German Awards - Order of Military Merit 2nd Class with Swords

The Order of Military Merit was established by King Ludwig II. donated. The Order of Military Merit could be awarded to servicemen of the Bavarian army, as well as servicemen of other armies, as well as civilians who especially deservedly served in the army. The award of the Order of Military Merit took place in cases where the award of the Order of Max Joseph was insufficient or the preconditions were not met. Initially, the award consisted of 5 classes: Grand Cross, Comtour, Knight 1st Class, Knight 2nd Class and Cavalier Cross for military merit. The Knight's Cross 2nd Class shown here, with the same design as the Military Merit Cross, is in gold without flame.
On February 26, 1900, an officer's cross was added to the order. He takes a place between the knight of the 1st class and the commander. In 1905, Prince Regent Luitpold reorganized the order. The new classes were now: Grand Cross, 1st Class with Star, 2nd Class with Star, 2nd Class, 3rd Class, 4th Class with Crown, and 4th Class. the military merit cross was divided into 1st and 2nd classes. the knight's cross of the Order of Military Merit of the 2nd class now corresponded to the 4th class with a crown. Notable manufacturers were Quelhorst with 750 ounce and EQ in the band ring, Gebrüder Hemmerle with GH in the ring. The cross shown is a production of Gottfried Merck, Munich, who produced a small number of these crosses. In total, about 1,630 crosses (without swords) were awarded. Due to the strict duty of return, crosses are very rare. After deducting return lists, less than 20% of orders were not returned. Exceptions were made if descendants wanted to keep the order as a memory or bury the deceased. In these cases, the cost of the order was to be reimbursed. For the 2nd class of the knightly order, 40 Reichsmarks were calculated.

Golden Cross in Maltese uniform. Cross hands golden borders. Inner sides with blue glass enamel. Underneath is a translucent herringbone-like hatching. Front and back with raised round gold medallion. Between the tops of the upper cruciform sleeve is an ornamented agraf. On it are tightly soldered 2 crossed, on both sides knocked out golden swords. Above is a small eye with a ribbon ring.

Front side:

• Round medallion, centre enamelled in black with gold cord - L - under Bavarian royal crown
• This is surrounded by a wide white enameled belt hoop at the bottom with a buckle.
• It has a curved gold font at the top: - MERENTI - at the bottom of the antennae and points (belt holes
)

Downside:

In
• black enameled middle medallion golden Bavarian lion
• This is surrounded by a wide white enameled belt hoop at the bottom with a buckle.
• On it in the upper part there is a golden number: - 1866 - in the lower part of the antennae and points (ribbon holes
)

Tape:

.

Obverse: Order of Military Merit Knight's Cross 2nd Class with Swords

Reverse: Order of Military Merit 2nd class with swords

Established:

July 19, 1866 by King Ludwig II.
Swords February 19, 1891 Luitpold Prince

Awarded:

1891 – 1905

Data:

• Material: gold, enamel
• Size: 47.5mm x 41.5mm, swords 33mm x 2.5mm
• Weight: 15.4g

estimated collector price:

2900 – 3200 €

OEK Number:

416