Egyptian Zogist

Hey everyone! I found the orders of dress for the Royal Egyptian Navy from 1925, from the Standing Orders for the royal yacht El Mahroussa. I found these scans on the Facebook page of the Rare Books and Special Collections section of the Alexandria Library. I'm going to translate them as best as I can, but for now, here are the orders of dress listed for naval officers:

1. Full ("Grand") Dress Uniform - Winter

2. Full Dress Uniform - Summer

3. Lesser Winter Dress Uniform - with epaulets

4. Lesser Winter Dress uniform without epaulets

5. "Daily" uniform - Winter

6. Lesser Dress uniform - Summer

7. "Daily" uniform - Summer

There are also general rules, such as that the King's ADC wears an aiguillette on the right shoulder, while staff officers wear it on the left. 

I wish there were drawings included, but it does make some of the uniforms I've seen in photos and videos make more sense.

Amazing!!!

Most of these branch insignia are still in use, without the crown of course. My grandfather was a Lt. Col. in the Maintenance corps. I have his collar insignia, the same as the one you uploaded, but with little discs with a crescent and three stars soldered over the crown (added after the revolution of 1952). From the back you can still see the outline of the crown. I'll try to post a picture.

If only we could locate some uniform manuals or orders of dress! Amazing find, Chris!

On 3/25/2016 at 11:49, ilja559 said:

Republic of Egypt. Medal for the Building of the Aswan Dam with document.

My grandfather received a medal for his work for the Ministry of Social Solidarity from the governor of Domiat (Damietta) made with a similar mold, I guess you'd say. It was on a keychain though, not a ribbon.

Spain.

This eagle, called the "Eagle of St. John" is the emblem of the Spanish army. (Not sure if it is used by other branches of the armed forces or not)

Digital rendition from Wikipedia:

17 hours ago, oamotme said:

• Some awards are missing - e.g. the Order of the Filaha of Sultan Hussain Kamel, Sadat's neck badge of the Star of Sinai, the post-1952 version of the 1948 Palestine War Medal, etc.

Owain, 

I found an extract of the original decrees for founding various orders, decorations, and medals, as well as the hierarchy of noble titles from 1915 to 1919 (reigns of Hussein Kamel and Fouad I's first few years as a sultan), in Arabic and French, with descriptions of the designs of these awards. "Grades et Decorations Institues Par Sa Hautesse Le Sultan" - digitally archived at the Alexandria Library

It has a lot of interesting information, including something that I had heard from different sources but never actually seen in writing, namely, that blue and red were the livery colors of the House of Mohamed Aly (the ruling dynasty). 

This is a pin from El Ahly sporting club (still i existence today). The Arabic text says "El Ahly l'El Riyada el Badaniya" meaning El Ahly (National) [Club] for Physical Sports. Red is the club color, and the crescent and three stars were the heraldic symbol of Egypt from the 19th century to 1958. I've never seen this design, so I don't know if it's an unofficial pin or maybe an early design. 

Here is the logo of the club from the monarchy that I've seen before (in color), and the evolution of the logo in the present one: 

Wow! Awesome! I've never seen any book solely about phaleristics in Arabic. I'll try to get any of my relatives in Egypt to try and find me a copy.  

Another amazing photo, Chris!

I was wondering, do you have any photos or information about the uniforms of the Royal Guard infantry? I've seen several different styles of uniforms worn by officers and two of them described as "court dress" for Army officers in general (not just the Royal Guard). 

1. The uniform in my post (with the braided shoulder cords with rank insignia and cords across the chest), which I've seen in white and black.

2. This uniform, also in white and black (Khedive Abbas Hilmi II) (worn during the 1930s to 1950s tho, even hough its a 19th century design).

3. Another uniform, which I don't have a picture of, because it was someone's family photo, but it was like this uniform that Prince William is wearing Duke and Duchess of Cambridge with ribbons hanging off like that across the front. 

He was a department director and later deputy minister in the Ministry of Social Affairs (officially of "Ministry of Social Solidarity").  

I think this is an award from the provincial administration of el Fayoum. My grandfather had similar awards of similar quality from the governorate of Dumiat (Damietta) and from the Ministry of Social Affairs. It's governmental of course (as in, not a privately issued award) but I don't think it would have as much value as a military medal or an order. It's a nice piece, but I don't think it's very valuable. 

It's from Egypt. The front says "Governorate of Fayoum" (province in Egypt) on the eagle, with the symbol of the province (water wheel). I can't see what the inscription on top says, could you take a closer picture? The reverse says "With kindest wishes (regards), Governorate of Fayoum". The case has the name of the manufacturer (a jeweler or silversmith): Habib Mikha'il Habib, 7 Maksar el Khashab Street, in El Mouski (area of old Cairo), Telephone Number: 9023939". Based on the two stars, I think this is the period of the United Arab Republic, (1958 - 1971). It's not from the present also, because landline phone numbers in Cairo are much longer now

If I could read the inscription above the eagle I could tell for sure what it says.

I don't speak Persian, but based off just reading the inscription, the last word looks like "شاهنشاهي" (Shahenshahi "Imperial")

Hello everyone!

I was browsing through the forum, and came upon a thread about some of the medals from Prince William zu Wied's six month reign over Albania, and someone mentioned that the Prince spent a lot of time designing medals and uniforms himself. I remembered reading somewhere that Emperor Augustine de Iturbide of Mexico had also taken part in designing some of the uniforms and regalia of his court. King Henri of Haiti had a full fledged Versailles-eque court complete with heralds and a College of Arms. More recently, and more colorfully, "Emperor" Bokassa of Central Africa had a grand coronation, with Napoleonic uniforms, carriages and miltaria.

So I was wondering, in self-proclaimed or otherwise "new" countries, who designs everything? The medals, orders, uniforms, flags, etc? The chamberlains and protocol department? European "experts"? Sort of like free-lance web page designers lol? 

Just a random thought.

Just saw some color footage of the Royal Guard from the early 1950s on a Facebook page, that I had never seen before:

Royal Guard Cavalry officer, Royal Guard Infantry officer, and some Royal Guard infantryman with their colour.

This isn't exactly militaria, but it's from the same era. A very beautiful rendition of the royal "Coat of Arms" of Afghanistan on an old carriage in the ruins of the Darulaman Palace. Found on this flickr page: https://www.flickr.com/photos/morelcreamsauce/

I've never seen the royal emblem in color, or with a royal mantle...extremely rare

Hello everyone!

I found this amazing gem online Military Uniform Regulation Book in the World Digital Library collection online. Details are a little hard to see, and all the captions are in Persian ( I think? I honestly don't know). Here's a little sample of some of the images found inside:

Hope this is significant to anyone interested in this country. 

The only colored photo from the era that I've seen showing different uniforms

Yeah, I would definitely like to see those, if it's not too much trouble for you. What did the book have in regards to uniforms? Does it mention the different orders of dress (for the Army not just the Royal Guard)??

In regards to Carman's book, I had a pdf copy of it, but I lost it. It just goes over the different stages of the development of the Egyptian army, from ancient times to 1945. It had some uniform drawings (in black and white) of a few uniforms from each era and a drawing of some of the branch insignia for the army at the time (mostly the same as today's insignia, except crowned). It's a nice book if you need it to complete a collection on the topic, but I personally wouldn't purchase it.

Also, in that photo of the Royal Guards major, what is the cap badge? I can't really tell what it is. The only cap badges I've seen from Egypt during the monarchy are:

Crowned Crescent and Three Stars (for Army officers 2nd Lt. to Col.)

Crowned Crossed Sword and Baton in Wreath (Generals and Field Marshal)

Crowned Crossed Anchors in a Wreath (Navy)

Flying Eagle in a Crowned Wreath (Air Force)

Crown (I've seen this used by both Army and Royal Guard officers so I'm not sure what it is)

"Perched" Eagle (on a branch) within a wreath with a scroll reading "بوليس" (Police)

I've seen one picture of an NCO (Armored) wearing his branch insignia (Tank and crossed lances) on his beret (That's the only time I've seen that)

Besides that, I don't think I've seen any other Egyptian cap badges from that era.

Incidentally, I've only seen a badge on a fez once, for the royal footmen/coachmen (Crescent and three stars in a crowned wreath, applique not metal). Besides that, every one else wore a plain red fez.

Hope this isn't too off-topic for this forum, an old advertisement for Farouk-brand fezzes (cults of personality have a long history in Egypt lol) featuring a Royal Guard Cavalryman in (accurate) uniform. From King Farouk of Egypt fan page on Facebook.

53 minutes ago, Chris Weeks said:

This is the book, "The Noble Egyptian Army" - at least I think that's the title. I can't figure out what the last word in Arabic is - it actually looks like "military" (al-harbi) but that doesn't make sense.

In any case, the author is Lt. Col. Abd al-Rahman Zaki, director of the War Museum, published by Nile Printers, Cairo, April 1945. It was a very lucky find, like so many others - if I hadn't looked at the right part of the right used book stall in the book bazaar at the right time....

Looking through some of my files I couldn't find any photos of the Royal Guard, but I may have missed them. In any case they are pretty rare. I recall one or two photos of Royal Guards on horseback parading in the 1920s-1930s, listed on Ebay earlier this year, but I didn't acquire them.

 

The title is "Al Gaish al Masry Al Hadeeth" "الجيش المصري الحديت" The Modern Egyptian Army. The top right corner says "Gaish Al Farouk" -Army of al Farouk (referring to King Farouk, but using the meaning of his name literally The Distinguisher (between Right and Wrong).

I've read Lt. Col. Abdelrahman Zaki's names many times while trying to find any information about the Egyptian army during this time. He even wrote the forward, if I remember correctly, for W. Y. Carman's Military History of Egypt (1945).

He apparently wrote a book just about the flags, banners, and standards of the Egyptian military since the 19th century but it's pretty much a holy grail for me, and I've given up hope of ever finding it lol. Heraldry and vexillology are my other interests besides militaria.

Were there any uniform and insignia tables or drawings in that book besides the Royal Guard collar patch?

Wow, what an incredible find!

What book is that from? Does it have any other drawings?? I'm guessing an Egyptian one since the Arabic is reproduced correctly? I've seen Kingdom era service badges in a book by a British author, and any Arabic inscriptions were replaced with similar looking squiggles. Better than nothing I guess  

Do you know what country or era this piece is from? It might help us pinpoint what the order could be. Some of my guesses were that the order in the middle could be from Qajar-era Persia, but I can't find any Persian orders with a similar design, just that the suspension could be a rough representation of the Qajar crown? I've seen pictures of badges of the Tunisian Order of Iftikhar that also have a wreath, but none of those have a crown suspension.

I'm pretty sure these are personal arms, and not the arms of a state. Do you think they might belong to some Near Eastern prince granted arms by some European monarch??

Hello everyone!

I was in Egypt recently and got a chance to visit the Historical Manuscripts Museum with the Abdeen Palace Museums complex. Among the many order award documents (I'm sorry I don't know what they're called, brevets?) from foreign heads of states to Egyptian rulers, I found one from the "King" of Aracuania & Patagonia to Khedive Tawfik! (Please forgive the quality of the pic, I was using a phone I had purchased just for the duration of the trip)

From Wikipedia:

The Kingdom of Araucanía and Patagonia (Spanish: Reino de la Araucanía y de la Patagonia; French: Royaume d'Araucanie et de Patagonie, sometimes referred to as New France) was the name of a proposed state and kingdom conceived in the 19th century by a French lawyer and adventurer named Orélie-Antoine de Tounens. Orélie-Antoine de Tounens claimed the regions ofAraucanía and eastern Patagonia. It was an unrecognized state^[2] that enjoyed only marginal sovereignty in a brief period of time, through alliances with some Mapuche lonkos, in a reduced area of Araucanía, in current Chile.

This award for the Order of the Steel Crown, appears to be signed by King Achilles. http://www.araucanie.com/araucania/A._fichiers/Aeng.htm I think it's strange that he was able to correspond with legitimate heads of states and even send them orders...

A very unique item, to say the least!

Yes, I know. I meant the arms in the original post. I meant to compare them to the arms of the Kingdom of Iraq. Do you think the arms in the original post are a prototype design?

Hello everyone!

I was wondering, does anyone have any information about the uniforms and insignia of the Kingdom of Egypt (1922 - 1953)? I have a huge collection of photographs of officers and soldiers, some drawings, and photos of badges but I'm having trouble figuring out what uniform is what, colors, orders of dress, etc. Especially for the Royal Guards. 

Does anyone have any information about this topic?