My Kaiserreich ribbon bar collection

**TabsTabs1964** · 10-21-2017, 01:07 PM

This soldier really had to win his Iron Cross when he was still a very young man and almost at the end of the WWI, because his face, although it is already of a middle-aged man, is not scarcely marked by wrinkles. I imagine he must be about 40 or 42 years old.

As I said before I have never been able to identify with certainty the decoration of the center of this ribbon bar only I dare to affirm that it is a light colored ribbon with two stripes on the edges, also quite clear. Therefore I chose to place on the picture another ribbon bar with the Silver Medal Friedrich August (Silberne Friedrich-August Medaille 1905-1918).

I guess you have noticed that this is the image that I have chosen for my profile avatar in this forum.

See you soon Gentlemen.

**Espenlaub Militaria** · 10-21-2017 01:07 PM

We also buy and trade your items and full collections!

**TabsTabs1964** · 10-23-2017, 04:57 PM

Above there are two images of some Kaiserreich ribbon bars fakes.

From left to right and from top to bottom:

01. EK2.1914 + Silver Medal for Merit of the Grand Duchy of Baden
02. EK2.1914 + Bavarian Cross of Military Merit, III Class
03. EK2.1914 + Silver Medal for Military Merit 1905 – 1914 of the Princedom of Schaumburg-Lippe
04. EK2.1914 + Saxony Coburg Gotha. Medal of Merit of the Ernestine Order (SEHO)
05. EK2.1914 + Silver medal for the merit of the Principality of Reuss + General Decoration to the Valour of Hessen. Grand Duke Ernst Ludwig

We must note that the four ribbon bars of two medals are formed by a single ribbon that includes both decorations, which is perfectly possible in the authentic ones, but what is striking is that are totally new. But when we turn the ribbon bars and look at its back, then there is no doubt that are fakes.
First, the stitching is absolutely identical in all of them, with the same thread and the same stitch.
Secondly the small safety pin of wire welded to the metal back plate, which is of course very simple.
As for the three-award ribbon bar, it consists of three different ribbons. The crossed swords of the central ribbon seem to me clearly a recent imitation, and finally, the back of all the ribbon bars does not have the slightest stain of rust or dirt.
Definitely fakes ... but nice.

**Nicolas7507** · 10-25-2017, 08:59 PM

As a fellow ribbon bar collector......I love this thread.

Your very structured presentation with many additional information is outstanding and I hope there will be more.

May I ask what display you are using for the bars?

All the Best,

Nicolas

**TabsTabs1964** · 10-25-2017, 09:33 PM

Hi Nicolas.
To take the photographs of the ribbon bars I do the following:
I put each group that I selected to photograph on a cardboard (usually light gray) and I photograph them with the camera of my cell phone, with natural light entering by my right. I did almost all the photos by midday on clear days this summer.
If what you mean is the way I expose the ribbon bars in my case, I have them placed in small boxes of black cardboard with a clear plastic lid (I think are used to display jewelry and are very cheap) other ribbon bars I place them on a black cardboard folded in the form of an inverted "V" letter. And there is no more secret in it.
The only thing I must say you is that the thread is about to end, probably this weekend.

I hope to start two more with my collection of WWII ribbon bars and my (small) collection of veteran Wehrmacht ribbon bars in the Bundesheer, which I hope will please the members of the forum. Thank you very much.

**TabsTabs1964** · 10-29-2017, 11:48 AM

The main problem that the collector of ribbon bar has is that in any cases some ribbon bars are indistinguishable of some others. We must think that a ribbon bar is a minimalist or summary representation of a full-size medal. When you have two complete medals in front of you, there is no doubt, because you are seeing the ribbon and the medal at the same time, so you know without doubt which one is which. But the problem with ribbon bars is that you only have one of the elements of a military decoration in sight: the ribbon. And certainly there are quite a few ribbons of Kaiser's German era which are identical.
Then we will have to use three ways of working:
First of all the regulations of the era that usually indicate the logical order of the ribbons in a ribbon bar. But the problem is that manufacturers or jewelers, in thousands of cases did not strictly follow the regulations, because in numerous occasions they tried to adapt the ribbon bar of a soldier or official before to construct a totally new one.
Secondly we must look at what period a particular military decoration was granted, because for example when all the ribbons of a ribbon bar are from the WWI it is very difficult for one of them to be from before 1870, since its bearer would have to be an old man during the Great War.
This problem is quite frequent because some German states established some of their decorations in the Napoleonic era and throughout the nineteenth century were approving successive versions during the wars of the 1860s or 1870s.
That is why we come to the third tool: common sense or logic. Although in some cases we think we have clear the medal of a ribbon bar, seeing the others that form, it may not be the one we initially think and therefore it must be another identical but from another German state.
With all this I mean that there is always a small space for doubt and another for mistake.
I will try to explain it with an example.

This is one of the first pictures of groups of ribbon bars that I published in this thread, specifically analyzing the ribbon bars of the Duchy of Anhalt.
I want you to concentrate on the third ribbon bar, and more specifically on its third ribbon.
I said: EK2.1914 + Cross of Frederick of the Grand Duchy of Anhalt-Dessau + Silver Medal for Merit by Frederick II of Baden + EFK. But without losing sight that if the fourth ribbon is EFK, the holder of this ribbon bar was alive in 1934.
And I also said that it was common for the same recipient to possess the Anhalt and Baden decorations. But this ribbon is not the correct or the more usual for the Medal for Merit by Frederick II of Baden.

**TabsTabs1964** · 10-29-2017, 11:51 AM

Then I searched other Baden military awards with the same or a similar ribbon, and we found this one:
The Baden Felddienst Auszeichnung für 1866. But common sense tell us that is not possible, because an eighteen years old soldier who won this medal en 1866… in 1914-1918 he must be about 70 years old… and in 1934 about 85 years old. Then is not possible

Another possibility. The ribbon is not from Baden. Maybe from Principaliyt of Lippe-Detmold?

Really the ribbon of the Princedom Lippe War Merit Cross 1914 on combatant´s ribbon is identical.
Doubts, doubts…

**TabsTabs1964** · 10-29-2017, 11:58 AM

The more probably solution was the first: a Baden ribbon for the Silver Medal for Merit by Frederick II of Baden, but no the more usual:

Above: Baden Silver Medal for Merit of Frederick II + EK2 1914

Above: Lippe Detmold War Merit Cross 1914 on combatant´s ribbon + EK2 1914

In any case, the History and the militaria collecting are not an exact science like maths…. That’s the reason why it likes us. Is not true?

**TabsTabs1964** · 10-29-2017, 02:07 PM

During the last few weeks I have had the great pleasure of sharing with you all my modest collection of ribbon bars of the German II Reich.
This has been a unique opportunity for me to share a collection and a study of quite a few years that really only three or four people had seen before.
For me it has been very gratifying to see that the number of followers and visitors increased as the thread stretched. Thank you very much for all the comments I have received.
I have other collections of ribbon bars of the III Reich and of veterans of the Wehrmacht in the Bundesheer that I hope to share in the next months.
I would also like to show you my small collections of Polish decorations and ribbon bars and decorations from Finland and I also have a collection of decorations from the Spanish Civil War and from the Blue Division, which I would like to show you. All together there are some seventy - eighty ribbon bars and decorations that I hope showing in new threads for several months.
It is a pleasure to be part of this forum where there are so many people who know so much about different topics and from so different places. I like to feel part of it.
To finish I have to apologize once more. This is the first time in my life that I have written anything in English and, as my son tells me, Shakespeare would never forgive me for what I have done with his language. To everyone again: sorry, but my language is Spanish.

See you soon gentlemen.

I end this thread with the sections I called in its day:

- Family photos
- Total Chaos.

**TabsTabs1964** · 10-29-2017, 02:09 PM

**Rakkasan187** · 10-29-2017, 02:11 PM

You have done a remarkable job documenting and sharing with us your collection. It has been great reading the threads, looking at the various ribbon bars and the information you have provided is excellent. Thank you for taking the time to share with us your passion. I look forward to seeing other areas of your collection. Keep up the great work..

Smitty