Can you help me identify this German insignia?

[I_ROUTE]

Came across this in stuff my dad gave me 10 years ago.

Looks to be from the German Navy? Dated 1914

german1..jpg

[Dan Shapiro]

At first I was tempted to say it was an Iron Cross, 1st Class. However, there is no crown above the "W" (for Wilhelm II) - then there's that 'rope' around the Cross (naval connotation?). It may be some type of civilian award for war service (indicated by the 1914).

[Johnny P]

The general shape of everything is off also. What size is the cross? This is a WWI Iron Cross 1st Class, and it is 1.75 inches across.
Yours looks more like one of the "Sweetheart" souvenirs available to U.S. servicemen, but don't know if these were available to German soldiers or not.

[Art]

I did some checking and the multitude of German World War I medals and decorations is simply mind boggling. It seems in the German Empire every kingdom, grand dutchy, dutchy, principality and free state (which in total made up the Kaiser's realm) issued its own military medals and in lots of variations. The decoration above resembles but is not identical to several of these.

www.diggerhistory.info has an exhaustive history of these awards but is very slow loading. I recomment you check it. If the link dosen't work try googling World War I German medals and decorations. I got about halfway through and saw some medals that were similar to but not exactly the same as yours.

[I_ROUTE]

A nickle will cover the cross Johnny.

[Art]

It is possible the "W" is for Wurttemburg

[Lemming]

I_Route, have you posted this anywhere else? Another site that I have enjoyed is a German militaria forum at GunBoards:

http://forums.gunboards.com/forumdis...aria-Forum-NEW!

That is a very cool item.

[Liam]

I enjoy a challenge as much as the next guy, but I am unable to find another item online that resembles yours - has the Kaiser Wilhelm "W" (although different than the standard 1914 "W") but not the crown. This could be a one-off. Someone could have had it mounted in a rope frame in order to wear it. The "W" looks more like the Ws on those biker knock-offs. Interested to see where this goes. If you find what you need on another forum, please follow-up here at CSP so we (who enjoy challenges) can put this to rest.

[I_ROUTE]

I posted it at SigFourm as well. Never visited gunboards.