2-Place non-combatant Godet Medal Bar

[EK Hunter]

I've decided to expand my collection to include medal bars, having seen so many beautiful examples on this Forum lately. So here's my first purchase for 2014, a modest two place non-com bar with a J. Godet & Sohn metal tag on the reverse. You know, I think I may have just been bitten by the medal bar bug.

Btw, any information on the red cross medal and the merit cross would be really appreciated as I'm not very familiar with either of these. Thanks.

Best, Alex

[Konigtiger]

Nice bar!

First of all, this is what is known as a frackspange, meaning that it is meant to be read from right to left. It was made for wear on civilian clothing were the award on the right would be place highest due to the frack (frock) worn by civilians. If you do a search in the forum under 'frackspange' you can see other examples.

The Prussian War Aid Cross was instituted in 1916 awarded to those in the Reich for services towards the war effort. I've seen awards given to varying personages such as mayors, foresters and ammunition factory owners. Military personnel were also eligible.

The Prussian Red Cross Medal 3rd Class was instituted in 1898 and awarded to those who had made some contribution to the red cross. Pre-war this often took the form of donations, but during the war itself some sort of actual medical deed was required. All pre-war and early war awards were in bronze, followed by steel, which was then quite quickly abolished in favour of zinc, as in your example. In total, around 115000 of all types was awarded.

So, your bar probably belonged to a Prussian civilian who was quite active during the war. I say Prussian becaue if he was from another state such as Bavaria he should have received their equivalent of the Prussian War Aid Cross (in Bavaria's case, this would have been the Konig Ludwig Kreuz). If we assume a civilian, by the Godet tag we could also assume that he lived in or around Berlin.

[EK Hunter]

Nice bar!

First of all, this is what is known as a frackspange, meaning that it is meant to be read from right to left. It was made for wear on civilian clothing were the award on the right would be place highest due to the frack (frock) worn by civilians. If you do a search in the forum under 'frackspange' you can see other examples.

The Prussian War Aid Cross was instituted in 1916 awarded to those in the Reich for services towards the war effort. I've seen awards given to varying personages such as mayors, foresters and ammunition factory owners. Military personnel were also eligible.

The Prussian Red Cross Medal 3rd Class was instituted in 1898 and awarded to those who had made some contribution to the red cross. Pre-war this often took the form of donations, but during the war itself some sort of actual medical deed was required. All pre-war and early war awards were in bronze, followed by steel, which was then quite quickly abolished in favour of zinc, as in your example. In total, around 115000 of all types was awarded.

So, your bar probably belonged to a Prussian civilian who was quite active during the war. I say Prussian becaue if he was from another state such as Bavaria he should have received their equivalent of the Prussian War Aid Cross (in Bavaria's case, this would have been the Konig Ludwig Kreuz). If we assume a civilian, by the Godet tag we could also assume that he lived in or around Berlin.

Wow! Thank you very much for the detailed information, Konigtiger. Very interesting indeed. Looks like I've got a lot to learn about medal bars.

Best,

Alex

[EK Hunter]

Does anyone have any thoughts on when this medal bar might have been produced? Thanks for your feedback.

Best,

Alex

[McCulloh]

I reckon 1917-1934. Notably a number of nurses (females) had this combination and after 1935 they got the HK. It says war time hospital service at a senior level. orderlies usually got nothing. Im thinking senior DRK chap in Prussia or Prussian Dr. There's a slim chance it's some sort of jr. Beamter, but thats statistically doubtful.
There was an excellent article in the BDOS magazine a few years ago about the PWMK. It is well worth reading. there's also a VERY good DRK book.
Rick Lundstrom was the one who said that donations counted towards the award of the medal, but when he and I last spoke about this last Spring he admitted that membership in the DRK mattered too. He couldn't remember where he'd seen the donations awards, but maybe George Seymour's research. Donations had to be significant too....like SIGNIFICANT, not like the Japanese Red Cross medal.
The Frack mounting hints at civilian post war (lapels of suits/tuxedos) or navy, but I have seen a photo of a Senior Matron with a frack style bar instead of the usual women's bows.

[Don D.]

The maker's tag may narrow the time frame down a bit.

[luftkrieg]

Alex

Very nice medal bar indeed!

Kind regards
Pierce

[EK Hunter]

I reckon 1917-1934. Notably a number of nurses (females) had this combination and after 1935 they got the HK. It says war time hospital service at a senior level. orderlies usually got nothing. Im thinking senior DRK chap in Prussia or Prussian Dr. There's a slim chance it's some sort of jr. Beamter, but thats statistically doubtful.
There was an excellent article in the BDOS magazine a few years ago about the PWMK. It is well worth reading. there's also a VERY good DRK book.
Rick Lundstrom was the one who said that donations counted towards the award of the medal, but when he and I last spoke about this last Spring he admitted that membership in the DRK mattered too. He couldn't remember where he'd seen the donations awards, but maybe George Seymour's research. Donations had to be significant too....like SIGNIFICANT, not like the Japanese Red Cross medal.
The Frack mounting hints at civilian post war (lapels of suits/tuxedos) or navy, but I have seen a photo of a Senior Matron with a frack style bar instead of the usual women's bows.

Thanks for your input, McCulloch. How can I get a copy of that BDOS magazine article and the DRK book?

[EK Hunter]

The maker's tag may narrow the time frame down a bit.

How so? Could you please elaborate, Don?

[EK Hunter]

Alex

Very nice medal bar indeed!

Kind regards
Pierce

Thanks Pierce. I quite like it myself, but it was the Godet tag that really made it a must have for me.

[Don D.]

How so? Could you please elaborate, Don?

A bit of lite reading for you: http://dev.wehrmacht-awards.com/foru...ighlight=godet

Perhaps trevor will chime in as well.

[streptile]

Very nice bar Alex, congrats

I am engaged (inter alia) on a seemingly unending quest to itemize and date Godet maker's marks, medalbar tags, cases and logos, but this metal tag is a tough one to date because all of J. Godet's various addresses after 1913 -- and possibly all of them before 1913, too -- were in Berlin W8. I've seen this metal tag on bars I thought were prewar (but didn't have to be), and of course on many that were wartime and postwar as well. My best guess has been that this tag was in use in the early 1920s.

In this case, though, the awards themselves have done the best job of dating the bar (1917-1934), as McCulloh and Königtiger have explained much better than I could have.

[EK Hunter]

Thanks Don and Trev. I'm grateful for the group effort to answer my question.

[Konigtiger]

By the way, anyone noticed the colour of the ribbon ring of the red cross medal? Does not match that of the medal at all. I happen to have two zinc red cross medals in my collection, and one of them has an identical ribbon ring (the other has a brassy sort of colour that doesn't match the medal either). Wonder why they made them like this.

[CWP]

By the way, anyone noticed the colour of the ribbon ring of the red cross medal? Does not match that of the medal at all. I happen to have two zinc red cross medals in my collection, and one of them has an identical ribbon ring (the other has a brassy sort of colour that doesn't match the medal either). Wonder why they made them like this.

Probably the zinc base metal has absorbed whatever finish was originally applied. Perhaps the ring still has the original finish. This medal probably had a very different appearance when it was new.