Mecklenburg-Schwerin, Grand Duchy. A Military Merit Cross I Class, C. 1935 Auction since it is the first

since it is the first British medal to be instituted and awarded using a dead monarch's cypher or effigy

with a single rivet visible on the reverse

He died on December 16

The award was patterned after Napoleon's Legion of Honour of 1812 and the French Colonial Order of the Dragon of Annam

Mecklenburg-Schwerin, Grand Duchy. A Military Merit Cross I Class, C. 1935 Auction since it is the first(Militr Verdienstkreuz I. Klasse). Instituted 28 February 1915 by Grand Duke Friedrich Franz IV. (1915 1924 issue; c. 1935 re issue). Constructed of gilded zink, the obverse consisting of a Cross Patte with ribbed and pebbled arms, bearing a centra monogram of Grand Duke Friedrich Franz IV, the six oclock arm bearing a date of 1914, the twelve oclock arm bearing a royal crown, the reverse with a block hinge and banjo style pinback meeting a round wire