Circular silver medal with wire loop for ribbon suspension; the face with the head and shoulders portrait of Grand Duke Friedrich II in uniform facing left circumscribed ‘FRIEDRICH II GROSSHERZOG VON BADEN•’, signed ‘R.M.’; the reverse inscribed ‘FÜR / VERDIENST’ (for Merit) within a circular oak wreath; two scratches to the upper right of the reverse; on original military ribbon with glue residue to the upper reverse. The medal can trace its origins as far back as 1769 when Grand Duke Karl-Friedrich instituted a large and small Silver Medal of Merit. The version showing Grand Duke Friedrich II was issued from the year after his accession in 1907 until his abdication at the end of World War I in 1918. After 1916, with increasing shortages of material, the medal was produced in zinc alloy. This example dates from the period 1908 to 1916.
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