Germany WWI Saxe Coburg Gotha Ducal House Order of Ernestine for War Merit Silver Medal with Crossed Swords Bar 1914 1st Type by Kawaczynski in Silver 890

Imperial Germany - Duchy of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha:
WW1 Silver Medal of the Ducal House Order of 
Ernestine for War Merit with Crossed Swords Bar, 
dated 1914. 
This is the rarest variety (the 1st type) of the 
medal, signed MvK (for  M.v.Kawaczynski) and 
marked "Silber 990" (Silver 890) on the rim. 
The Order was instituted in 1833 and the medal 
was amended to this version, with the portrait 
of Duke Carl Eduard, in 1905. 
The medal was issued in this form during WW1, 
either to combatants for war merit (in that case 
with the crossed swords dated bar) or without 
bar for meritorious services to the homeland. 
A very rare genuine example of a heavily copied 
medal with an even harder to find genuine dated 
crossed swords bar, as the total population of 
the Duchy was well below 250.000 inhabitants.
In fact only 105 awards of the medal with the 
Crossed Swords Bar, dated 1914 are recorded.

FULL SIZE

WW1 1914 -1918 

Item 100% original - original ribbon

Condition as on the photos

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