Like many of the collectors here I have interests in more than one field. And I am always delighted when I can acquire something that represents an overlap of those fields. I recently acquired this four-medal Third Reich bar that does that nicely:
My main interest is Iron Crosses. This bar has a beautiful example by (I believe) Juncker, with the crisp, high swastika and the cross-hatching on the inside corners of the still-frosted beading of its rims. The small ring that the ribbon ring passes through is affixed to a "hump" in the top center of the upper arm.
I also collect Kriegsmarine material. Here the 4-year Armed Forces Long Service Award fits, as this version could be for a member of the navy.
Yet another of my fields is (are?) the "Flower Wars" medals. Here are fine examples of the Medal to Commemorate October 1, 1938 and the Medal to Commemorate the Return of the Memel District.
So, although I will probably never know for sure, this bar could have belonged to a member of the Kriegsmarine who was involved in the return of the Sudeten and Memel lands and who won the Iron Cross Second Class in World War Two. (The Medal of 10/1/38 was not an unheard of award for members of the KM, even though Czechoslovakia was a landlocked country. I have an Urkunde for this medal to a Maschinenobergefreiter from the Versuchtboot "Sundwall." Memel, of course, was a Baltic port, so navy personnel were naturally involved in its return to the Reich.)
Does this bar represent all of my collecting fields? No, it only hits on three out of five. To get all five I'd have to find a bar that, in addition to some variation of the above medals, also had a Hindenburg Cross and a Long Service Award for the RAD.
So, if anybody knows of one....
George
My main interest is Iron Crosses. This bar has a beautiful example by (I believe) Juncker, with the crisp, high swastika and the cross-hatching on the inside corners of the still-frosted beading of its rims. The small ring that the ribbon ring passes through is affixed to a "hump" in the top center of the upper arm.
I also collect Kriegsmarine material. Here the 4-year Armed Forces Long Service Award fits, as this version could be for a member of the navy.
Yet another of my fields is (are?) the "Flower Wars" medals. Here are fine examples of the Medal to Commemorate October 1, 1938 and the Medal to Commemorate the Return of the Memel District.
So, although I will probably never know for sure, this bar could have belonged to a member of the Kriegsmarine who was involved in the return of the Sudeten and Memel lands and who won the Iron Cross Second Class in World War Two. (The Medal of 10/1/38 was not an unheard of award for members of the KM, even though Czechoslovakia was a landlocked country. I have an Urkunde for this medal to a Maschinenobergefreiter from the Versuchtboot "Sundwall." Memel, of course, was a Baltic port, so navy personnel were naturally involved in its return to the Reich.)
Does this bar represent all of my collecting fields? No, it only hits on three out of five. To get all five I'd have to find a bar that, in addition to some variation of the above medals, also had a Hindenburg Cross and a Long Service Award for the RAD.
So, if anybody knows of one....
George
Comment