German Order--2nd Class Neck Order

[RonR]

[RonR]

[RonR]

[RonR]

[RonR]

[RonR]

[RonR]

Last One.

[Bob Coleman]

Ron-
I Do Not Know Enough About This Decoration To Comment One Way Or Another On It. I Must Relate A Story About This Medal That Goes Back To My Youth In 1961. On A Winter Saturday Afternoon, I Was Loitering Around Bob Military Hobbys On The South Side Of Chicago. A Vet Brought In A Large Box Full Of Cased Medals And Badges Including Knights Crosses, A 1944 Wound Badge And A Grand Cross. There Was Also A Large Leather Bound Case That Contained To Neck Orders And A Pin Back Badge Of The German Order. Across The Top In A "v" Shape Were Two Gold Party Badges, A Regular Party Badge And Two Platinum Wreath Party Badges. It Was Thought That The Platinum Wreath Were For Bearers Of The German Order. I Believe That Grouping Is Now In England.

[PJR]

Beautiful, never thought to see one other than in the books, it is exquisite!

[stonemint]

I've always considered this the "Holy Grail" of TR decorations, but then again, I'm no Wehrmacht addict.
Coincidentally, one just went up for sale on GDC for 32,000 English pounds--I don't know enough about these to vouch for them, but here it is:

[stonemint]

Reverse:

[Erickn]

Hi Ron,

I stumbled on this thread a little late. These have got to be the most frightful awards of the 3rd Reich era. None the less I find them most interesting and on the edge! I have handled the Wolfe-Hardin pieces & found them to exbit extreme high quailty. Your photos are outstanding and represent that quality. 1000 & 1 thankx for sharing this fine piece I find the "Orders of the Dead" very exciting!
E.

[Ron Weinand]

Pin Back Version

While extremely rare, I know of a doctor in FL that had a WWII veteran patient bring in two Deumer gray boards that were made up at the end of the war for US veterans with leftover Deumer stock (I know most of you have seen these before-many different styles with medals sewn to the front and a small paper label with name on the reverse of the board). On the boards were two of the pinback version of this order. So there is some leftover Deumer stock of this medal still out there in my opinion.
Ron Weinand
Weinand Militaria

[TxGauleiter]

insightful and helpful ron

[WARLORD]

The Third class turns up from time to time. Many must have been produced, but the Order of the Dead is a different animal. These would have been ordered to the occasion. As a aside the presentation box, contained the three grades of the order, plus the two sizes of the Golden Party badge and the EXTREEEMLY RARE Silver Party badge in the two sizes. The item missing from the box is the Rune Sturn. This probably is the rarest of all the German awards.