albania

thats a nice badge Bob and rare

infantry?

master corporal?

Dear Collectors and friends,

I would kindly ask you not to refer to FYROM (Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia) as "Macedonia" or "Makedonia",

because Macedonia and Macedonians are terms referring to a Greek territory and its inhabitants.

Using them for an ex-Yugoslav territory, which was part of southern Serbia (as seen by documents and historical papers before the end of World War II),

could possibly mean political propaganda in favor of this newly-formed "nation" and against Greece and the historical truth.

I would suggest that everybody uses the official United Nations' and NATO term "FYROM", because as far as I know no political propaganda is allowed in this forum.

Finally, as most members share their passion for history, it would be better to show our level of knowledge and learn how to use the proper terms that would not offend the others!

All the best from Greece!

Dimitris

Dear Dimitris

There is no need to politicize and enhance xenophobia. This is an honorable forum. Concentrate on content rather than form.

Sorry to say but this order existed only in one class - the silver one is factory defect.

hello everybody!

I would like to notify you that a few days ago we saw a couple of military hats of Albania for sale on ebay. Please be aware, those hats are not authentic. they were hats used by New Albania Kinostudio to produce communist films and they are not authentic.

Below I am sending links of these items for you to refer

http://www.ebay.com/...cvip=true&rt=nc

and

http://www.ebay.com/...cvip=true&rt=nc

best regards

albania

It is basicly the same medal. After communism the new democratic government kept the continuation of this order, used the same stock medals by removing the sides and the star in the middle. In many years of collecting I have managed to find two medals Class II and Class III of this order of the communist era. All were changed and stars removed

regards

elvis

hello!

the caps I have from communist period are premounted in the factory. Maybe Artan has additional information

regards

During communism Albania was a militarizes country with a large number of active and reserve force. So the stocks number was high and sufficient. Even today we are having trouble dismantling the weapons produced in that period. Stars were wore on the hat by military, not workers. Workers had a different system of insignia, such as badges, patches medals,orders, pins etc

The one in the picture is genuine Albanian communist era officer hat. This model is MOD. 75 When my father rejoined the airforce 1992 he wore this hat without the star and replaced by the eagle I mentioned.

As i mentioned right after 1992 it was very chaotic regarding the military insignia. I have available some MOD.75 officer and soldier uniforms and pieces. Soon they will be listed on my store.

The star also portrayed at the begging of this thread belongs to MOD.75 uniforms. Other stars have been used prior to this one. Better enamel and made of bronze and even earlier and in WWII war star made of fabric has been used.

best regards

The actual change of the system happened in 1992. But at that point we didnt have new uniforms. The star was replaced by the eagle, the rest remained the same. Afterwards we have a period of caos regarding the uniform and people that went abroad mainly in the west adopted some kind of the countries uniforms with Albanian badge and patches. After two or three changes in the uniforms in the last 15 years, now there is a new project to replace all uniforms. Draft has been made and this years will be implemented. So, what can I say? Which hat would you like to see?

regards

double headed eagle - generally made of plastic material and gold gilted

hello!

nice bar

The second row in the middle is the first version of Military Service Order, that later was removed and replaced with Order of Military service 1,2,3

The one I have posted on my website today is displayed on the ribbon and you can see the order itself

wow

Only seen this medal (variation) in the War Museum in Vlora (great little museum!) and in the collection of an important collector in Tirana, but after years of looking i finally got one myself as well (of all places, found it cheap on eBay!).

Not that spectacular in design or quality, but nice to fill this gap.

http://gmic.co.uk/uploads/monthly_04_2011/post-679-0-47984800-1302593047.jpghttp://gmic.co.uk/uploads/monthly_04_2011/post-679-0-44431100-1302593059.jpg

Hey Bob!

I am glad you got this rare medal indeed. But the suspension looks like it belongs to 3rd order red star. anyhow it is better than nothing like myself for example

regards

I have noticed that numbered third class scanderbeg have three different size numbers. I have now the two exemplars in the photos that have different size numbers and both are smaller than the ones portrayed here. Apparently the numbers were stricken not during production but after someone was awarded, connecting once again the numbers to specific receivers of these awards. One more argument to this assumption is the fact that we have found also exemplars of this order by IKOM solid silver unnumbered.

http://www.albaniancorner.com

With Pleasure I would like to announce that to our inventory we have just added the new book on Albanian medals 1914 2002 by Artan Lame. The book covers all Albanian Medals awarded by Albanian State. It is a fine unprecedented work in two volumes.

you may purchase directly from our shop at:

http://www.albaniancorner.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=651

or through ebay

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=250612977896

regards

AlbanianCorner Team

Albanian medals and orders with document are difficult to find.

we have added some medals and orders with documents and box to our store inventory

http://www.albaniancorner.com

http://www.albaniancorner.com/store/product_info.php?cPath=22&products_id=583

http://www.albaniancorner.com/store/product_info.php?cPath=22&products_id=581

http://www.albaniancorner.com/store/product_info.php?cPath=22&products_id=580

http://www.albaniancorner.com/store/product_info.php?cPath=22&products_id=579

regards and thank you for your support

AlbanianCorner Team

Document related to the "Sports Champion" badge shown in one of the very first posts in this thread.

Document is from 1972 and for a result of 0.90m (of what: highjump?).

yes the award was given for High Jumping

One way for Socialist Albania to encourage and reward people was by giving them paper awards. Different institutions, like Democratic Front, Professional Union, PPSH, PPSH youth Union, Peoples Assembly, ministries and other state bodies gave paper awards, some had badge or pin and some not.

Here is one of my favorites

check also my online shop:

http://www.albaniancorner.com

http://www.albaniancorner.com/store/index.php?cPath=22

I have listed some Paper Awards Also

http://www.albaniancorner.com

http://www.albaniancorner.com/store/index.php?cPath=35

check also my online shop:

http://www.albaniancorner.com

http://www.albaniancorner.com/store/index.php?cPath=22

Artan!

faleminderit. thank you indeed for your contribution to this topic and bringing more light to this medal.

- Open question: decree numbers ONLY relate to awards or are also interspersed with decrees e.g. to build a bridge somewhere, defend against the pending invasion of Albania by foreign powers, etc.?

the answer to this question was answered by Mr. Lame . According to my documents the decrees started after the 1950 and one award one decree started after 1959?????

the decrees issued by Presidium of Peoples Assembly were generic so each decree corresponded possibly to eg a bridge or an award and so on.

even though is still difficult to get a definite number of the awarded persons we now have an idea.

Thanks Artan - excellent piece of info "from the source" which confirms that truly awarded orders/medals are very very few and therefore the documents are quite rare (and a lot of the awards on the market are actually left over stock). For Albania orders/medals enthusiasts, this'll be the next area of focus I suspect - getting the award documents which (hopefully) allow for research in the (military) archives at some point.

hello!

Artan pyetja ime eshte nese numri i dekretit paraardhes ose pasardhes perfaqesonte nje dekorate tjeter domosdoshmerisht apo nje dekret cfaredo te kuvendit?

my question for my friend Artan is whether the previous and succesive decree number belonged to another award neccesary. or to any common decree issued not related to awarding?

I am collector and dealer of Albanian awards and the market is indeed unstable. To my knowledge there very few (3-4) people in Albania who have rather larger amounts of these medals. these items are finite and rare. Good and bad news is that we had a meeting in Albania and decided to value better the amounts we have because these items are finite. So in the future you will see higher prices at least from medals from Albania. I think you paid good prices for some of them and little higher for some others.

questions contact me at

elviscenko@gmail.com