Imperial medal group some of you may remember

[Dave Danner]

This group, offered a while back on eBay, aroused some debate over the odd order of awards (i.e., a Bavarian who received a Saxe-Meiningen award 1st) and mounting style (Prussian-style rather than Bavarian).

First, the medal bar:




1. Iron Cross, 2nd Class
2. Bavaria: MMO.IV with Swords (made by Gebrueder Hemmerle; G.H. 950 on the lower arm, G.H. 900 on the swords)
3. Sachsen-Meiningen: Cross for Merit in War
4. Bavaria: Jubilee Medal for the Bavarian Army
5. Austria: Military Merit Cross, III. Class w/ War Decoration
6. Bulgaria: Order of Military Merit, IV Class, on the ribbon of the Military Order for Bravery.

The medal bar was mounted by Godet of Berlin, hence the Prussian-style:



Dave

[Dave Danner]

The ribbon bar and Ordenskette:



Like the medal bar, the Ordenskette is also made by Godet.

Dave

[Dave Danner]

Also with the group was this Commander of the Bulgarian Order of Military Merit:



This is one the ribbon of the Military Bravery Order, indicating a wartime award. There is practically no way a junior officer could have gotten this in WW1. Also, there is no rosette on the one on the medal bar, so the recipient appears to have skipped the 3rd Class. That leads me to believe (1) the order ended up in the group but doesn't belong there, or (2) it is a WW2 award.

Two factors work against the latter theory: (1) the medal bar was never remounted post-1934 to incorporate the FKE or any long-service awards, which would be expected if the recipient had worked his way up the ranks, and (2) there are no other WW2 awards.

[Dave Danner]

And finally, there was a loose FKE with the group.

The seller also related that when he first purchased the group at the Stuttgart Waffenschau in 1975 from the family of the recipient, there also was a black wound badge, EK.1 and Bavarian pilot's badge, with the latter two engraved with name and date, but the family kept those.

Rick L and I have already discussed the difficulties of researching this, since there is no Meiningen award roll to cross check against Bavarians assigned to flying units. So, we wait for Michael Autengruber to put together the roll and hope. And wonder if there's some weird circumstance whereby the Bulgarian commander's cross did in fact come to this guy.

Dave