Bavaria, Kingdom. A Military Merit Cross, IV Class with Swords (Collectors Copy)

(Militär-Verdienstkreuz IV. Klasse mit Schwertern). Instituted 19 July 1866 by King Ludwig II. Post-1945 Copy. A silver Maltese Cross with blue enamelled arms, with flames between the arms of the cross, with silver crossed swords attached above the 12 o’clock cross arm, the obverse with a central black enamelled medallion bearing a silver crowned cipher of King Ludwig III within a white enamelled border in the form of a buckled belt with silver letters reading MERENTI (MERIT), the reverse with a central black enamelled medallion bearing a silver crowned Bavarian lion rampant within a white enamelled border in the form of a buckled belt, dated 1866, marked 835 on bottom edge of six o’clock cross arm, measuring 40.32 mm (w) x 50.15 mm (h), on loop for suspension from its period original ribbon for civilians, and in better than very fine condition.