PRE WW1 GERMANY KINGDOM OF BADEN WAR HELPER VOLUNTARY RELIEF WORK CROSS MEDAL

Offered is an original Franco Prussian War era Voluntary Relief Worker Cross.

38 mm wide gilt bronze cross pattée with loop for ribbon suspension; the face with a circular central medallion bearing a Greek (Geneva) cross with vertical hatching for the heraldic colour ‘gules’ (red), the crown of Baden on the upper arm, an escutcheon bearing the arms of Baden on the lower arm, the left and right arms dated ‘1870’ and ‘1871’ respectively; the reverse with a circular central medallion bearing the crowned monogram of Grand-Duke Friedrich; on sewn length of original ribbon. This cross is rarely seen for sale.

The Cross was instituted on 25 June 1871 after the Franco-Prussian War to be awarded to ‘Männer, Frauen und Jungfrauen, die sich durch Pflege der Verwundeten und Kranken, durch Fürsorge der Truppen und Unterstützung der Familien der zum Wehrdienst eingezogenen Reservisten und Landwehrmänner hervorgetan haben’ (Men, women and young women who have distinguished themselves through care of the wounded and sick, welfare of the troops and support of the families of Military, enlisted Reservists and Territorials).