7-Place Medal Bar with (2) Ribbon Bars

[Tom Yanacek]

Hello to all,

I bought this seven-placer at the OVMS Show this weekend. When I first saw this bar, I almost kept on walking as it looked "too new to be real." I'm glad I took the time to give it a second glance as it is completely original, IMO. Other than just a few spots of rust on the Olympic Games Commemorative Medal, this bar is in mint condition. It also came with two matching Feldspangen. Hope you like it.

Best regards,
Tom

[Tom Yanacek]

the medal bar:

[Tom Yanacek]

medal bar reverse:

[Tom Yanacek]

ribbon bar #1:

[Tom Yanacek]

ribbon bar #2:

(The devices for the Wehrmacht 12-Year LS and 25-Year Faithful Service Decoration were added in later as the prongs are on the outside of the backing cloth.)

[luftkrieg]

I really like this one Tom. Congrats! It truley pays to take a closer look!

Best regards
Pierce

[Tom Yanacek]

On ribbon bar #2, a ribbon for either the Spanish Red Military Merit Cross or the Order of the Crown of Italy was used to represent the ribbon for the Hamburg Hanseatic Cross. (Note the absence of the white edge stripes on the ribbon.) This was either a simple mistake made by the assembler, or possibly the assembler did not have the proper ribbon available at the time and just used a similar-looking substitute ribbon.

[Tom Yanacek]

On ribbon bar #2, the gold eagle device was added to the bar sometime after its initial assembly. Probably at this point, the owner was back on active duty in the Wehrmacht, so his Prussian 15-Year LS for Unteroffizier would be swapped out for the Wehrmacht 12-Year Long Service Medal. The further enhancement of the 25-Year Faithful Service Device was also added after the bar's initial assembly.

[Alan_G]

Great medal and ribbon bars. And great to see he added on the devices, otherwise those blue ribbons could have meant anything.

[Tom Yanacek]

Thank you for the comments Pierce and Alan.

Best regards,
Tom

[Gary B]

Tom,

A very nice medal bar and ribbon bars. The use of an erroneous ribbon for the Hanseatic Cross is proof that assemblers did make mistakes/use alternative ribbons when the correct one was not available and further disproves the myth of iron adherance to the regs.

Gary B

[Alan_G]

Tom,

A very nice medal bar and ribbon bars. The use of an erroneous ribbon for the Hanseatic Cross is proof that assemblers did make mistakes/use alternative ribbons when the correct one was not available and further disproves the myth of iron adherance to the regs.

Gary B

Gary, rightly so, there are many cases of this. You have to collect ribbon bars and look closely at period photos to find the faults, but they are out there to find.

I have a Generals ribbon bar which also has a "bad ribbon" for the hanseatic cross. It's a narrower type ribbon, the exact same that was seen on Belli Von Pinos ribbon bar.

There was definately some sort of flexibility in the system.

[VonPeter]

Mint and double bars? Thats is a great find.

[Tom Yanacek]

Tom,

A very nice medal bar and ribbon bars. The use of an erroneous ribbon for the Hanseatic Cross is proof that assemblers did make mistakes/use alternative ribbons when the correct one was not available and further disproves the myth of iron adherance to the regs.

Gary B

Thanks for the comments Gary, Alan, and Peter.

Gary,

I figured you would respond to this thread because of the incorrect ribbon that was used for the Hamburg Hanseatic Cross and we have talked about such things before. I am glad that both you and Alan dispel the myth of ironclad regulations and mistake-free assemblies. A person that only seeks out perfect medal and ribbon bars will miss out on a lot of original and interesting pieces.

Best regards,
Tom

[JasonA]

Wow, Tom. A near perfect grouping! Don't you just love it when too-good-to-be-true, actually is? Every once in a while, it happens.

Thanks for sharing.



J-