Steve Nick
Well-known member
These multi year prizes are a bit of a mystery to me. I used to think that they must have been privately purchased by the regiment after the annual competitions had been held which raises some questions. The basis for this is the fact that so few of these awards seem to surface. This one is only the second one I’ve seen on offer and the only one I’ve been able to acquire.
This led me to question the logistics of how the awards were made and distributed.
To this point I’ve assumed that the prizes were awarded after the annual exercises were completed and were delivered to the winning units sometime after the competition. I’m sure Berlin was aware of which units had won in any given year and were also aware of whether the unit in question was in the position of having won previously.
Looking at existing examples (I have lots of pictures of awards) it appears the convention was that the initial year the unit won the prize was a standard feature on awards in later years and subsequent dates would be incorporated using one of the spots on the banner surrounding the oak leaf laurels on the multi year award. There were 318 units that won a Kaiser or Kings’ prize at least once. Of that 318 there were 188 units that won the prize on at least two occasions or more. That being the case, these multi-year prizes should be more common than they appear to be, which leads me to think that the multi award prizes weren’t just handed out as a matter of course.
These awards were struck from different dies and would have been produced in very small quantities, so probably there would likely be a limited number of makers. The only maker mark I’ve identified so far is C.E. Juncker. Due to different dies being used and the fact that a specific unit would have to have the latest date(s) inserted into the die by hand as well as the production run being limited to the number of recipients in a company or battery, these pieces would undoubtedly be more expensive than the standard issue. Did the government pay for these multi-year prizes? Or was the cost differential absorbed by the unit?
Is it likely that not all regiments that won back-to-back prizes opted to have the special pattern prize produced which would explain why these multi-year awards are so hard to find?
I haven't seen any references to these matters in any regulations I've looked at.
If anyone has any insights regarding the questions posed in the above please reply with your thoughts.
This led me to question the logistics of how the awards were made and distributed.
To this point I’ve assumed that the prizes were awarded after the annual exercises were completed and were delivered to the winning units sometime after the competition. I’m sure Berlin was aware of which units had won in any given year and were also aware of whether the unit in question was in the position of having won previously.
Looking at existing examples (I have lots of pictures of awards) it appears the convention was that the initial year the unit won the prize was a standard feature on awards in later years and subsequent dates would be incorporated using one of the spots on the banner surrounding the oak leaf laurels on the multi year award. There were 318 units that won a Kaiser or Kings’ prize at least once. Of that 318 there were 188 units that won the prize on at least two occasions or more. That being the case, these multi-year prizes should be more common than they appear to be, which leads me to think that the multi award prizes weren’t just handed out as a matter of course.
These awards were struck from different dies and would have been produced in very small quantities, so probably there would likely be a limited number of makers. The only maker mark I’ve identified so far is C.E. Juncker. Due to different dies being used and the fact that a specific unit would have to have the latest date(s) inserted into the die by hand as well as the production run being limited to the number of recipients in a company or battery, these pieces would undoubtedly be more expensive than the standard issue. Did the government pay for these multi-year prizes? Or was the cost differential absorbed by the unit?
Is it likely that not all regiments that won back-to-back prizes opted to have the special pattern prize produced which would explain why these multi-year awards are so hard to find?
I haven't seen any references to these matters in any regulations I've looked at.
If anyone has any insights regarding the questions posed in the above please reply with your thoughts.
