Ulsterman

I'd love to know what that is top right. maybe...exiled White Russian regimental badge (he thought hopefully)....? The bravery medal is cool and from what I understand, the equal of the EK1.

Ah- a most worthy endeavor. I happily own Peterson and while he did noble and great work, his stuff is so interesting it makes one ask more questions. Like, did all NCOs get an Order of the Sacred Treasure 8th after 10 years or was it for special merit on a particular occasion..or both? etc. etc..

Great pictures! So, i am curious now. Who typically were the full cavaliers? Also, is the third class faked these days?

I hauled out my book (buried under a pile of African regimental histories no less) and it states: This Order was instituted by Directive/Law on September 9th, 1945 in two classes. It was intended originally as a one-time award to both Bulgarians AND Foreign Nationals (e.g. Soviet citizens etc.) for participation "in the revolutionary struggles of the people of Bulgaria". The Order was conferred posthumously. Originally manufactured by the firms of Onik Chakarov, Onik Simonyan and Strahil Miloshev in Sofia, in 1952 it was made in the state mint. The first award was to Georgy Dimitrov, whose name was placed at the top of the list of the first 114 awards made on September 9, 1945 by the Regents. (Note, this list and subsequent awards apparently exist in the archives in Sofia). In 1991 the Order was revoked and the total number of BOTH classes of award was 68,265. The first class has white enamel and the second class has red enamel. There were three major issues of the order. The FIRST ISSUE (earliest era) Orders were pin back awards. Second and Third Issues were placed upon a ribbon. In the Third Issues, Hristo Botev is facing leftwards. In the first and second issues he is facing rightwards. Also, the third issue clearly was more cheaply made. The first issues are very well done with what looks like cold enamel. From documents, awards were made to senior communists, some military officers and soldiers who fought the Germans, partisans, Soviet soldiers and other fellow travelers who survived the purges. Later, they went to apparatcheks and old vets. of the struggle. If we posit that they were awarded sequentially, then there were @ 25,000 awards made from 1978-91 just by the docs. on this thread.

Nice! I suspect that one day the Merit medal will be one of the top medals collected. It's always very interesting to see photos of them being worn....or rather, who is wearing them.

You know, these are really quite good. Have you ever thought of doing a Schiffer book a la Charles Wolley? I think there's a lot of people out there who'd welcome period photos with knowledgeable and accurate commentary.

They exist-but look at the EK2, note the paint. Also, this is obviously a very recent mounting (note ribbons).

...um, is that a surplus 1940s swiss greatcoat with WW1 British buttons?

Actually I thought that too, especially after visiting our friend with his stuff in Lowell (which I ignored for years), but over the past year I have been quietly trying to gather some decent WW2 "revolt" related items and higher end awards and much to my surprise, bidding on these on eBay has become quite competitive. Despite a lack of reference material, these items are going for three or four times what I had supposed. Sometimes I have been stunned at the final prices.

...is that a muffin crown?

"German Atrocities: 1914- A History of Denial" by John Horne and Alan Kramer is worth reading. Many of the stories were true , albeit exaggerated. The Germans really did shoot 9 month old babies in Belgium. It was not accidentally, but being held in their mothers' arms during "Shrecklickkeit' policy firing squads. The tables within the book demonstrate at least 5,000 civilians were murdered. After the war there was a quiet cover up of surviving officers, although there were some trials (fascinating reading too I might add). IR 73 apparently were some of the worst offenders. interesting almost NO Guard units were involved.

yeah I noticed that. I hefted one of these around a few years back (it was found in a neighbors' barn and quickly disassembled) and it was quite heavy: the MG42 obviously , not the bra.

hmmmm... I think i have seen that photo before somewhere....

what does it say on the back there? Wasn't Orleans a Royalist? or is this a member of the "republican branch" who was never forgiven for voting for the execution of Louis?

...amen to that brother. I've been collecting since October, 1969 and every day seemingly something fresh is discovered. 'Tis a good site this.

are you sure that is a patch and not a number written on the negative? The position of the "5" doesn't follow the angle of the sleeve and it doesn't appear to be 3 dimensional.

I just got this in. The wartime ribbon bar and rank intrigued me. Alas, the silver and sunlight have degraded the photos quality somewhat. Nice I think though-

wow o wow!!! Where did you get those?

A small bar but with a lot of history behind it! congrats on obtaining it.

I got this while perusing a stall last month with my "rich" cousin. It's a nice little early piece-exceptionally well made and I think awarded to FDJ members who helped significantly with the goals of the 5 year plan, which I suppose means voluntary work harvesting turnips or something over the summer break. Anyone know how and why these were given out?

I thought I'd add these, which apparently are long service medals for the state railways system. i think there's a 25 year and 20 year medal as well. Obviously cheaply made-almost carnival brittle metal and painted. Still, I'd love to see them on a Munkasor medal bar somewhere...

see here-quite important musically : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karel_Komz%C3%A1k_II

Given the lack of any LS medals or other paraphernalia-no Austrian, Hungarian or Bulgarian commem.s etc., this guy was probably a civilian-or at least in a paramilitary uniform in 1941. My guess is the lower end Austrian bravery medal-you see these quite often in photos.

1300 Euros