Battalion which, I think, served as the guard unit for a POW camp.

He was a native Mecklenburger, and served as a staff officer in Waldeck.

[Serge M.]

You guys here in the Imperial section are really good. My hats off to you.

A quick question; are Duke Carl Eduard medals hard to find, and in what price range?

-wagner-

[Dave Danner]

You guys here in the Imperial section are really good. My hats off to you.

A quick question; are Duke Carl Eduard medals hard to find, and in what price range?

-wagner-

I don't think they are easy to find. I have not seen one recently.

[Dave Danner]

Some more little tidbit for those interested in how medal bars may be read.

As I mentioned above, you have here a native Mecklenburger who served in Arolsen in Waldeck before and during the war. This is a common reason for some combinations of two states' awards (three if you add Prussia). It is also the reason why many good soldiers ended the war with only an Iron Cross while others got bigger bars with multiple awards. A native Prussian serving in a Prussian regiment would get the basic "German" award - the Iron Cross, his home state's award - the Iron Cross, and the award of the state associated with his unit - the Iron Cross.

One other note about this medal bar: the Dutch order. Peacetime awards of Dutch orders to German officers happened for various reasons. In this case, the Mecklenburg connection matters. Queen Wilhelmina's husband, the Prince Consort of the Netherlands, was Heinrich Herzog zu Mecklenburg, son of Grand Duke Friedrich Franz II of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. Heinrich, Hendrik in Dutch, was à la suite to Mecklenburg's FR 90. So when you see a Mecklenburg Order of the Griffin and a Dutch order, you might want to look for an FR 90 connection. In this case, the rarer Waldeck orders made it easier to trace, but for what it is worth, the NN5 was gazetted in the 4 May 1901 Militär-Wochenblatt to him as an Oberleutnant in FR 90. Promoted Hauptmann in 1902, he then transferred to GR 9. In 1905, after a short stint in IR 142 (too short to get a Baden award), he was placed zur Disposition and made a Bezirksoffizier in Arolsen, the capital of Waldeck.

Regards