Megan

Tasty.🤓

Good point, Paddywhack.

It seems that some people approach medal awarding as my mother approached decorating a Christmas tree - the more the merrier! It is proving a bit of a nightmare to track and document everything that's being handed out, however. I'm just grabbing what information I can and hoping that I can make some kind of sense of it all.

The actual decoration is called the Military Medal. Instituted on 25 March 1916 and awarded to other ranks (i.e., non-officers) of the Army and Royal Air Force for acts of bravery in the field. (Non-flying acts, as far as RAF members were concerned.) It was discontinued in 1993 when all ranks became eligible for the Military Cross, previously only awarded to officers for similar acts. It would normally be named - yours may be unissued or a tailor's copy.

What is the Krayina website? All I found was an Ukrainian insurance company... the word in Ukrainian (Країна) means "country" or "land". There's also a vinyard (in Ukraine) using that name for a tasty sounding white wine! I have found a weekly magazine called Країна published in Kyiv, wich deals with socio-political issues, but I've only found lists of issues, not a website.

More beautiful things... I particularly like the Red Cross ones on lady's bows! Thank you for sharing!

Some nice pieces there, well done!

Easy to say, but what do you suggest the civilised world should do about a nation that suddenly invades another sovereign state? Just let them? But this is getting too political. Let's get back to Ukranian medals, please.

Well-established state order: Order of Princess Olha (ОРДЕН КНЯГИНИ ОЛЬГИ) instituted on 15 August 1997 and awarded in three classes for service to Ukraine and society rendered by women. The one shown above is the Class 3.

Very nice! Verdienstmedaille der DDR, instituted: 4 June 1959 and awarded to GDR citizens and those of fellow socialist states who had distinguished themselves through special achievements and faithful fulfillment of duties in building socialism.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c93l13g84dzo A list of some 30 recipients has been announced. A bit oddly, it appears to be individual awards to selected people rather than to all those who helped with a particular disaster or other event, which was what I thought it would be.

The KAR DCOM was instituted in 1907, based on a Royal Warrant of 24 May 1894 establishing Dominion & Colonial issues of the Distinguished Conduct Medal. It was discontinued on18 June 1942, being replaced by the Distinguished Conduct Medal. It was awarded for distinguished conduct in the field by members of the King's African Rifles. It was issued with Edward VII and George V obverses and a standard reverse inscribed KING'S AFRICAN RIFLES FOR DISTINGUISHED CONDUCT IN THE FIELD.

Yes, a nice piece... of the various types of the First Afghan War Medal, the reverse is unique in that the two battle names are in separate wreaths instead of a single one containing however names that type covers.

Oh dear, looks like a major update is needed in the Russian Federation section of my website... Thanks, Wat05, for the information 🤓

Do you mean a SECOND black line, i.e., the orange half has a black line on each side? The original Medal "For Operations in Syria" is like this (apologies for small size, I pinched it off my website, as I'm on the laptop right now, not the desktop where the medal images live!):

In the UK, you may ACCEPT whatever you like but you need permission to WEAR it... although this really only applies to service personnel wanting to wear foreign awards in uniform. Technically anyone should request permission to wear but it isn't enforced.

Fascinating information - thank you all for this information.

This is a fine array and showing even more types than I'd heard about! Thank you everyone for sharing this magnificent collection.

Instituted on 30 August 1919, this medal marks 9 years' service in the Special Constabulary, with at least 50 duties being served each year. Wartime service counts treble. Although instituted afterwards, those who had served as 'Specials' during WW1 received a bar THE GREAT WAR 1914-18. There are 10 versions: George V Type 1 - awarded1919-1930 George V Type 2 - 1930-1937 George VI Type 1 - 1937-1948 George VI Type 2 - Elizabeth II Type 1 Elizabeth II Type 2 Elizabeth II Type 2 for Ulster - 1956 Elizabeth II Type 2 for the RUC - 1982 Elizabeth II Type 2 for the PSNI - 2001-2022. Charles III The medal is bronze, 36mm in diameter. The obverse bears the appropriate sovereign's head, the types having variations of inscription. The reverse is common, being inscribed FOR FAITHFUL SERVICE IN THE SPECIAL CONSTABULARY within a partial laurel wreath, apart for the 3 Elizabeth II versions for Northern Ireland, which have different wording, replacing "SPECIAL CONSTABULARY" with the name of the force - ULSTER SPECIAL CONSTABULARY, ROYAL ULSTER CONSTABULARY RESERVE, or POLICE RESERVE OF NORTHERN IRELAND. Does anyone know if there's a PSNI variant of the Charles III version? (I do have images of most of these, but my main computer is in the shop having its hard drive repaired/replaced!)

Excellent... I'll have to look out for that!

From the Kingdom of Egypt, the Order of the Nile (نیشان النیل/Nishan al-Nil), which was instituted on 14 April 1915 and awarded in five classes for services to the nation. Here we have the Grand Officer star, Commander, Officer, and Knight.

From the Kingdom of Egypt, the Military Star of Fuad I (وسام نجم العسكریل ألخكاب ألفاظ الأول) which was instituted on 6 December 1919 as the Order of the Military Star of Sultan Fouad I, being renamed in 1922. It was awarded in a single class to officers for mention in dispatches or distinguished service in the field or before the enemy with courage and a spirit of self-sacrifice. The decoration consists of a gilt five-pointed star enamelled white on both sides. On the obverse, a central, blue-enamelled disk bears crossed gilt swords surrounded by a red-enamelled circlet on which there is a crowned gilt laurel wreath. On the reverse, the disk is also blue with an inscription in Arabic. Suspension is a straight bar and the ribbon is yellow with a black central stripe and blue edge stripes.

Not state issued, but may be semi-official. Ukraine has a long tradition of multiple issuers of awards. As well as the actual state, you have various government ministries with their own panoply of awards, which are generally regarded as official (at least, the government makes periodic attempts to rein them in!), then cities and regions issue their own... and the past few years has seen a spate of army commanders at various levels presenting their own awards to the troops under their command! Many of these sit somewhere between an award and a 'membership badge' for the formation in question. Then there are several manufacturers who produce medals that you can purchase, and who also do commission work - they supply many of the semi-official awards I was talking about, and offer design services to, well, anyone who wants to award medals! It's a bit of a nightmare trying to keep track. I just collect the images, then ask lots of questions to try to bottom out who's awarding them, for what, and to whom...

Lovely stuff, Graf - hoping to find images of these in due course.

From Tunisia, the Order of 7th November 1978, which was instituted on 2 July 1988 and awarded in five classes for contributions to the re–establishment of the sovereignty of the people, the reinforcement of democracy and to those who consolidated the gains of 7 November 1987 following the death of President Bourguiba. It was discontinued in 2011 following the Arab Spring revolution - possibly due to President Zine el Abidine Ben Ali being fond of wearing the jewelled collar in official portraits! Here is the Class 1 star: