Belgium A sweet bargain

[TacHel]

I guess it's still possible to find nice bargains... Bought this little beauty for a mere $31.

[Hauptmann]

VERY NICE Frank! Well done!!!! She's a beaut! :jumping: :love:

Congrats!

Dan :cheers:

[Laurence Strong]

A sweet deai indeed :cheers:

[peter monahan]

I'll bet you always get a parking spot right by the door too, don't you? Some people must just live right! Good karma, even.

[Nope, not a hint of envy here. Honest! ]

Peter

[Paul R]

It is a beautiful medal. What is it?

[TacHel]

Belgian Knight of the Order of Leopold, military division, post 1952 bilingual variant.

[Paul R]

Thanks Frank. Is this a valor award? It is a beautiful piece. Thank you very much for posting it.

[Laurence Strong]

Paul, the crossed swords indicate it is for the Military division as opposed to the Civilian awards. It is usually awarded for the length of a career or exceptional service. However silver crossed swords were instituted in 1939 for all the national orders (Leopold I and II and the Order of the Crown) awarded to war vetrans, and the number of "war titles" earned. These were calculated by using several criteria; Number of decorations issued, citations recieved,escape, front stripes, and combat service amongst others.

Here is one issued for the Korean War

Edited April 7, 2012 by Laurence Strong

[Laurence Strong]

I forgot to mention yesterday, that for distinguished service during hostilities, a gold thread stripe was woven into the middle of the ribbon. If awarded for an act of exceptional bravery. and the recipient was mentioned in the nation's "Order's

of the Day" the ribbon would have gold thread edges and a gold star as well.

For the record my information is coming from "Hendirk'sMedal Corner" as site well worth visiting when trying to figure out the complexity of Belgian medals and orders:

http://users.skynet.be/hendrik/

[TacHel]

Well can you believe it?... Got the Officer's badge too... Military division also... Under $80. I must've done something right in another life time...

Edited June 1, 2012 by TacHel

[Paul R]

You have been on a real streak lately. What other levels of this award are there?

[Laurence Strong]

Was that one on Ebay Frank? i was eyeballiong one very sim ilar, just never went for it.

Paul, IIRC there are 6 levels'check this site out, under Chivalry Orders

http://users.skynet.be/hendrik/

later

Larry

[TacHel]

Was that one on Ebay Frank? i was eyeballiong one very sim ilar, just never went for it.

Larry

There were 3 simultaneous ones on eBay.be:

- 1 looked like a crudely hand painted knight's badge with an officier's ribbon;

- a 2nd was an over priced post 1951 award;

- and this old beauty which I got for about half of what I thought it would go for.

I don't quite understand why it shows so "silvery/grey" when scanned, it is actually a beautiful old brassy gold. There isn't even the slightest damage to the enamels, not even the green leaves, it's 100% mint. Heavy high quality construction too, I'm pleased as punch with it! :)

Edited June 3, 2012 by TacHel