✚11048✚ German WW1 Hesse-Darmstadt General Honour Decoration War Service Medal

Original German / Hesse-Darmstadt (pre) WW1 General Honour Decoration / War Service Medal, IN VERY GOOD CONDITION, ON NEW RIBBON, A GREAT DETAILED EXAMPLE, THE AWARD IS NOT OFTEN SEEN, THE "BRAVERY MEDAL" VERSION IS FAR MORE COMMON

HISTORY OF THE AWARD:

Hesse-Darmstadt - General Honour Decoration, Grand Duke Ernst Ludwig, ‘For War Merit’, (Allgemeines Ehrenzeichen, Großherzog Ernst Ludwig, ‘Für Kriegsverdienste’) / 1894-1918 issue - Circular silver medal with loop for ribbon suspension; the face with the head of Grand Duke Ernst Ludwig facing left, circumscribed ‘ERNST LUDWIG GROSSHERZOG VON HESSEN’; the reverse inscribed ‘FÜR KRIEGS-VERDIENSTE’ (for War Service) within a circular wreath of oak and laurel. The Decoration was instituted in 1843 and bore the image of the successive Grand Dukes of Hesse. It was used as an award for a number of purposes, the inscription on the reverse varying accordingly. This example dates from the period between the accession and abdication of Grand Duke Ernst Ludwig (1894 to 1918) and was probably awarded in the early years of World War I (later examples being of silvered ‘Weissmetall’ and then of ‘Kriegsmetall’ light alloy rather than silver).