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    Lukasz Gaszewski

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    Everything posted by Lukasz Gaszewski

    1. Thank you very much, Christian. That was exactly what I needed. Best, Lukasz
    2. Respected fellow-members, I hope it is the right section to ask. Would somebody who has access to the recipients' list be kind enough to check when exactly the Prussian Kronprinz Friedrich Wilhelm (later on King and Emperor Friedrich III) received his MTO? I believe it was ca. 1871, but I get to prove this. Thanks.
    3. A contemporary replica, modelled on the 1919 type. Most originals had the award number on reverse. The ribbon is new as well. Original ribbons were in a deeper shade of blue and narrower (ca. 35 mm). Bet this one is ca. 40 mm. wide.
    4. To refresh the topic a bit... Does anybody know when exactly the Kronprinz received all his Pour le merite orders? I am especially interested in the Grand Cross. In different sources I found either 1866 or 1873. As far as I could recall it was already after the Franco-Prussian War. Not to mention that nobody gave the daily date. Thanks for the response.
    5. The medals are as follows: Order of St. George 4th Class Gold Medal for the Liberation of Peasants Medal for the Crimean War Medal for the Subjugation of Western Caucasus Wuerttemberg Order of Military Merit 3rd Class Hohenzollern Medal for 1848-49 Prussian Cross for 25 Years of Service for Officers Austro-Hungarian War Medal Austro-Hungarian Decoration for 25 Years of Service for Officers BTW: the sash on Alexander's BW photo is not of the Order of St. Andrew (it should be worn over the right shoulder) but of another order, probably the Prussian Order of the Black Eagle. The number of decorations from German-speaking countries worn by the emperor is indeed remarkable.
    6. Hi, I am looking for information about FML Marzell Lawrowski von Plöcken (1856-1927). I am particularly interested if there is any record that he received the Prussian Kronenorden 2nd Class or the Russian Order of St. Anne 3rd Class prior to WWI. I will owe for any information. Lukasz
    7. Agree! Even the width is correct. There probably was a second (third, fourth etc.) row to it, which was lost somewhere on the way. I wonder who it belonged to.
    8. Christian, having a second look at the portrait I am getting more and more convinced the stars were added later. the background colour thereunder is visibly brigher than elsewhere, as if the painter had to put some backround paint before adding them. Thank you again for your assistance. It was most helpful. Regards, Lukasz
    9. In the 18th century wearing a few sashes at the same time was a common practice, which did not always give a good visual output, especially when some sashes were worn through the left and the other through the right shoulder. So it soon came into practice that in case of lesser or foreign orders their insignia moved up and were worn (sometimes in reduced size) as neck decorations, without the accompanying stars. With the Russian orders of St. George, St. Vladimir and (partly) St. Anne a different practice was adopted. I am not sure if it was the first instance of such a manner of wearing in the world, however in 1797 Emperor Paul I issued a decree about Russian orders, which with some alterations survived until 1917. It was stated that the sashes of the above orders should be worn under the uniform tunic (except special occasions like order holidays), so that only the sash bow and order badge would be seen. That was pretty easy to do with the short Prussian-style tunics and tailcoat-style tunics, but when they were replaced by longer frock-coat uniforms, the thing became quite difficult to accomplish. So they started using a waist slot through which the sash was drawn outside. I think most of the uniforms on the photos above has a slot like that, although some may utilize a more convenient way of a sash stripe attached directly to the tunic. There are evidently earlier examples of that manner of wearing than from 1860s. Below there are Dawe's portraits of Kutuzov, Barcalay de Tolly and the Duke of Wellington from the Gallery of 1812 Year at the Winter Palace, with the order of St. George protruding from under their tunics. As it can be seen above, the way of showing only the end of a sash soon became popular in other countries as well, and not only with the Russian orders.
    10. Christian, the information was most helpful, thank you very much! I knew that collar stars were in use since 1849, but I did not know the exact date of institution. I had no idea that Radetzky had them introduced a year earlier. The reason why I was asking was as follows: in the miniatures room of the Castle Museum in Pszczyna (http://www.zamek-pszczyna.pl/english/The_Miniatures_Room) is a portrait of then Rittmeister (later Generalmajor) Alexander Graf zu Pappenheim, a Bavarian aristocrat in Austrian military service. He is known of being a friend of an eminent Polish painter, Artur Grottger. The portrait was made by painter Franciszek Tepa when Pappenheim was serving at a garrison in Lemberg. What surprised me most was that the painting was dated to 1847 and according to my previous knowledge, collar stars were not yet used then. Now, with the information you have kindly provided, there are three possibilities, I think: 1) the miniature was made exactly between August 1848 (introduction of collar stars) and December 1848 (abdication of Emperor Ferdinand). Note that the the cypher "FI" (Ferdinand I) on Pappenheim's shako Kokarde clearly points to the fact that the portrait was painted during Ferdinand's reign; 2) the portrait was made indeed in 1847 and the stars were added later; 3) (least likely) collar stars in the Lemberg garrison were used as early as in 1847. I also had certain doubts of whether Pappenheim was wearing a uniform of an Austrian cavalry officer of 1847. Regards, Lukasz
    11. A strange question perhaps, but does anybody know when exactly the system of collar stars denoting military rank was introduced in the Austrian army? Thanks in advance, Lukasz
    12. Coming back to the first bar, which was kind of left alone, it can be said it was certainly the Bundesstaat issue, from between 1934 and 1938. There is the ribbon of the renewed Militärdienstzeichen of 1934 (not to mention the Kriegserinnerungsmedaille of 1932 and Hungarian Haborús Emlékérem of 1929). The mounting is without doubt the pre-Anschluss type.
    13. I did not mean to say the ribbon bar would belong to Pokorny. It was just an example of GMVM being worn before LO-R. Interesting is the lack of the Order of the Iron Crown 3rd Class on the ribbon bar, which may suggest that the recipient was awarded with a higher class.
    14. I absolutely agree. And you do not need to look far... Hermann Pokorny (already as a Hungarian general) with GMVM before the Order of Leopold.
    15. Absolutely stunning! I wonder if the Hero of Labour came up that way, too...
    16. Absolutely agree! All these items are quite easy to get collected. I think the ribbon mounting of the left part (the Austro-Hungarian items - post-Anschluss remount) can be original, albeit enhanced/spoiled by adding the three final items. Just look at the diffent ribbon mounting. Yes, it should. And the Austrian Kriegserinnerungsmedaille should go right after the Hindenburg Cross.
    17. It is the Tarbiyat Badani (تربیت بدنی) or physical education decoration, awarded for achievements in sports and PE. A fairly popular badge of the Pahlavi era.
    18. To me #4 looks like the Swedish Order of the Sword rather than the Estonian Order of the Eagle Cross, which has a distinctive shade of orange rather than yellow like here. #5 looks like the Luxembourg Order of the Oak Crown. #12 - no idea but that colour combination occurs in some Swedish medals.
    19. Mielke was probably the heaviest decorated figure of the former DDR, hence his awards are a grateful object of making replicas for sale. I have seen the replicas of his ribbon bar a few times, but always repeating similar errors. It seems that the manufacturer either did not recognize all ribbons or could not find the originals. Still, real gems can be found, too. Two years ago on the Net I came across a uniform (made in China) that allegedly belonged to Gen. Heinz Hoffmann. It was made in such a perfect way that looking at the ribbon bars you could hardly say they were not original.
    20. So are the remaining two medals as well. An interesting award booklet. The name of the recipient and remaining data is typed in the Russian alphabet and the name of the official suggests he was not Polish either - a good example of the conferment of a medal handed over to the Soviet part. The year of award is 1950, so relatively late. I saw a similar example of such handing over in the opposite direction - a booklet (or better said a temporary certificate) of the Soviet Medal for Victory over Germany to a Polish soldier signed undoubtedly by a Polish official.
    21. You are right, they are Polish indeed. On the left there is the badge of the 8th Battalion of Carpathian Rifles (8. Batalion Strzelców Karpackich) - a unit within the 3rd Carpathian Rifles Brigade, part of the Polish II Corps, operating in Italy. On the right there is the miniature version. A similar badge existed also for the 7th Battalion, with "8" substituted by "7". Would you please post a clearer photo of the nuts? The items look original, it is interesting who the manufacturer was.
    22. Afghan Order of Glory, established in 1982 and abolished ten years later. Regards
    23. Simius Rex is right. A contemporary copy of moderate quality.
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