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    ilieff

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    Everything posted by ilieff

    1. Side notice: Prince D. Romanov, head of the House of Romanov and author of several books on orders and medals, have passed away on 31st Dec 2016, aged 90. He was probably one of the few people who, back in the 80s, had access to the full collection of orders and medals of Bulgarian Kings, part of the archive of King Simeon II.
    2. Beautiful! I love the double-sided mini 'for bravery'. Actually all double-sided ones are superb, no matter the mis-spelling of the Orders of Military merit. I haven't got any info on the silver marks used. One russian website suggests that this particular mark, stamped on the Iron cross of yours stands for silver .850. This is the middle grade, A1 being the top one with .950 purity and A5 the lowest one - .500. I am not too sure if these markings suggest that it's an imported silver though.
    3. I've never seen anything like this. Are you sure this is the Soldiers' cross? Even though that there are numorous variations of miniatures, this one looks weird to me, plus, the two decorations are supposed to be bestowed upon different sort of army staff - as you know, the soldiers' cross is awarded to enlisted men, while the order of military merit - to officers. If this is indeed the soldiers' cross, then the only possibility is that this gentleman has progressed from a private/corporal to lieutenant (or higher) in a matter of 2 years, which is impossible. PS: All groups are marvelous, Graf. Congrats.
    4. The Order of St. Catherine has been presented to Queen Eleonore, Princess Marie-Louise and Princess-mother Clementine.
    5. Yet another one. In the product description it's mentioned that there have been minor repairs to the enamel.
    6. Apart from orders, fakers are also doing medals (from the rare or mid-rare range). Look at these two examples which were being offerred in a Bulgarian online auction.
    7. The updated list Bulgaria: - Order of SS Cyril and Methodius - Military Order "For Bravery" - Royal Order of St. Alexander - Order of Civil Merit - Order of Military Merit German Empire - Order of the Black eagle - Grand Cross - Order of the Red Eagle - Grand Cross - Imperial Military order of the Iron cross - Pour le Merite with oak leaves (Military division) - Order of Saint John (Ignore Order) - Saxe-Ernestine House order - Collar and Grand Cross with diamonds - Order of the Wendish Crown - Military Merit cross (Mecklenburg) - Hessen Order of Philip the Magnanimous - Saxon Military Order of St. Henry - Oldenburg Friedrich August cross - II class - Bavarian Order of St Hubert - Grand Cross Austro-Hungarian Empire - Order of the Golden Fleece - Order of St. Stephan - Collar and Grand cross with diamonds - Military order of Maria Theresia - Grand cross - Military Merit cross with war distinction - I class - Order of Vitez British Empire - The Most Honourable Order of the Bath - Collar and Grand Cross - Royal Victorian Order Russian Empire - Order of St. Andrew - Collar and Grand Cros - Order of St. Alexander Nevsky - Grand Cross with diamonds - Order of the White Eagle - Grand Cross - Order of St. Vladimir - Grand Cross - Order of St. Anna - Order of St. Stanislav France: - Order of Holy Spirit - Order of the Legion of Honour - Grand Cross - Monaco Order of St. Charles - Grand Cross - Order of The Academic palms - Gold class Ottoman Empire - High Order of Honour - Gallipoli star (Iron Crescent) Kingdom of Italy - Order of the Holy Annunciation - Order of St Maurice and Lazarus - Constantine Military order of St George - Grand cross - Order of St Januarius - Grand cross Kingdom of Belgium - Order of Leopold - Grand Cross Kingdom of Romania - Order of Carol I - Collar and Grand Cross Kingdom of Portugal - Military Order of the Tower and the Sword - Collar and Grand Cross - Order of the Christ and St Benedict of Aviz - Grand Cross Kingdom of Sweden - Order of the Seraphim Kingdom of Denmark - Order of the White Elephant Empire of Brazil - Order of the Rose - Order of the Southern Cross Principality of Montenegro - Order of Prince Danilo I - Grand Cross Kingdom of Yugoslavia - Order of the Cross of Takovo - Order of the Star of Karađorđe Malta - Military order of St John of Jerusalem (Maltese order) The Vatican - Order of Pope Pius IX Persian Empire - Order of the Aqdas - Order of the Lion and the Sun - Grand Cross Medals and other decorations: - Cross for XX years of faithful service - Marian Cross of the German Knight Order - Lippe-Schaumburg Loyal Service Cross
    8. I agree. They are using as a reference a photo of the King which I posted earlier - wearing a Hungarian hussar outfit with His highest Austro-Hungarian awards. Wikipedia is wrong about other decorations in that list too. I agree. However, authors do not mention if the decoration was given per capita to all members of the regiment, or, as I assume, to those who have distinguished themselves with a long and faithful service. This would make more sense in regard to the possible ribbon change, because certainly, there would not be that much variance in ribbons if the decoration process was conducted only in 1899.
    9. Hi all, Schalafoff's book about Tzar Ferdinand was published in 2010. It's a high quality bilingual issue, half of which is a side-by-side text in Bulgarian and English, while the other half is full of photographs and various artefacts of the King's life. Unfortunately, there are no other bars shown, but there are numerous other decorations shown (probably few of them which have not been auctioned and are still part of King Simeon's collection). ISBN is 9789549112184 and an image of the front page provided below. If you need any more info, let me know. As for the faked medals - I have not seen any, though it's highly possible as I can see that fakers have turned their attention to medals and badges too. Below are a couple of images taken from a Russian website. It's a bronze medal in a very poor condition and, what it appears to be, a new ribbon. This might well be a cast-made example due to the lack of details. Lastly, the ribbon. For me, it makes more sense for the ribbon to be light blue with yellow stripes (though, different sources state different number of stripes). This is to do with the Princess' dynastical background whose colours are blue and gold. My theory is that the ribbon may have been changed to black with blue edging after Her death in 1907. Everyone, sorry for the off-topic going on.
    10. The decoration has been presented to members of the 9th infantry regiment but it's highly possible that a small number has also been presented to the Princess's personal suite and/or Her relatives abroad. Authors on Bulgarian decorations suggest that gold medals (I assume silver gilt) were presented to staff/senior officers of the regiment. Prince Ferdinand has also been enlisted as an officer of this regiment, thus being decorated too. Silver medals were given to the rest of the officers while bronze ones - to NCOs and probably enlisted men. No known data of actual quantity of medals being awarded. I do believe that the decoration process was not a single act, so numbers might vary. Just to get a general idea, at the start of the Balkan war in 1912, the total number of men enlisted was just over 4 800. Logically, the total number of medals should be less or roughly similar to this. It's a very rare decoration nowadays. As far as I know, even the small museum dedicated to the regiment in Plovdiv do not have it on display.
    11. Thanks Graf! Cheers Paul. I can see other Sotheby's catalogues of this period being offered for a few quid, but not this one. It must have been printed in very limited quantities.
    12. Yes, it was the same with me but I explicitly asked if I will be able to take photographs. The lady at the entrance said that I can take photos, as long as these are 'not of a professional nature', i.e. using professional equipment for hi-quality output. A side note here: A few years ago, someone has actually managed to open one of the display windows and steal an original Nazi regimental banner from the museum while visiting it. Following the mass disapproval of the nation, the banner was later 'returned' by leaving it in front of the office of a national newspaper agency. The person who managed to steal this rarity was never identified. Even after the banner was recovered by the museum, certain people believe that the 'returned' banner was actually a well-made replica, while the original has been kept by the robbers. So, this might be one of the reasons why now there are tens of museum employees stalking you at each corner
    13. I am unable to find any second-hand copy being offered on the internet.
    14. Hi @Graf, Do you have an actual copy of the catalogue? Are there images of all the items or just part of them? As far as I know, it's from 1997, so I assue I cannot purchase it or view it?
    15. Unfortunately, I don't. I only visited the museum once - last winter. I did managed to make some photographs of the awards but as I mentioned earlier, the decorations on display are not clearly and fully described, so one can only guess of the material they are made of. Here's an image of part of the medal of merit stall. The only medals with domed-shaped crown shown are these two bronze ones. However, the Boris III medal on the right-hand side looks like silver gilt medal. No labels to confirm this, though. Opinions? PS: Pavlov's book is a bit out-of-date nowadays, I believe. He mentions that he's only aware of a bronze class medal of this issue, but there are certainly others.
    16. As far as I know, these badges have similar design throughout the existence of Royal Bulgaria. These were cheaply made and thus many have design variances as far as certain details are concerned. I found a random photograph on the internet. It shows one of the Battenberg period variations, along with the other awarding option - watch with inscribed "For excellent shooting" on it. Both were worn as an excellent shooting decoration, as it's mentioned in the above scans. Using money, jewellery and other valuable items was a legitimate way of decoration in these initial years of the Principality. Many individuals were given these instead of merit medals or bravery crosses when dealing with the various armed criminal gangs in Eastern Rumelia and in the north east part of the country during 1880-1887.
    17. Graf, I agree with you - there's no single opinion on the actual material of the gold medals. I do believe that there were both silver gilt and bronze gilt gold class medals. As for medals made of solid gold - I think these were 'one-off's. This is indirectly proven by the different way of attaching the medal to the crown. See in the above image that the golden medal has some sort of a small metal clamp. Anyway, just like many other topics regarding Bulgarian decorations, this one too needs thorough research. PS: I have not seen any gold class medals of merit displayed at the Military History museum in Sofia. Did you mean another museum?
    18. Hi Graf, Very nice medal. If it's a genuine gold class medal*, then it's a very rare thing. Bulgarian golden medals of merit were only given to people who have already been decorated with the grand cross sets of the Bulgarian orders. Authors mention the number 69 as the total number of actual golden medals being awarded. * There are some faked golden medals ( being originally silver or bronze ones), which have been gilded by unfaithful dealers.
    19. I was wondering the same thing. Unfortunately, this is not the only decoration with incorrect ribbon at this museum. There are many such examples, including whole bars.
    20. Here are the early types of the badge, displayed at the Military History museum in Sofia.
    21. I don't think the museum has any important decorations which belonged to King Ferdinand. If I remember correctly, they have got a sword and one uniform of His, the latter being shown on the below photo (from my archive). It has got the embroider Maltese cross, I think. The museum do have some of Prince Alexander I and King Boris decorations, some unique indeed. I believe King Simeon II still keeps several decorations of His grandfather, though. Surely, there's at least a diamond set of the Order of SS Cyril and Methodius. Possibly some other orders too. Currently, a royal museum is being set up at the Palace of Vrana, near Sofia. I do hope some high decorations will be displayed there. PS: I've determined yet another badge - the Order of the Academic Palms.
    22. And a bit of colour - portrait of the King The White eagle can be seen there along with (what it appears to be) its bright blue ribbon. Opinions?
    23. Great! Very nice! I'm adding two more photographs. On the first one is visible the diamond set and collar of St. Stephan. PS: I am still baffled by this Order of White eagle suspended from a Red ribbon. As far as I know, regardless of Russian or Polish, the ribbon is always blue (light or deep)
    24. @paja Looks like the Prince has received the Badge of the Orthodox Palestine society well before that. Below is a photograph of Prince Ferdinand taken in Moscow in 1883 during the coronation of Emperor Alexander III. Does anyone recognise the two arrowed decorations? The star looks something between Hohenzollern order and Star of Karađorđe.
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