love4history

Just by way of information: one does not need to look for a special connection between Bavaria and Belgium to interact in railway matters. Prior to WWI Belgium was the 6th economy in the world (26th in 2018) and thé specialist in the field of trains, locomotives and railways. 1st railway on mainland Europe was constructed in Belgium in 1835 and in 1914 there were nearly 4000 locomotives and railway tracks laid from Russia to China and in South-America. There were Belgian engineers working all over the world doing railroad construction. The Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits, was founded in 1876 by Belgian engineer Nagelmackers and would operate dozens of regular international train services over Europe. (most famous one being the Oriënt Express).

Thank you 922F for the info!

@Great Dane. That's very interesting. Thank you for the input! I was already wondering what that award might be round his neck. It is not in the medal group I acquired. It certainly does look like the Order of the German Eagle and indeed would fit the time-frame for the award being made as he was in Köln in the mid to late 30's. Will see if I can narrow the date of the photo down. He would not have been wearing this award anymore after 1940.... A very interesting detail is that his wife was of German AND Jewish decent! Can you imagine what her feelings and her husbands must have been witnessing life/living in Germany in the late 30's !!! Thank you Graf for identifying the award. It certainly does look like the Bulgarian award does not originally belong to the group. It's not on the photo and I don't have any proof of him being in Bulgaria yet. Theoretically there still is a gap in his career between '25 and '31 where he could have been posted there and there were strong (family) ties between the Bulgarian Royalty and the Belgian one which might perhaps have played a role as well but so far no proof of anything. I will try to find out more. On analysing the photo further I have come to the conclusion that the mounted group on the photo shows from left to right the Officer's Grade of the Order of Leopold I, the National Committee First Class Medal, the Knight's grade in the Order of the Crown (rather the a French LdH as I thought first. The Knight's grade Crown Order came with the group as well but was badly damaged. In the mounted group as it is now it has been replaced by the higher Commander Grade in the Order of the Crown) and finally the Cuban Merit Medal for the Red Cross. Round his neck I think we indeed see the German Eagle Order, the Finnish Order of the White Rose and the Portuguese Commander in the Order of Christ together with the matching silver breast star. Can you agree with this chaps or do you see something else?

Here's an attempt to show the MM. Besides the crown and the 813H I don't see a "yearmark". Have written to the secretariat to ask for more info. If they come up with something I'll let you know!

Thank you Graf! Exact width of the cross is 64 mm. What does that mean? The Belgian GO Leo II came in a Fonson case. (Not that that proves anything) I have no paperwork tying the man to Bulgaria. What I have is: °Antwerp 1889 Antwerp 1911 obtains a master degree in "commercial and consular sciences" 1912 to Havana, Cuba 1915 (vice)consul in New York + marriage in NY 1921 Consul in São-Paulo, Brazil 1925 Consul in Helsingfors/Helsinki 1931 In Nairobi. Consul for Kenya, Uganda and Zanzibar and Tanganika 1934 in Köln. Consul for a # of German states 1938 in Sydney. Consul for the Commonwealth of Australia incl. Papua, New Guinee and both the British and French possessions west of 180° WWII (1943) in Australia 1947 in Pretoria. Consul for South- and North-Rhodesia, Nyassaland as well as for Mozambique (Portuguese) 1949 in South-Africa 1953 Consul in Australia

Thank you JohanH! In his paperwork I have found one letter addressed to him as consul in Helsingfjors in 1925. I guess the award will have been made around that time. (this also coincides with a peak in the awards as visible in the table you provided). Going to write to the email-address you provided to see if they have more details. Details on the maker marks posted later today.

Hello gents The medal below is in a group to a Belgian diplomat who was in Havana in the early 20's. It looks very much like the Cuban Red Cross Merit medal but this last one I only find on the internet with the moto "inter inimicos charitas" on the reverse while this particular medal has "inter arma charitas"? Thanks for the help in identifying! l4h

Hi BalkanCollector. Don't mind posting a photo of all his awards. Here they are (only the wearable awards, I did not photograph the one Australian table medal that was in the group), together with a picture of the man himself. Note that not all the medals in the group are in the photo or vice versa. His mounted group has changed as well (second from right now is the British Queen Elizabeth II Coronation Medal from 1953 while in the photo it is another medal, possibly French Legion D'Honneur?) The Grand-Officer grade on the left is the Belgian Order of Leopold II but alas damaged. Will check prices out to have it repaired.

Thank you. Here's a picture of the gentleman with what I think is his White Rose Order in wear (among others)

I can distinguish two: a crown and a second symbol that looks like : | : | or are the two dots the numeral 8 or 3? Hard to tell if you have no idea what they might be. WIll try to make close-ups of the hallmarks

Yes, obviously, my apologies, I thought I had posted the pictures. Will add the list of all awards in the group later at home. Thank you for the help!

Hello gents In the group to a Belgian diplomat I just acquired there were a number of foreign awards. One of them is this medal which I think is the Bulgarian order of civil merit. As this is not my cup of tea, could anyone determine the time period and degree of the award from the characteristics? Thank you! l4h

Hello gents Just acquired a group to a Belgian diplomat with a number of foreign awards. One of them is this Order of the White Rose. I could use some help to determine the degree of the award and the time period (if at all possible?). Thanks for the help Best regards l4h

Hello Azyeoman. Did you get the PM I sent you concerning the matter?

€ 200 is not such a bad price Chris. Is about regular I think. The one that was sold at 900 GBP on ebay was to an executed spy who also received the Medal in the Order of the British Empire which obviously adds a premium. Nevertheless 900 GBP is still an extraordinary price. I would not expect too much from the above mentioned address. Don't forget we're talking about civilians here not military personnel. Chances that the military have records on them are very small. "Standard" the Belgian Agents also received the Belgian WWI Commemorative with silver crown on the ribbon and the Belgian victory medal. Individual cases also received one or two other decorations. Kind regards from Flanders l4h Oh yes, I must deny that father Joseph Pluymackers was executed though. He did indeed die during or shortly after the war, but he was not executed!