Faithful Service Medal Rant

[John F.]

I know if you have nothing nice to say don’t say anything at all but, is the Faithful Service Medal (Treudienst-Ehrenzeichen) the biggest piece of junk you have ever seen? Talk about a simplistic and boring design. It looks like the creator of this medal put about 2 minutes of thought into its design. I think if I busted my butt for 25 or 40 years for an organization and they presented me with that piece of crap, I would have been pretty upset and would have probably thrown it away. I think that is why Detlev-Niemann and Helmut Weitze always seems to have plenty of these medals on hand. The Faithful Service Medal reminds me of those cheap looking Soviet Jubilee medals. Can anyone think of an uglier medal?

John

[James Noble]

I don't about the rest of you but I don't see anything wrong with the good clean design of this medal

[Ken Jasper]

I agree with jnoble. I think that the 50 year version is a very nice design. My vote for nasty design is for the Anti-Partisan Badge.

[Kevin Sanders]

25 Year FS

I have a cased 25 year which everyone that sees it thinks it is very nice. It doesn't have the flair of the 10 year NSDAP, but it is still attractive and very collectable.

It's all a personal choice anyway; there are some items I have no interest in collecting and don't....

[George Stimson]

I changed my mind

I used to think they looked real bad. Then about a year ago I saw a cased 25 and I thought it looked really sharp. I eventually got all three, cased.
Here's the 50.





George

[Mike Dunn]

George--that is a great looking cased medal. If fact the first I have seen. Since the third Reich did not last for that many years. Fill us in on how one earned this award! Stupid Imperial collector!! LOL Mike

[George Stimson]

These awards were given to people for faithful service in a variety of civilian fields. They didn't have anything to do with service to or for the NSDAP. For example, if you had done a good job as a dogcatcher in Hamburg for 50 years, you might get a medal.

George

[Mike Dunn]

Thanks George--nice piece, wonder if the fella was in shape after chasing dogs from the 1890's to the 1940's. Lucky he did not have to look for them in the East! Mike

[Kevin Sanders]

50 is nice...

George - yep, the 50 boxed is definitely much nicer than my boxed 25; but as I said, I like them all. They follow the German Maltese cross pattern seen in many Imperial and 3rd Reich medals and badges. Thanks for the post !

[John F.]

George:

I’ll concede that your 50 yr looks good with its different coloring, but the 25 & 40 yr are still ugly.

John

[George Stimson]

Naaah....

They're all beautiful!





George

[John T.]

Here is my award.

[John F.]

aaaaaahhhhhh!

[Mike Dunn]

George--nice looking grouping and CASED!! Very nice! Mike

[Dez H]

I quite like the Faithful Service decorations, they are simple yet elegant. Soviet decorations tend to look cheap and mess produced. Churned out by the millions from cast moulds. The Germans had a certain uncluttered, non-gimmicky flair, which makes even the simplest awards stand out. Personally I think the Third Reich should have delved more into enamel, eg it’s a pity only the NSDAP long service awards really went anywhere near Imperial German enamel work. As for the Faithful Service decorations being common, just cast your mind over the number of civil and administrative servants that are required to run a large nation and you can begin to imagine why these are common.


Regards
Dez