This is a stickpin mounted with a miniature medal bar comprising decorations from the German Imperial era, affixed to a horizontal bar. Arranged from left to right are two Iron Crosses, the War Merit Cross of the Principality of Lippe, the Honour Cross of the World War, the Officer Long Service Cross, and the China Campaign Medal. The middle section of the pin shaft features spiral knurling. It is presumed to have belonged to the same recipient as the “German Empire WWI Medal Set”.
Iron Cross, III model
The medal is rendered in the form of a cross pattée with flared arms, cast in black iron with a silver border that exhibits fine ribbing, which is subsequently mounted onto an iron backing plate. At the centre of the obverse, the letter ‘W’ denotes the royal cypher of Wilhelm (though historically founded by Frederick William III). Positioned above is the Prussian royal crown, whilst below is the institution year of the Third Model, ‘1914’.
The reverse of the original full-size decoration displays three oak leaves at the centre, symbolising strength and honour, surmounted by a royal crown and underlaid by the original foundation year, ‘1813’. The ribbon comprises a black field flanked on either side by a white stripe, mirroring that of the highest Prussian military decoration, the Pour le Mérite.
The Iron Cross was originally instituted on 10 March AD 1813 following the French invasion of Russia. In the aftermath, retreating French legions drifted across German territory as they fell back towards Paris, momentarily threatening Berlin. At this juncture, King Frederick William III resolved to join the Sixth Coalition in an endeavour to break free from Napoleonic hegemony. Withdrawing to Breslau (present-day Wrocław, Poland), beyond the reach of French forces, Frederick William III decreed the establishment of the Landwehr (militia reserve) and the mobilisation of the Landsturm (local levy). Concurrently, bypassing the established chivalric honours system, he established the Iron Cross (Das Eiserne Kreuz) exclusively for military personnel actively engaged in the War of Liberation against France. Amidst an atmosphere in which the populace enthusiastically donated gold ornaments and jewellery—even replacing gold wedding bands with iron rings to embody the patriotic ethos of ‘Gold gave I for Iron’—the King chose plain iron to fashion an entirely new token of distinction to reward military personnel and civilians who performed exceptional feats against foreign rule. The master architect and artist Karl Friedrich Schinkel was commissioned to draft the cross design. To enforce institutional egalitarianism, the physical decoration awarded to nobles and commoners, generals and private soldiers alike was identical, with the award of the Second Class being an absolute prerequisite for conferring the First Class. Subsequently, the Iron Cross evolved into a pre-eminent military honour in major conflicts, being re-instituted during the Franco-Prussian War in AD 1870, the First World War in AD 1914, and the Second World War in AD 1939.
The insignia bodies of the First and Second Class of the Iron Cross exhibit no difference in form and can be distinguished solely from the reverse according to their manner of wear. The two miniature Iron Crosses mounted on this stickpin, one larger and one smaller, likely indicate that the recipient held the First Class, comprising both the ribbon-suspended decoration and the breast cross. Although the Grand Cross of the Iron Cross was physically larger in scale, all five historical recipients were commanders decorated with a vast array of high honours, an entitlement that does not align with the profile of the remaining decorations comprising this miniature bar.
War Merit Cross (Principality of Lippe)
The medal is fashioned as a cross pattée with flared arms. The outer borders of the cross arms are burnished smooth, whilst the interior surfaces are stippled. At the centre sits a five-petalled Lippe rose encircled by a laurel wreath. Above it, a calligraphic letter ‘L’ signifies the royal cypher of Prince Leopold IV, surmounted by a princely crown, whilst the institution year ‘1914’ is inscribed below. The reverse of the original decoration bears the horizontal German inscription ‘AUSZEICHNUNG IM’ in the centre, flanked above and below by ‘FÜR / KRIEGE’, translating directly as ‘Distinction in War’. The combatant ribbon features a central broad yellow stripe bordered by stripes of red, white, red, and white.
Instituted on 8 December AD 1914 by Prince Leopold IV, a total of 18,375 crosses on the combatant ribbon and 1,117 crosses on the non-combatant ribbon were conferred by AD 1922.
The Honour Cross of the World War 1914/1918
The Honour Cross of the World War 1914/1918 (Ehrenkreuz des Weltkrieges 1914/1918), commonly designated the Hindenburg Cross (Hindenburgkreuz), was instituted on 13 July AD 1934 by the Reich President of the Weimar Republic, Paul von Hindenburg. It represented the first and only unified national commemorative service medal established by the German state for First World War veterans. Prior to this, various commemorative badges had been conferred by individual former federal states or private veteran associations; hence, this decoration was founded to provide official, centralised recognition for all participants and their sacrifices during the First World War.
The decoration is structured as a cross pattée with flared arms. A central medallion bears the dates ‘1914 1918’ enclosed by a laurel wreath, designed in its entirety by Eugene Godet. The award was produced in three distinct classes: the Cross with Swords (featuring crossed swords between the cross arms) reserved for front-line combatants; the Cross without Swords conferred upon non-combatant military personnel serving in rear echelons or logistical roles; and the Honour Cross for the Next-of-Kin (rendered in blackened iron without swords) awarded to the widows and parents of fallen, deceased, or missing servicemen. The decoration was suspended from an imperial ribbon of black, white, and red stripes, with the colour scheme inverted for the next-of-kin variant. Applications for the Hindenburg Cross were subject to rigorous official vetting, primarily targeted at surviving personnel or bereaved relatives of the Imperial German armed forces and associated wartime bodies. By the time processing ceased in the AD 1940s, over eight million crosses had been conferred, the vast majority being the combatant variant with swords.
Military Long Service Cross Decoration for 15 Years, Officer, Type II
The medal was originally instituted in AD 1825. Formed as a cross pattée with flared arms, each arm is framed by three raised border lines. The central medallion displays a royal crown enclosed within a raised double ring. The reverse of the original decoration was engraved with the Roman numerals ‘XXV’ or ‘XV’ to denote the recipient’s completed years of service, suspended from a cornflower-blue ribbon in a manner similar to the Royal Crown Order.
The China Campaign Commemorative Medal
The medal was instituted by Emperor Wilhelm II on 10 May AD 1901 to honour the gallantry and endurance of personnel deployed in military operations in East Asia. The award strictly defined eligible service between 30 May AD 1900 and 29 June AD 1901, being differentiated into a bronze version for combatants and a steel version for non-combatants. Eligibility encompassed all officers, enlisted men, medical officers, naval engineers, and ordnance or logistical personnel directly engaged in military operations or stationed locally prior to the outbreak of hostilities, alongside volunteer nursing staff serving on the battlefield, in field hospitals, or aboard hospital ships, as well as legation guards stationed in Peking and Tientsin and non-Chinese nationals who took refuge within the German legation, with total conferments exceeding 40,000.
The medal is circular in form. The obverse features an imperial crowned eagle in flight facing to the right, its talons firmly gripping a submissive Chinese dragon beneath it. The dragon’s body curves along the lower rim in a semi-circle, with its tail winding upwards in an S-shape past the eagle’s wing, the entire composition bordered by a laurel wreath. The reverse of the original piece is likewise edged with a laurel wreath, inside of which runs the German inscription ‘DEN SIEGREICHEN STREITERN’ (To the Victorious Warriors). At the centre sits the German Imperial Crown with pendilia flanking both sides, directly above the calligraphic royal cypher ‘W’ of Emperor Wilhelm II, whilst the base is engraved with the campaign dates and theatre ‘1900 CHINA 1901’. The original ribbon is edged on both flanks by narrow white stripes, followed inwards by 3 mm wide stripes of the Imperial German national colours—black, white, and red. The central yellow stripe is wider and bordered on both sides by thin white pin-stripes.
原章背面中央為三片橡葉，象徵力量與榮譽。上方為王冠，下方為最初的設立年「1813」。綬帶為黑底，兩側各有一道白色色帶，與最高等級的「功勳勳章」(Pour le Mérite)相同。
鐵十字勳章最初設立於公元1813年3月10日。在法俄戰爭後。失敗的法國軍團遊蕩在德意志的土地上緩緩返回巴黎，一時逼近柏林。而這時，腓特烈·威廉三世決定加入第六次反法同盟，爭取脫離拿破崙的控制。腓特烈·威廉三世前往法軍所不及的布雷斯勞(今波蘭弗羅次瓦夫)，決議組建後備軍(Landwehr)和召集民兵後備隊(Landsturm)。同時，繞開既有的勳賞體系，設立鐵十字勳章(Das Eiserne Kreuz)，僅授予在反法戰爭中活躍的軍人。在民眾踴躍捐出金飾與珠寶，甚至以鐵戒指替換金婚戒，展現「以鐵易金」之愛國精神，的氛圍下，國王決意以最平實的「鐵」鑄造一種全新榮譽標誌，用以獎勵在反抗外敵統治中立下卓越戰功的軍民。建築與藝術大師申克爾(Karl Friedrich Schinkel)於是受命設計出了該鐵十字圖案。為追求制度上的平等，貴族與平民、將軍與士兵所獲頒的章體沒有任何差別，且一律先授二級方可授一級。其後，鐵十字勳章成為重大戰爭中的重要獎勳制度，在公元1870年的普法戰爭、公元1914年的第一次世界大戰，與公元1939年的第二次世界大戰中，均曾一度恢復。
1914/1918年世界大戰榮譽十字勳章（Ehrenkreuz des Weltkrieges 1914/1918），通稱興登堡十字勳章（Hindenburgkreuz），由威瑪共和國帝國總統保羅·馮·興登堡於公元1934年7月13日設立，是一戰結束後德國官方設立的第一個也是唯一一個全德統一的一戰服役紀念章。在此之前，各類一戰老兵紀念章多由各舊邦國或私人退伍軍人協會自行頒發，該章的設立旨在以國家名義統一表彰所有一戰參與者及其犧牲奉獻。
章體呈圓形。正面中央為一隻向右展翅飛翔且頭戴皇冠的帝國鷹，其利爪牢牢攫住一條屈服於下方的中國龍；龍身呈半圓形貼於底緣，龍尾如S形向上蜿蜒掠過鷹翼，周圍飾有月桂葉花環。原章的背面外緣同樣飾有月桂葉花環，內圈環繞德文銘文「DEN SIEGREICHEN STREITERN」(致勝利的戰士)，中央為兩側垂有飾帶的德意志帝國皇冠，其下方正對著德皇威廉二世的花體「W」字母花押字，最底端則鐫刻戰役年份與地點「1900 CHINA 1901」。原配綬帶以兩側的細白邊為框，向內依序為各3毫米的黑、白、紅三色德意志帝國國旗條紋。正中央黃色主條帶較寬，黃色兩側並帶有白色細邊。
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