Megan

Enamelled blue crosses with maple leaves are ribbon ornaments for the Order of Military Merit or the Order of Merit of the Polics Forces (both Canada, of course). The red leaf is for the Class 1/Commander, a gold one for Class 2/Officer, and the silver one for Class 3/Member. The number 8 is probably the ribbon bar ornament for the Africa Star, to denote award of the 8th Army bar. A silver maple leaf on its own could be the ribbon bar ornament for the Canadian Volunteer Service Medal (WW2), indicating overseas service.

Fascinating collection, thank you all for sharing. It's interesting how different Royal Families choose to issue medals. In the UK, it's only for events connected with the reign (Coronations and selected Jubilees), but with massive issue of those medals that they have. Some Scandinavians sitick to personal milestones (birthdays and weddings in the main, also some deaths). The Danes have the best of both worlds, whatever's going on in the Royal Family there's a medal for it, which they keep affordable by only awarding a few of each one.

It's the Medal "For the Defence of Ukraine" (Медаль "За оборону України") and does come in military and civilian versions. The military one has a ribbon described as dark green with a maroon central stripe and the civilian one has a grey ribbon with a maroon central stripe. It was instituted on 5 August 2022 (Decree of the President of Ukraine dated 5 August 2022 No. 559/2022 "On the award of the President of Ukraine "For the Defence of Ukraine"") and is awarded for self-sacrifice and significant personal contributions to strengthening the defence of Ukraine, the protection of the safety of the population and the interests of the state in connection with the large-scale armed aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine. The illustration attached to the Decree shows the grey to be quite dark, so this may be an artefact of production.

Looking good, Owain. My notes (the properly organised written up ones) have only reached 21 pages. Curse the marking monster, it might be bigger if I didn't have papers to grade.... Bacl to work now

Nice analysis, Yuri. The imagery of medals popping up like mushrooms after the rain is quite apt!

Will there be a PDF/Print-on-demand version available? Protects against going out of print and is more accessible,

Still trying to track down all these Albanian laws... and then find the time to translate them. GRRR. Marking season. Must get back to the pile of papers.

Correct, I found that it wasn't actually available either. Most frustrating. GRRRR.

Ah, right I see. Thank you, Zaim.

Magic. So, Naim Frashëri Order was instituted 1996 as a single class order, then expanded to 2 classes in 2013, Zaim. Do let us know when your book comes out, it looks like it will be very useful.

Another of the city/regional awards. I would think. Thank you for sharing... and good to see that you are still around, Ura87.

Ah, so it does have a 2nd class.... interesting. Any documentation on that, Antonio? Where did you find the badges?

Urdhri Naim Frashëri appears to be awarded in a single class now, it was a 3-class order when instituted in 1965 by the People's Republic.

Annoying, isn't it. Most are here: https://sq.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lista_e_dekoratave_në_Shqipëri But there are blank spaces for the 2 you are looking for. GRRRR.

And my butterfly mind has now alighted on Bangladesh, having noticed that I last visited that section of my website in 2002! Some useful stuff here, thank you gentlemen, but again it seems woefully undocumented! Let us try and change that!

Thanks, Lukasz. Looks like the King got his way, they estimate about 400,000 medaks will be awarded.

At last... Apologies for the poor image, it's what the "culture Secretary" put out on the gov.uk website. The obverse is a double portrait of King Charless III and Queen Camilla by Martin Jennings, the reverse is Charles' cypher and the date 6 MAY 2023 within a laurel wreath. The ribbon is dark blue with a white-edged red central stripe and narrow red edges. Distribution is to be to everyone actively contributing and supporting the Coronation on 6 May - including choristers, police officers, military personnel and St John Ambulance personnel - as well as those directly involved in the delivery of the Coronation. It will also be given to serving frontline members of the police, fire, emergency services, prison services and armed forces that have completed five full calendar years of service, and to holders of the Victoria Cross and George Cross.. It's being made by Worcestershire Medal Service Ltd in Birmingham. Now to go and search for a better image, a good enough one for my website

Spotted in the May 2023 issue of Soldier Magazine, the 'house rag' of the British Army. State Coats are the 'gold' ones worn by fanfare trumpeters, the mounted band of the Household Cavalry, and Foot Guards Drum Majors on State occasions. They are actually red velvet heavily embroidered with gold lace, so at a distance they look gold.

Thank you for all that you do. The world would be deminished without GMIC. Sorry to hear that people are being critical. They may betake themselves elsewhere if they are not happy.

Now been having fun, by the simple trick of translating the name of the law into Italian I've lucked into a database of old Somalian laws. now busy translating So far LAW No. 5 of 20 January 1963 Establishment of decorations for military valour (which seems to be the Republic of Somalia updating awards instituted during the UN Trust Territory period...) DECREE OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC 18 June 1966, no. 271 Establishment of the Somali-Ethiopian Campaign Medal January-April 1964. Wading through the rest. made more difficult as they seem to have issued decrees every time someone receives an award! Nice if you want to do recipient research but I'm more interested in the medals themselves.

Magic, Owain. Now to go finish up that page on the website with a bit more confidence that I've got that bit right!!!! Was it 3 classes? So far I've found pictures of a breast state, a neck badge, and a chest badge bereft of its ribbon.

I'm puzzled. (what's new, you might ask, especially where Somalia is concerned). What on earth is this? So far, I have 3 identifications for the beastie - found as a neck badge or chest badge, also aa a star. Owain Raw-Rees (2003) identifies the chest badge version as being the Star of Military Merit from the Republic of Somalia era (1960-1969), thinking that it may be a sample. However there's a more widely identified and more likely candidate for the Star of Military Merit: eMedals, offering a neck badge version as part of the Dr Albert Goodwin Sale, identified it as the Order of the Somali Star, which it most definitely is not! Spinks think - according to the catalogue for Sale 23001 earlier this year - that it is the Order of Somali Solidarity from the United Nations Trust Territory/Italian Fiduciary Administration (1950-60) period! Given the neck badge and star, not to mention the enamel, makes it being an order a bit more likely. The star is of Italian manufacture (the same manufacturer as made stars for the Order of the Somali Star...). So, does it date back to the UN Trust Territory (which was administered by the Italians) or is it something the current, disorganised, Federal Republic of Somalia has come up with but which hasn't been documented enough for anyone to identify the few specimens we've seen so far?

Is that why I get the slightly disconcerting notice that our 'newest member' is Rick Research... a way to convince the system that his account should remain live even though he's sadly no longer with us?

Now trying to organise what I have discovered so far which will appear on my website shortly. Owain, do you want my notes or shall I post them as a PDF here?

To put a bit of background to this... Coronation Medals have generally been limited to those involved in the ceremony, Jubilee medlas have been more widely distributed - especially since the UK Golden Jubilee Medal was issued to all service personnel with 5 years of service on the anniversary of the accession, widened to include emergency serivice personnel for succeeding jubilees. Useless and footnote facts: The monarch (i.e., the person getting crowned) doesn't wear their own coronation medal, or any subsequent jubilee ones.. Princess Anne (The Princess Royal) didn't actually receive her mother's coronation medal at the time although the then Prince Charles did. Aged 3, she kicked up quite a fuss... and subsequently has added it retrospectively to her medal bar!