Some Medal Bars For Your Enjoyment

[Ralph A]

Greetings to all.

[Ralph A]

Our first bar....

...we'll start at the bottom:

Eisernes Kreuz 2. Klasse 1914
Hanseatenkreuz Lübeck
Ehrenkreuz für Frontkämpfer 1914-18<O</O
Österreich Große Goldene Tapferkeitsmedaille<O</O
Weimar-Deutsches Feuerwehr-Ehrenkreuz 1928-34<O</O
(Weimar-Deutsch Fire Brigade Honor Cross 1928-34)

[Ralph A]

Details...

From the left...

[Ralph A]

I'm glad...

...this bar has a Lübecker. It's my favorite of the Hanseatic crosses.

[Ralph A]

Eagle closeup...

...for the discerning:

[Ralph A]

Moving right along...

Say "howdy" to Emperor Franz Joseph. Note how ring has been twisted 90 degrees.

[Ralph A]

Show us your backside, Joe.

Doctor's orders, and all that...

[Ralph A]

Main event.

"Show us that odd one at the end, Ralph!" OK...

"Weimar-German Fire Brigade Honor Cross 1928-1934"

[Ralph A]

Meet. St. Florian.

Patron Saint of Firemen and Soap-Boilers. Find out why he holds Patronage over drowning victims, here:

http://www.rescuehouse.com/content/f...ory/004036.php

Note his bucket of water, with which he douses blazes large enough to consume whole towns...

[Ralph A]

&quot;Only you...

...can prevent forest fires."

[Ralph A]

Reverse:

Ironically, it seems that our good Saint has suffered an electrical fire in his fuze box!

Seriously, it appears that the original silver wash is undergoing a chemical breakdown. Only vestiges of it remain. From the looks of it, the medal was originally bright enough to start fires on its own!

{suddenly i can't post replies, so you'll have to wait for the rest.... I keep getting a screwy message...
Sorry! The administrator has specified that users can only post one message every 30 seconds.... even though its been more than ten minutes since the last one.
... this website has been acting weird lately.... wasting my time... the edit feature still works though.... apparently... }

[Klaus O.]

Hi Ralph,

That is an extremely rare and well designed Feuerwehr-Ehrenzeichen! My compliments...

Ciao,

Claudio

[Adam H]

Ralph!

A very interesting and nice looking award on that last bar! Never seen one personally...does anyone have any further info on it?

Great bars, always love to see nice Imperial racks!

Cheers,

Adam

[Ralph A]

Apparently, I can post pics again, so on with the thread...

Closeup of the eagle:

[Ralph A]

You've already seen Franz's backside, so on to the next...

...can anyone make out this maker's mark?