what is it?

**KEVIN23** · 05-11-2016, 02:51 AM

Hi, I picked this up because it was cheap and i really liked the battle scene on the obverse.
It has a EK2 ribbon, and it has been turned into a watch fob. Also the way the ring is attached, I thought it was perhaps a commemorative coin or something similar.
I have looked and searched, but to no avail. Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks much. K

**Espenlaub Militaria** · 05-11-2016 02:51 AM

We also buy and trade your items and full collections!

**drmessimer** · 05-11-2016, 03:39 PM

Kevin: It is a Commemorative decoration, but I have no idea who had it made or when it was made. I might be a patriotic item that was created after the war for public sale, but I do not think it is something official. I would describe it as a generic medallion. I agree with you that it is attractive; do you know what the metal that was used to make it is? Dwight

**HPL2008** · 05-11-2016, 04:38 PM

As has been said above, definitely nothing official.

I don't have any hard information on these pieces, but they turn up on auctions from time to time and are encountered in various materials (zinc, silver, bronze) and with various years on the reverse side (1914, 1914/15, 1914/18).* I don't know if all of these variants are accepted as period originals or whether these medals are faked at all.

The maker's mark on the obverse is for the company of B.H. Mayer of Pforzheim.

Normally, they are non-wearable, but this one has been converted into a wearable medal by the addition of the eyelet on top.

(By the way, I find the scythe-wielding figure on horseback interesting. Normally, the Grim Reaper is portrayed as a skeleton; I don't think I have ever seen a naked female figure depicted in this role.)

*) Examples:
https://www.numisbids.com/n.php?p=lot&sid=868&lot=749
http://www.tempelhofer-muenzenhaus.h...41_504x634.pdf (pg. 58)