pmargulies

Ed, I am not the publisher. The publisher is Militaria House in Toronto. They have a large series of books on Eastern Europe and all from the same time period - fall of communism. All of the books are the same set up. When I first got to Belgrade this was the only book I could find on the subject...I found a few more while I was there, but they were all in Serbian. I think my own personal feeling towards something like this is that I am better off having this book than not. The quality of the book done by Ranko Mandic on Albanien ODM was much better, but still not up to Western standards. And, both he and Nenad know that if they produce a book it needs to come up to those standards.

Paul, I would think that there aren't quite that many Coasties leading the charge with the BSM. Most are printed up in the Reservist...and I think that I can acurately count six awards of the BSM - the three cutter COs involved in the intial phase of OIF, one USCG officer that served as a linguist ( for about three months ), and the two guys from the LEDET/TACLET ( I thought that both were awarded the BSM, but could be wrong ). I serve for a time in G-CI, Int'l Affairs and CDR Smith had the BSM and Combat Action Ribbon that he earned as one of the aforementioned cutter COs. The entire crews of each cutter were awarded the CAR - as an aside and a bit off topic.

Did you pick up the one from ebay? It went for 200+ I believe. There were two others on at the same time...all went pretty high. I have seen them occassionaly and wonder where they are coming from.

For those looking for this book...go straight to Militaria House. They have a number of similar books on Eastern European nations. Nenad Bjelos, one of the co-authors, and Ranko Mandic are thinking about publishing a new book. Ranko did a small run book on Albanian ODM that was quite nice. Last I talked with Bjelos they were of the opinion that there wasn't enough interest to fund such a project. The book does have quite a bit of good informaton about number awarded, etc... but lacks a lot of information about the various types, makers, etc... I recommend it to anyone that is a collector of Yugo ODM.

Talk about coincidence...I just barely added my post when you already added two more medals. Got a Newton-Azrak by chance and the "purple heart"?

Darell - The USBP actually came up with a whole series of medals at the time of the 75th anniversary. I have read that the remaining medals...such as the Newton-Azrak Medal for Heroism never were really awarded in great numbers, but I haven't been able to confirm it. The vast majority of medals were styled after military medals a commendation style medal, a "purple heart" type medal, etc... And, military medals can be worn on the dress uniform. I have my USBP 75th anniversary medal in the cardboard mailer. It came with a ribbon, full size medal, miniature medal and a nice lapel pin. I am looking for the other cased awards if anyone knows where to purchase them?

Hey, at least they responded to you...I e-mailed them several times last year and didn't even get a response. Let me know how your transaction works out.

I could never quite figure out what the criteria was for these... I picked up one on my last day in Belgrade. They were fairly scarce on the Belgrade Militaria circuit. Mine is a bit loose as it is a multi-piece construction badge. Mine is also a three digit serial numbered piece, but unfortunately, like all of my things, it is still packed away.

Christian - I also think it is a plakette, but could be wrong. You know that Plakettes came in many different sizes and also had the accompanying stick pins. Can you scan the back?

I picked up my 70s version sub badges from Manions for a song. The 60s versions were pretty hard to find. I usually find that certain areas of the former Yugoslavia produce certain items. All of my security badges - all three classes - came out of Zagreb. A lot of my Navy academy badges came from Pula, Croatia. There are two newer sub badges that many experts disagree about. One simply subbed the SaM double eagle on a red field for the red star - I don't think that was an issue piece. And there is an entire series of new badges for the SaM Navy that no one seems to know about. I don't have a picture of those badges unfortunately.

I wasn't quite sure where to post this one... I am trying to find a few sources of militaria while I am in Bratislava. I have been here for a week and have two to go. Does anybody know of a local bazar/flea market/numismatic club for Slovak militaria? Thanks!

Andy - Very nice! How about a close up of the Order of the Partisan Star 3rd class with case? Is that a fitted case? Is it the case for the 3rd class - I have never seen a 3rd class with a case before. Thanks.

That is the shop!!! I've been there every time that I have gone to Vienna - three times - and always walk away with great stuff. And the military museum is the best I have ever seen. I felt like I came full circle when I saw the vehicle, chair and uniform associated with the archduke's death and also visited the famous bridge in Sarajevo and Gavrila Principa street in Belgrade.

Hey, I got my early sub badges for about 50 US while in Belgrade, but could never find the 70 era sub badges - finally got them off of Manions. And Christian, once I find my militaria stash I will have to give you a shop in Vienna -you probably already know it - a woman owns the shop and she only takes cash - I think not too far off Operring - I could walk it from the Consulate in about 15-20 minutes. She had a very nice Order of the Flag at one time, but it was too steep for me. I bought a nice Ante Pavelic ribbon bar (vrbsa) from her for about 50-60 euro.

Chritstian - Have they recently opened the WW2 section of the museum...it was closed the entire time I was there. The national museum, reputed to also have a nce war display only recently opened up, but just for select showings. The museum at the airport was always a fun place to visit.

Christian - It will take some time for me to get to all of my things...just moved into a new place and I am going TDY o/s shortly.

Christian - feel free to call me Paul and I hope the same applies to me! I have been a frequent visitor to this section, but seldom contributer. I have travelled extensively since joining the State Dept and have had two o/s postings - Kabul and Belgrade. Belgrade was an amazing tour. The people are incredibly friendly there! I loved the food too. However, unlike my wife, I am not a big fan of Rakija. I was a regular visitor at SND (Srpsko Numismatichko Drstvo - something like that) on Tuesdays. It was a time foe me to meet with my good friends and make many purchases. I spent a lot of money on awards and related ephemera, but much less than I would have anywhere else in the world. I passed on some amazing orders - both communist and Kingdom - during my time there. And, I also picked up some amazing items : uniform with ribbons (vrbsa) for General Pavkovic, ribbon bar from General Perisic, flag from Tito's office. The collector's in Belgrade are very serious about their trade. I became good friends with Bjelos, Nenad. Nenad speaks very little English and I very little Serbian yet we made it work. SND also holds a big collectors show a couple of times a year that is well worth while. They have a website - all in Serbian - but, I don't have it bookmarked anymore.

Gentlemen - I was posted at the US Embassy in Belgrade for two years and returned in December 2006. Marko and Ranko Mandic operate Singidunum and are excellent. And Goran - Stefko on ebay - is also quite amazing. He would bring my purchases right to me and always had a gift to boot. We often met at the numismatic club. You won't go wrong if you deal with either one. Their prices are quite fair.

Darrell called it right on The Guardian Medal...It was awarded to several high ranking personnel, though I don't know who at present. I am in the USCGR...in that time I have seen two-three Coasties (in passing) with the Silver Lifesaving Medal - never a Gold. I attended ROCI (OCS for reservists) in 1998 and one of our instructors had the Silver Lifesaving Medal - LT L.A. Rocks. He was awarded the medal for saving several people from a train that derailed into a bay, large creek, river or something to that effect. He was a passenger on the train. You can go to www.uscg.mil and if you play around enough you can go to a link that gives all of the names of the winners of the lifesaving medals. The Airliner that crashed would qualify for a person for a lifesaving medal. ONe reason that not too many Coasties have the lifesaving medal is that they tend to be awarded The Coast Guard Medal vice a lifesaving medal - there is somehting in the regulations to that effect, but again, I am not totally sure about it.

Ed - Kingdom stuff is very interesting... I wonder, somewhat aloud, about some of the orders. I saw exemplars of all of the medals you show while I was in Afghanistan - none were generally more than 20.00 US. I was always told these were locally produced medals - hence their low price. And then there were those produced by European manufacturers. The quality on the later is much better. Have you also run across this in collecting Afghan orders and medals, specifically for the Kingdom period?

So, getting back to wearing two ribbons ala the MOH. On page one of this thread there is a pic of an AF General in dress whites with two BSM ribbons...one for Valor with, I believe second and third awards...and then one awarded for Meritorious Achievement right next to it. I was always under the impression that there should only be one BSM ribbon worn. Anybody know any different?

I remember seeing this bar on ebay...it eventually sold and another ebayer has it. I have spoken with her at length and she said that it was a tailors piece to show workmanship/availability etc... not an actual piece

Hi, new to GMIC...can you post info about the 57er RK bars that you have and are parting with?