Need help identifying this "Iron Cross"

[3volv3]

Hi everyone, this interesting iron cross came up for sale but I cannot find any information online about it.

Said to be an iron cross from the 1880's and has "H.V. HOVESTADT" on the front.

Any information is greatly appreciated! Thanks for looking.

[Adravor]

I have no idea what this could be, i´ve searched a bit but could only find this Village with the name Hovestadt Hovestadt – Wikipedia

[3volv3]

Very strange that we cannot find another one online. The medal does look old and it would be a very strange thing to fake..

[Watchdog]

Sorry to say but this is not any kind of "Iron Cross".
It isn't even military.

HV stands for Heimatschutzverein (Homeland Protection Society) also known in many places as simply Schutzverein.

Just about every small town or village in Germany has (or had) one and they date back to the days before standing national armies when all able bodied men stood ready to take up arms to protect "the homeland" against outside aggression. They maintained standards of preparedness and skill at arms.
Today they are more like social societies but there is still an obvious orientation towards shooting competitions etc. The officials of such societies use pseudo military titles such as "Hauptman der SV", "Adjutant" etc.

Hovestadt is a small town in the state of Nordrhein-Westfalen in Northern Germany. It is in the region of Arnsberg, district of Soest. It is about 50km East of Dortmund where I was stationed in the early '80s with my unit headquarters being in a place called Werl which is not far from Hovestadt.

These societies are a lot of fun if you get invited along and the events alway involve a good amount of beer, schnapps and bratwurst! A real taste of local "folk" culture which can be very entertaining!

What you have here is probably a shooting medal or similar but as I say it is purely civilian.

I hope this helps

Regards

Mark

[3volv3]

Hi Mark, thank you so much for that very nice explanation. I just had no idea what to make of it.