WW1 German badge?

[pammy]

Hi,i have a german badge if anyone could help on the value and the name ,that would be great thank you...pammy

[pammy]

Here is the back,

[oradour]

pammy, your medal is indeed a German WW1 medal and is the Grand Duchy of Hesse ' Warrior Honour Decoration in Iron ' or as it is known in German ' Kriegen-Ehrenzeichen in Eisen '. It is unknown how many were awarded as records/archive in Darmstadt were destroyed in WW2. I have included a photo of General Gustav-Adolf von Zangen wearing the medal during the Third Reich period. As to value, it is not common, conservative value would be around $250.

[pammy]

oradour, thats great! as i got it in a estate auction along with 5 other ww2 badges this one and the horses badge was the two i did not ever think was worth that much,and my day was made yesterday when i found out abought the horses badge now you just made this day great!!i do thank you so much for the nice picture and all of the information on this badge!!is there any do's or dont do's on this badge as cleaning it? i just put a little oil on it ..many of thanks to you..pammy

[oradour]

pammy, leave this alone, do not clean.....there is fierce debate amongst collectors as wether to clean or not to clean, i treat every medal/award on its merit, i will sympathetically clean some medals whilst leaving some alone, the core on an Imperial Iron Cross can rust worse than an WW2 example, so i will oil when rust appears. Your medal is constructed mainly from iron, so it may rust (red rust) then oil, but it looks just fine as it is at this moment in time.

[pammy]

thank you!!

[darrenj40]

Great find pammy...












It is always more difficult to fight against faith than against knowledge.
A.Hitler

[leej11]

Really good find! This is one I was also not familiar with but will keep my eye out now!

Lee

[pammy]

hi guys,i wanted to ask if anyone has this badge and could post a picture?and if anyone knows of another for sale?thanks guys!!

[Croix de Guerre]

Great find Pammy,,like Oradour said, "leave it alone"! Don't clean it!