Megan

Fascinating - as ever, thank you Emmanuel.

Here's the address for you, Owain: - The Priory of England & The Islands St John's Gate Clerkenwell London ECIM 4DA What you have, by the way, is the badge of a Serving Sister of the Order.

Although no longer awarded it still features in the current Table of Precedence of 11 March 2005. Mervyn, is there any chance that you'd permit me to use your images on my website (with acknowledgement, of course)? I've never seen pictures of the actual badge before, just sketches in S. Monick's Awards of the South African Uniformed Public Services 1922-87.

Lovely, and one I have never seen before Found this in my archives, the Althing medal with its case:

Thank you, Michael... the specialist Icelandic characters are OK once you know your way around character sets! Always interested in good images (and you'd better PM your real name for the acknowledgements page, you helpful person!). Do you happen to know to whom it was given? As in terms of award... all I know is that it was to mark the thousandth anniversary of the Althing.

Images seem dreadfully rare, let alone the actual medal!!! Still looking for its official name in Icelandic and the decree creating it.

Instituted in 1930 by King Christian X of Denmark to mark the 1000th anniversary of the founding of the Althing (Icelandic parliament) in 930AD.

Blatent plug: if you are interested in the variations of the Order of the Crown medals - different manufacturers, French or bilingual motto, etc. - get yourself a copy of Antti Ruokonen's book The Spirit of the Lion: Orders of Belgium which has copious details and illustrations of the different types! Antti is our very own Blitz here on GMIC, if you didn't happen to know.

Reading the statutes, the Order of St Catherine seems to be in a single class worn as a sash or on a bow. No mention if it's only for ladies. Or where the neck badge Frank posted fits in...

That's a fine selection, SasaYU! Are these scans of that booklet I talked about at the beginning of the thread? The images are about the same quality as the ones I found online... Good to see them, thank you!

Next in the order of precedence is the Order of the Yugoslav Flag (Orden Jugoslavenske zastave). It is awarded for meritorious services to the nation. Here there are both similarities to and difference from the communist-era order of the same name. To start with, it has 3 classes instead of the former order's five (although the bottom two classes were, unusually, much more rarely awarded than higher ones!). The badge of the first class has been changed, so that it looks the same as the badge of the other classes. As you probably know, it was previously flag-shaped and unenamelled - quite distinctive. The reverse of the badge has also been changed, to show the FRY coat-of-arms. First class: Second class: Third class (reverse): (Again, apologies for the image quality...)

This is a work in progress, there will be more to come!

Next comes the Order of the National Hero, an award for personal courage (in defence of the nation or when saving life) that again has survived from the communist era unchanged. Incidentally, the 1998 Law states that all awards received previously can still be worn. Here's the Order of the National Hero:

Then we have the Order of Freedom, which again appears to be identical in appearance and terms of award to the communist-era award of the same name, a rather spectacular beast given for military leadership at the highest level.

Next up, the Order of the Yugoslav Grand Star. This is awarded in a single class to Heads of State for special merit in developing and strengthening cooperation and friendly relationships between Yugoslavia and other nations. This is identical to the communist-era order of the same name, and although I only have a scruffy little picture, looks the same as well. Badge: Star: In comparision, here's a (much better!) image of the communist-era star:

First up, the highest award, which is a new one: the Order of Yugoslavia (Orden Jugoslavije). It is given to Heads of State and other senior members of government. In effect it has 2 classes, as the Collar and Star are reserved for actual Heads of State, while the Sash and Star can go to any leader who may not be technically a Head of State. Collar: Badge: Star: Apologies for quality, they're from these images I think are from the booklet mentioned above.

Inspired by Paja's recent post on the FRY Medal of Philanthropy (and his kindness in giving me permission to use the images, followed by a lot more information!), I have been having a delve into the ODM of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in general. The complete set was instituted in a single law, the Law on Decorations of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, 4 December 1998, a copy of which I have found online: http://www.podaci.net/_z1/3119776/Z-odliko02v9859-0121.html (in Serbian, of course). This lists all the orders, decorations and medals with the number of classes and what they were awarded for, but does not describe them. Paja tells me that there is a booklet that contains the law plus illustrations, and I think that I have found at least some of the pictures online. These are not up the the quality that I like for my website but at least give me an idea of what I am looking for! The interesting thing is that many of the names of orders are the same (or similar) to those used by communist Yugoslavia (the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia to give it its full name), and from what I can make out of the images the design has not changed greatly either. The Communist Yugoslavian designs were not as overtly 'communist' as many of the Eastern Bloc ones, which helps, and it seems that in many cases the main change has been to replace the state coat-of-arms with the new one (and that often on the reverse!). I'll post what I have, with apologies for the quality, and ask that everyone look out for better pictures for me :)

Thank you, Radmilo - may I have your full name for the acknowledgement, please (PM if you prefer). I do need help with FRY - please look over that section of my site: I'd be grateful for any corrections or additional information/images that you are able to share!

Fascinating... I had the medal listed on my site (although I translated it as 'Medal of Humanity') but did not know for what it was awarded nor what it looked like. Would you be willing to permit me to use the images? (With due acknowledgement, of course.)

Thank you for all your hard work, Nick.

LOI N° 2005-14 of 30 May 2005 has in Appendix 1 an update on this medal: MEDAILLE D’HONNEUR DES DOUANES A. DESCRIPTION La médaille est ronde, d’un module de 32 millimètres. Elle présente sur l’avers, en motif central, une flèche d’argent qui surmonte le soleil d’or nigérien sur lequel sont entrecroisées deux glaives d’argent portant en exergue en lettres vermeil « MEDAILLE D’HONNEUR DES DOUANES NIGERIENNES ». Au revers : FRATERNITE – TRAVAIL – PROGRES et COURAGE AU SERVICE DE L’ADMINISTRATION DES DOUANES. Le ruban comporte cinq bandes longitudinales alternativement orange, noire et verte. B. CONDITIONS DE DELIVRANCE Pour être proposés, les candidats à l’obtention de la médaille doivent réunir au jour de leur nomination au moins 15 ans de services effectifs dans l’administration des Douanes et avoir obtenu une note moyenne au moins égale à 16/20, au cours de leurs services. Toutefois, cette distinction pourra être accordée à titre exceptionnel avec dispense des conditions d’ancienneté : a. à titre posthume aux agents de l’Administration des Douanes ayant trouvé la mort soit en accomplissant un acte exceptionnel de courage, soit dans une lutte soutenue contre les fraudeurs ou ayant succombé des suites de blessures reçues dans ces circonstances. b. à tout fonctionnaire des Douanes ou à toute autre personne ayant rendu des services signalés à l’Administration des Douanes. Les propositions pour l’attribution de la médaille d’honneur des douanes sont établies par le Ministre des Finances, sur proposition du Directeur Général des Douanes, normalement deux fois par an à l’occasion des fêtes du 3 août et du 18 décembre. Elles font l’objet d’un décret du Président de la République. La remise de la décoration est suivie le plus tôt possible de la remise d’un Brevet signé du Ministre des Finances et du Grand Chancelier de l’Ordre National. La discipline, le contrôle et l’administration de la Médaille d’Honneur des Douanes sont assurés par le Grand Chancelier de l’Ordre National.

Cheshire Police are wearing something similar already... they look more as if they are out jogging than on the beat.

As you know, I do not often sneak in here, but I got an e-mail today from one Jon Weston telling me about his police insignia website and thought you may be interested. It's at www.helmetscaps.co.uk/hc/ and he says: "I spent 12 and a half years researching and photographing all badges in English and Welsh police forces and I know that many dealers in military also deal in police items now and again. I also supply a listing of all helmet types know that were worn by each force with books. A set of two books are sold at £45 (reduced from £55) to military dealers."

Apart from it having been instituted in 1956 by King Muhammad al-Amin, not really... supposedly had 5 classes: Grand Cordon, Grand Officer, Commander, Officer and Knight. No clue as to design or ribbon colours, or even if they got that far! The Arabic name is نيشان التاج التونسي Information other than that is sparse. It is mentioned in the Dutch-language version of Wikipedia, but without references, and in the French-language Wikipedia referencing the Dutch version!

I fail to see why the services rendered by a person of 'left-wing' views are any less worthy of recognition... or is it that you suspect that they'd be predisposed to say "No, thank you," hence not much point in offering an honour to them?