Austrian Medal

[PaulR]

Hello,

I should have asked before I bought... but anyway.. I have been branching out into WW1 imperial Austrian medals as of late...

What is this? Is the ribbon correct? I am trying to get all of the medals that use this particular ribbon... I know that there are a lot... So far, I have two classes (2 medals) that I have no question about... But this one??????

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...e=STRK:MEWN:IT

Thanks
Paul Reck

[Dave Danner]

The medal is the Jubilee Cross for the 60th anniversary of Franz Josef's reign, issued in 1908, so the seller's description of it as a WW1 award is a bit disingenuous.

The ribbon is wrong. The proper ribbons are: (i) for military personnel, white with a red stripe near each edge, (ii) for civil servants, red, and (iii) for members of the royal household, red white white edge stripes (the ribbon of the Leopold Order).

[PaulR]

So at least it is Austrian... do you think that the final bid is a fair price for what it is? I will have to replace the ribbon then.

Thank you for the info

Regards
Paul Reck

[Dave Danner]

The ribbon is, of course, that of the Bravery Medal, and was used for wartime and combat awards of a number of Austrian decorations, including:

Franz-Josef-Orden

Military Merit Cross (Militärverdienstkreuz)


Bravery Medal (Tapferkeitsmedaille)


Military Merit Medal "Signum Laudis" (Militärverdienstmedaille)


Merit Cross (Verdienstkreuz)


I don't have a Franz-Josef-Orden, but attached is a nice one (Knight's Cross with Swords with the Kleindekoration of the Officer's Cross with War Decoration) from Bert's Sammlerecke:

[PaulR]

Wow... those are beautiful!!!


Although my Military Merit Medal "Signum Laudis" (Militärverdienstmedaille)
is without swords on the ribbon.

How much can I expect to pay for the others that I do not have? Are the ones you listed all that I can expect to find with this ribbon:

I have so far:


Bravery Medal (Tapferkeitsmedaille)


Military Merit Medal "Signum Laudis" (Militärverdienstmedaille)



Thanks you again for the info
Paul Reck

[Dave Danner]

So at least it is Austrian... do you think that the final bid is a fair price for what it is? I will have to replace the ribbon then.

Thank you for the info

Regards
Paul Reck

I suppose so. It is actually harder to find that ribbon than it is the Jubilee Cross' ribbon (especially if you just get a red one). So if you come across a ribbon-less bravery medal or Signum Laudis, you are in good shape.

The ones on Bert's page are 18-20 euros.

[Dave Danner]

Each of these has several variations. Franz Josef died during World War I, so the Bravery Medals and the Signum Laudis's exist in fairly large numbers with both his bust and that of Karl.

The Signum Laudis came in silver and bronze, so that gives you four variations there.

You will never get all the Bravery Medal variations, as this was established in the late 1700s. Sticking to the WW1 era, for both Franz Joseph and Karl issues, there was a gold medal, a large silver medal and a small silver medal, and a small bronze medal. For Karl, there was also a version of the gold medal with a "K" which was awarded to officers.

The Cross of Merit also had several variants. It came with and without crown and there was an Iron Cross of Merit too. On the bravery medal ribbon, it was mainly for support personnel.

Here is a Karl golden bravery medal (wartime gilt) with the "K":

[PaulR]

That one(officer's) is a real beauty! I sent you a PM...


Thanks
Paul Reck

[McCulloh]

Hey Paul!
Are you going Austrian?
Are you going to Lowell? Before I send it back to the OMSA library, do you want a xerox of the Czech id guide of Austrian awards? It's black and white, but syill a useful id guide.
Cheers,
JeMc

[PaulR]

I guess I am... lol... It all started when I bought this awesome 9 place ribbon bar from Rick on the Estand... I believe that 4 or 5 of the ribbons had the same pattern... I wondered why and how... the more I dug, the more I made up my mind that I wanted to collect all of the WW1 medals with that particular ribbon... although I still will not turn down a good deal on other items as well!!

I would love a copy of that book.

Thank you again... sent pm

Paul reck

Thank you ALL for the great information and photos...

[Dave Danner]

I'm not sure you can ever get them "all." Those Franz-Joseph-Orders are a little pricey.

On that ribbon, I think I have:

Military Merit Cross 3rd Class with Swords and War Decoration
Bronze Military Merit Medal (Signum Laudis) with Swords, Franz Joseph
Bronze Military Merit Medal (Signum Laudis), Karl
Large Silver Bravery Medal with second award bar, Franz Joseph
Large Silver Bravery Medal, Franz Joseph
Small Bronze Bravery Medal, Franz Joseph
Small Bronze Bravery Medal, Karl
Cross of Merit with Swords
Iron Cross of Merit

I also have an officer's medal bar with the Order of the Iron Crown, Large Gold Bravery Medal with "K", Military Merit Cross, Signum Laudis, Karl-Truppen-Kreuz and Austrian WW1 Commemorative Medal; so that's 3 of 6 with the same ribbon.

[McCulloh]

Large gold bravery with "K"?
That I'd LOVE to see (hint hint)

[Dave Danner]

Oddly, here, from a current eBay auction, are two Jubilee Crosses with the right ribbons (one military and one civil service), along with a German Honor Cross for Combatants with the wrong - Austrian bravery medal - ribbon.

[Dave Danner]

From the same seller, this, the Iron Cross of Merit with the Honor Cross' ribbon. Likely the two got switched and the seller doesn't know.

[Dave Danner]

Large gold bravery with "K"?
That I'd LOVE to see (hint hint)

I finally got my scanner working again, so here is the bar. One of the laurel branches for the war decoration of the Iron Crown appears to have broken off, possibly from banging against the Large Gold Bravery Medal. It's been replaced with a branch from something else.