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Cased 12-Year SS Long Service Medal

$9,865.00

Condition: Excellent++

Pattern: 1st Type

In stock

Product Description: A highly desirable and exceptionally rare Cased 12 Year SS Long Service Medal type 1, offered here as a complete and well-preserved original set, complete with its scarce presentation case and embroidered ribbon. Among all Third Reich service awards, the SS long service decorations occupy a particularly advanced collecting tier, with the 12-year grade being seldom encountered and dramatically rarer when retained in its original fitted case.

The medal itself is a textbook die-struck Tombak example, exhibiting crisp, sharply defined detail throughout. The recessed areas retain attractive frosted texture, while the raised highlights display the correct burnished finish, creating the distinct contrast expected on an original, high-quality early production piece. The suspension is fitted with the characteristic teardrop-shaped ring, an important construction detail associated with genuine examples.
The original cornflower-blue ribbon remains in excellent++ condition and is fitted with the highly desirable hand-embroidered SS runic device in silver bullion thread. This detail is often missing, replaced, or degraded, making its presence a major enhancement to the overall completeness and desirability of the set.
Equally important is the original presentation case, finished in black with silver SS runes to the lid, correctly distinguishing it from the 25-Year case, which featured gold runes. The interior retains its red velvet and satin lining, both showing only light age-related wear. The metal hinge remains intact, the closure button functions properly, and the only noted deficiency is the absence of the interior silk hinge retainers, a common and expected point of fragility on these cases.
The SS remained a comparatively small organization during the period in which these awards were issued, and with awards discontinued in 1941, original 12 year medals were produced and distributed in very limited numbers. Complete cased examples are consequently among the most difficult SS awards to locate today.
A superb, investment-grade example of one of the most sought-after SS long service decorations, displaying outstanding originality, strong condition, and exceptional collector appeal..

 

 

Historical Description: Prior to WWII, the German military and civil authorities instituted a wide range of Long Service Awards to reward personnel for years of service. These awards were used by all branches of the German military, as well as civil and political organizations such as the police, the customs service, and the National Labor Service (RAD). There was also a general Long Service Award for civil service. Each of these awards was issued in the form of a medal that was suspended from a cornflower blue ribbon. Many of these were made in different grades denoting a specific number of years of service. They were worn on the uniform in the form of ribbon or medal bars, and up to two long service awards could be worn at the same time. In most cases, a device affixed to the ribbon bar would denote for which service the award had been issued; sometimes the medals themselves had devices on the ribbons, either in the form of pinned-on metal emblems, or else hand or machine embroidery applied drectly to the ribbon. Some German Long Service Awards were very widely awarded, others were made and issued only in small numbers.

 

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