Serbian Commemorative Cross 1913 for Balkan Wars

[Egorka]

Hello, 

Please comment. The ribbon is replacement I presume.

The Cross was instituted on 25 November (7 December) 1913 to be awarded to military and civilians for meritorious service during the First and Second Balkan Wars of 1912-1913. An alliance of Bulgaria, Greece, Montenegro and Serbia threw the Ottoman Turks out of almost all their remaining European territories in 1912 and the First Balkan War ended with the Treaty of London on 30 May 1913. The Cross was made by Arthus Bertrand of Paris and Huguenin Frères of Le Locle, Switzerland.

[paja]

Greetings Egorka,
Just a small correction that is the Second Balkan War Commemorative Cross. While the First Balkan War was war in which the Balkan nations finally liberated themselves from the centuries-long Ottoman rule, the Second War was fought between the former allies over territorial disputes. It begun with the Bulgarian attack against Serbian and Greek forces in Macedonia. Romania and the Ottoman Empire also got involved against Bulgaria whose government was forced to seek a truce in the end. 
Anyway nice looking cross, like most of them out there it was made by Huguenin Brothers, Bertrand's is slightly different.
Around 30 years prior to those events another war was fought between Serbia and Bulgaria. Serbia was defeated and the 1885-86 Commemorative Cross is shaped the same way as 1913 Cross but it is black and the ribbon is black with red edges. In the War of 1913 Serbia was victorious and because of that the Cross is golden and the ribbon is the red with black edges, this contrast is of course symbolic.

Edited October 12, 2016 by paja

[paja]

First Balkan War Commemorative Medal was instituted on 31 October 1913.
On the front side is Cyrillic inscription "ОСВЕЋЕНО КОСОВО" meaning "Avenged Kosovo". Bellow it - Sun with year 1912, Serbian Orthodox Monastery Gračanica (XIV century) near Priština and the war trophies, captured Ottoman cannon.
On the back side is Serbian double-headed eagle with laurel wreath around it. On its leaves are names of places where the Serbian Army won some of the greatest battles in that war: КУМАНОВО, СКОПЉЕ, ПРИЛЕП, ЈЕДРЕНЕ, ВЕЛЕС, Н. ПАЗАР, ДЕБАР, ШТИП, ПРИЗРЕН, МРДАРЕ, БИТОЉ, СКАДАР, ОХРИД, СЈЕНИЦА, ДОЈРАН, ЉЕШ, ТЕТОВО, ДРАЧ, ЕЛБАСАН, ПРИШТИНА (Kumanovo, Skopje, Prilep, Edirne, Veles, Novi Pazar, Debar, Štip, Prizren, Merdare, Bitola, Shkodër, Ohrid, Sjenica, Dojran, Lezhë, Tetovo, Durrës, Elbasan, Priština).

[paja]

The medal was made out of gilded bronze, its diameter is 36mm and it was worn on the pentagonal ribbon in colors of the Serbian flag. These ribbons seem to be pretty fragile as they are very hard to find in a decent shape, I'd say they are much rarer than ribbons for the 1913 Cross. 
The main producer is the same as with the Second Balkan War Cross, Huguenin Brothers. There are also examples made by Bertrand, I think they are scarce, don't remember seeing one for sale... 
Producer's signature is visible on the front side of the medal.

Edited October 13, 2016 by paja

[BalkanCollector]

Very nice piece. I've got the one in a nice condition with a replacement ribbon also. The price was lovely considering that I've payed around 10€ for it.

I've read somewhere that a lot of those crosses were burried during WW2 when Bulgarians attacked some parts of Serbia because they would execute entire families who possessed the cross because it is the cross which was awarded for participation in the Second Balkan War as paja said, and the war was against Bulgaria.

Here's my cross

Edited October 13, 2016 by BalkanCollector

[paja]

I've heard that story and considering what was going on in the southeastern parts of Serbia not only during WW2 but also WW1 I wouldn't say that's impossible. 
Two family members lost their lives during the Great War. One, infantry 2nd lieutenant, was shot by the Austro-Hungarian machine gun near Čevrntija at the age of 21. This happened in September 1914 during the Syrmia Offensive, a limited offensive across the Sava river into Austro-Hungarian soil.
The other one was the young 2nd lieutenant's father, judicial lieutenant colonel. Bulgarian troops captured him in 1915 during the Serbian retreat and, according to the family history, buried him alive. I do not know were his remains found later but his name appears on the family tomb together with the following inscription "savagely killed by the Bulgarians near Jelašnica". Unfortunately I do not have more information regarding his death or service, just some basic info I dug up in the Military Gazette, and his personal file got lost or destroyed.
 

[BalkanCollector]

I'm sorry to hear that about your family members. Especially the one who was burried alive.

I also have a copy of my family history and some of them ended their lives in horrific ways in both WWI and WWII. Let us never forget them.

Edited October 13, 2016 by BalkanCollector

[paja]

Unfortunately it would be a hard job finding families who haven't lost loved ones in wars, especially in our region... The fact that Serbia lost around one-third of population in total and over half of its male population during the Great War speaks for itself.

[paja]

Talking about buried medals here are two from my late grandfather's house. I have no idea where did he find them, he liked shinny things  A long time ago he gave me a silver Ottoman coin from the XVIII century he found near a medieval fortress. 

[BalkanCollector]

That's awesome. My grandpa found 1 dinar coin from 1925 while digging up a well at our house at countryside. 

[Tim B]

Here's a full pic of the 1912 Balkans War Commemorative Medal with original ribbon and a close up of the Huguenin Frères mark.

The 1913 Commemorative Cross can actually be found with both the straight or tri-fold ribbon and I think depends on who it was awarded to.  Here's examples of both:

Not in my collection and seen less often, is the version produced by Arthus Bertrand.  Note the ring type suspension:

[paja]

Very nice, thanks for sharing!
Both, 1912 War Commemorative Medal and 1913 Commemorative Cross, can be seen worn on straight or tri-fold ribbon. Why is that the case I do not know but as we can see Huguenin used both.

Edited November 17, 2016 by paja

[paja]

Going through sold items on ebay I stumbled upon this medal here, unknown producer? Perhaps one of the domestic workshops...