Posted 12 years ago
Militarist
(296 items)
In a recent posting on this site a first timer asked a “what is it” question about a green enameled cross suspended from a hinged crown. After consulting a book limited to medals of the Nazi era he proclaimed that the medal in question was not German since it had a crown and cross! Our misguided friend, like so many others, fails to realize that by 1945 Germans have been issuing military medals for 150 years and only 12 of those years are covered by the book he mentioned. So just for the record I am illustrating 4 pre-Nazi German awards that are suspended from hinged crowns with crosses. The first is Bavarian and the rest are from the Combined Saxon Duchies, Saxe-Meiningen and Saxe-Weimar. Please note that none of these are Swedish or Danish.
FYI : http://www.collectorsweekly.com/stories/71400-anyone-know-what-this-medal-is-swedish?in=activity
Thanks AR. That site has been around for a number of years. He has a lot of nice stuff and presents it well.
Well done, Militarist. I'm amazed you have such perfect examples of what you were trying to communicate. What really leaves me smiling is they also highlight the clues I noted when I wrote my feeling that the other piece may be costume jewelry (brooch was attached to the crown, no cypher or coat of arms present, etc.)
What do the reverse sides of these medals look like?
Thanks Chris, I have been collecting Imperial German since the mid 1960's. I really believe that the green cross is a private shooting award from the Saxony Thuringia area late 1920's-30's. The convex center would have been engraved with the event or prize won. The more I think about it the less I think that it is a carnival piece or a costume jewelry item. The enamel looks too good for carnival and the hinged crown makes me doubt that it is jewelery but I could be wrong on that. The weak pin looks more like post war, East German. A fixed crown and a better pin would make me more inclined to think jewelry. I should have expected that someone would want to see the other side of the crowned awards so I guess another series of posts would be in order.