Early 1939 EK2 ribbons.

[George P.]

It is my understanding that narrow, (ca 26 mm), EK ribbons are considered early. I also understand that those with orange rather than red are considered early. What is 'early' in this context? Were unmarked crosses, (other than Schinkels and R3s), issued with the narrow, orange ribbon? When did the 30 mm wide ribbon become the norm?

Thank you in advance for any information you are willing to share.

George

[Douglas 5]

Hi George :
There are a lot of unknowns with these ribbons still . ....a few manufacturers and variations . Orange ribbons can be early ...but were made apparently all the way through the war . Different widths of ribbon were for different uses ... for the award , button hole, ribbon bar etc .

Douglas

[streptile]

Douglas said it

All EK2s were issued with a 30mm ribbon (except, maybe, by accident or due to shortage), since 1870.

A 25mm ribbon is for the buttonhole, or for a particular kind of Spange mounting.

The reason orange ribbons exist is a mystery to me -- maybe someone else knows?

[Bob Hritz]

The orange ribbons are the result in long term failure of the dye combination to hold colorfast.

Bob hritz

[MMM]

George

You also assume ribbons and medals stay together if you use your view for any practical research purpose/

How can this view have any merit?

After 70 years how many ribbons and medals do you think are still together as issued and have now been lost/swapped out/upgraded and so on.

To try and establish any view of correlation will not be useful because of the variables I have mentioned even assuming your "early" baseline has any merit as a reason against the power of sun fading which seems a much more plausable reason as to why orange ribbons exist rather than any other reason related to time sequence.

As always

MMM

[streptile]

The orange ribbons are the result in long term failure of the dye combination to hold colorfast.
Bob hritz

That has always been my best guess as well, but I've never known for sure.

[George P.]

Douglas, Trevor, Bob,

Thank you for the useful information.

George

[schönbeck]

the more narrow ribbon have I often got with schinkel crosses.
These are often also faded.

They often used the same ribbon for the buttonhole. They got close to 30 cm and cut in half. Half for the uniform and half for the ribbon. Some ribbons for ek's are even cut 45 degrees, which would indicate that they used the other half for the uniform.

I have had and sold more than 1500 crosses and still have tons of loose ribbons.

[George P.]

I have had and sold more than 1500 crosses and still have tons of loose ribbons.

I, and presumabley others, will keep you in mind as a resource.

George