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  House Order of Hohenzollern - info needed

  By Deutschritter · Posted 6 minutes ago

  Thank you, Dave! Maybe you can identify the second ribbon from right? Here is what I have (ribbon bar), what else am I missing? Did the ribbon of the Gold Military Merit Medal have swords?   Iron Cross, 2nd Class Gold Military Merit Medal on 2 March 1917 Military Merit Order (Württemberg), Knight's Cross on 2 August 1917 House Order of Hohenzollern, Knight's Cross with Swords (1918?) Honour Cross of the World War 1914/1918 with Swords  
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  Question about the Order of Ismail/Nishan al-Ismail

  By Rusty Greaves · Posted 1 hour ago

  Below are moderate-resolution illustrations of a lovely 1st Class Order of Ismail set from a February 13, 2024 auction (Auction 61371) listing by Heritage Auctions, Lot 25616 (https://coins.ha.com/itm/egypt/egypt-kingdom-pair-of-uncertified-order-of-ismail-medals-nd-unc-total-2-/a/61371-25616.s?type=DA-DMC-SixBid-WorldCoins-61371-02122024). Owain alerted me to this auction that also included a very uncommon 50th anniversary commemorative medal of the Egyptian Indigenous Courts (Lot 25230) and a Froment-Meurice Mixed District Courts badge (Lot 25091) that probably belonged to Judge Frédéric Rauret y Sugastres (see my two posts of 26 March, 2024 regarding the 50th anniversary commemorative medal and the Mixed Courts badge on the “Egypt Khedivate Judges Badge question” thread here in the “Middle East & Arab States” section of GMIC). This set includes the sash, sash badge, breast star, case, brevet, and an image of an individual wearing the Order of Ismail breast star (the unnamed awardee?). The auction listing has no photo of the case for this set.     Obverse of the 1st Class Order of Ismail sash badge. Both the sash badge and breast star have been well polished. This shows the normal Lattes form of the wreath. The engraving of the golden floral elements on the five star arms have a single distal mark in the central longest petal of the distal flower and 3 marks on each lateral side of this element. The 2 central flowers each show 3 lateral marks and a longer medial mark oriented to the longest medial petal or the space between that petal and the central petal. The mark in the joint of the 2 middle flowers and the lowermost “bud” element are simple straight vertical engravings, and the flowing marks within the stems and leaves are well-centered and elegantly executed. The Cairo office gold assay mark for 18 k cold and the ibis mark for Egyptian made gold are visible on the right side connection between the superior star arm and the crown element. The weight of the sash badge is given as 40.20 g, no measurement is provided.      Reverse of the sash badge showing the “LATTES” mark above the 3 Egyptian gold hallmarks. The date hallmark is “B” = 1927-1928. Although the resolution is not good enough to clearly see the hallmarks on the reverse of the crown element, the Cairo office gold assay mark for 18 k gold is visible on the reverse of the crown (to the viewer’s left of the suspension loop) and the loop is marked with the same Cairo office gold assay mark and the date hallmark “B”.      Obverse of the breast star of this same 1st Class set. The enameled wreath also represents the usual Lattes configuration. The engraved makrks on the gold floral elements of the blue enameled star arms show the central mark of the central petal and the three lateral marks on each side. The 2 middle flowers have the most distal mark oriented with the longer medial petal and 3 lateral marks. The marks of the joining point of these middle flowers is a wide horizontal mark and the lowermost bud and is a wider vertical mark than on the sash badge (probably just because the breast star is larger than the sash badge). The flowing marks on the stems and leaves are well-executed with similarly wide flourishes in the curved portions as seen on the sash badge. The weight of the breast star is given as 115.18 g, no measurement of the star’s diameter is provided.      Reverse of the breast star showing the ”LATTES”  mark underneath the tunic pin. The 3 Egyptian silver hallmarks are visible oriented to the long central ray of the embellishment on the portion in the ~4:00 position (the Cairo assay office mark for 900 silver, the cat hallmark for pre-1946 Egyptian-made silver, and the date hallmark “C”). The 3 Egyptian gold hallmarks are visible on the reverse of the gold star arm in the ~7:00 position in this reverse view (showing the Cairo assay office mark for 18 k gold, the ibis mark for Egyptian made gold pieces, and the date hallmark “C”). The “C” date hallmark indicates an assay date of 1928-1929.      Sash offered with this 1st class set of the Order of Ismail. No pinking (zig-zag cuts that diminish unravelling of the ends of the cloth) is present on the ends of the sash nor on the decorative bow (although the loose ends are not visible).      Award brevet offered with this Order of Ismail set. This example lacks the paper embossed design of the breast star of the Order of Ismail that is present on some examples. Perhaps someone could volunteer the name of the awardee on this brevet?     Low-resolution image of an individual (European?) wearing the Order of Ismail breast star visible above another award on the right side of his chest. This image is included in the Heritage Auctions listing for this Order of Ismail set. Some medals on ribbons can be seen, but not distinguished, on the left side of his jacket. He is not wearing a sash and the poor resolution makes it impossible to make out the neck badge he appears to be wearing. This seems to be a photocopy of an image, possible a previously folded newspaper or magazine image. No information is provided about this individual or whether he is the awardee of this Order of Ismail. I am unsure whether the short jacket this man is wearing is part of an Egyptian rank uniform. Does anyone have a suggestion for good references on uniforms for various Egyptian civil or military ranks (i.e., Bey second class, Bey first class, Pasha, Ri'asset, and Imitiaz)? There is a mention of an unspecified book with illustrations of pre-WWII Egyptian civil court uniforms in a post 19 June, 2009 post by TS Allen in the GMIC thread "FLY WHISK-EGYPTIAN BADGE OF OFFICE" started by Mervyn Minton on 12 June, 2009 in the "Great Britain: Militaria: Badges, Uniforms & Equipment" section of the "Great Britain & Commonwealth realms" listings. ChrisW expressed an interest in such a book in his post of 20 June, 2009 on that thread, but no one ever identified the reference. 
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  Help identify please

  By SillyOldGrandad · Posted 3 hours ago

  Nice one No one.        Pete.
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  House Order of Hohenzollern - info needed

  By Dave Danner · Posted 3 hours ago

  Württemberg Militärverdienstorden.   No idea about WW2 decorations. His Luftwaffe personnel file might have more, but who knows. Luftwaffe files are terribly organized and rarely have information on wartime awards.
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  Patriotic Women’s Association Badges

  By TracA · Posted 3 hours ago

  No One,   Thank you. Much appreciated.   Tracy