Description
ANHALT – FREDRICH CROSS (Friedrich Kreuz) – 1914 – 2ND CLASS
Anhalt was a small principality ruled by Prince Friedrich, with an 1890 population of 271,000, so small that it fielded a single Infantry Regiment. With WW I’s outbreak and Kaiser Wilhelm’s re-institution of the Iron Cross in 1914, many other states, including Anhalt, brought forward their own versions.
Anhalt had two Iron Cross equivalents:
- Instituted on 12 December 1914.
- The first was the Friedrich Cross. We refer to it as their 2nd Class example, since it sported a ribbon (as did the 1914 Iron Cross 2nd Class).
- The second version was the Friedrich Cross Steckkreuz (pinback), which had a pin attached to its plain back.
The Friedrich Cross 2nd Class from the Principality of Anhalt.
- Bronze-toned
- Obverse sports a royal crown, Friedrich of Anhalt’s cypher, and the year, 1914
- The reverse displays the phrase “For Service in War.”
- Loop for suspension
- Overall near extremely fine condition
