Carol I

The "later" mount was an attempt to return to the traditional shape of ribbons for the Romanian medals.

Thanks Rob for the update on this topic. Given the number of these crosses that were awarded, it is not at all surprising that foreign manufacturers were also involved in its production. And thanks to your post, we also have a name: M. Delande of Paris.

Dark red was the case colour for the Order of the Star of Romania, while dark blue was the case colour for the Order of the Crown of Romania. However, the same colours have been used for other awards (see the Navy Medals above) and, to make matters worse, in the past even the order cases had different colours. So, you really have to look inside to see whether the case was for an order, a cross or a medal.

Thanks for the input. The stripes appeared white and this is why the White Lion was my first guess, but I could not exclude the possibility that the stripes were in fact very light blue and appeared white in the light of the camera flash. But there is another way to to identify the sash. Is the size and location of the stripes OK for either possibility? I think the White Eagle had the stripes quite close to the edge in contrast to the White Lion.

You're welcome. Thank you both for pointing out the sash detail. So it could be that Order of the Sun of Peru was indeed presented to King Ferdinand, while the sash belongs in fact to an order presented to Queen Maria (the Czechoslovak Order of the White Lion or the Serbian Order of the White Eagle?).

M.M. stands for Medalia Maritimă (The Navy Medal).

Golden Fleece

This photo, from Wikipedia, shows King Carol I wearing the Prussian Pour le Merite Order, the Russian Order of St. George, the collar of the Royal House Order of Hohenzollern and the Austrian Order of the Golden Fleece. He also has a Honor Cross with Swords of the Princely House Order of Hohenzollern on his chest and a Knight's Cross with Swords of the House Order of Hohenzollern on his medal bar.

It was the Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen family of Ferdinand (the princely Hohenzollerns). Unfortunately I could not find the photo again, but I think that Ferdinand's brother, Wilhelm, was present.

You're welcome. I hope the Bulgarian, Greek and Albanian members of the forum would give the motives of the choices of their countries. The Romanian mistrust into the Russians was unfortunately confirmed during the Independence War of 1877-1878 and later and it led to a top secret alliance with the Central Powers of mutual assistance in case of attack (Russia was not mentioned, but it was the only power who could attack any of the countries in the treaty). In fact it was this clause of the treaty that allowed Romania to remain neutral in 1914 (like Italy): it was Austria who attacked Serbia and not viceversa, so Romania did not have to provide assistance on Austria's side (but we digress). Actually, it was his nephew and successor, King Ferdinand who ruled the country when Romania entered the war in 1916. Carol I advocated the alliance with Germany (and indirectly with Austria) and was very disappointed that the politicians wanted neutrality at that time. It is even said that their decision not to enter the war to support Germany broke his heart and led to his physical death later in 1914. Nevertheless he respected their decision, so it could truly be said that he served his country to the very end.

I heard this stoy as well, but the relations must have improved later as I remember seeing a photo of King Ferdinand and Queen Maria at a Hohenzollern family reunion in Germany in the 1920s.

I can only speak about Romania. Romanian politicians were worried about the expansionist policy of Russia (only 54 years before, in 1812 Russia annexed the eastern part of the Romanian principality of Moldova/Moldavia and subjected it to a very intensive russification process - that region is nowadays the Republic of Moldova), so Russian princes were out of question. Similarly, Austria had its own agenda and interferred in the politics of the principalities for years and consequently Austrian princes were not seen as suitable candidates either. There is a story that Carol was not the first choice and that a Belgian prince was approached for the throne of Romania, but he refused in the hope that he will be offered the Spanish throne. Also, the story goes that Carol was suggested to the Romanian politicians by none other than Napoleon III as there were some family relations between their families. The dynastic orders of the Romanian Hohenzollern family, Bene Merenti included, are somewhat enigmatic. In the 1930s, Carol II "took over" many of the Hohenzollern family orders and made them Romanian orders. They could therefore be regarded as some sort of continuation of the old orders.

As a German officer he took part in the war with Denmark in 1864. His brother Anton died in the Austro-Prussian war of 1866.

This is an example of the costume jewellery made by the Coro company with elements of the Order of the Crown of Romania. Below is another example with poorer manufacturing quality that was on sale on eBay several years back.

60x60 sounds OK. I have also found my references with sizes and they give these dimensions. Unfortunately I do not have such a rare item in my collection. However, many years ago I took a photo of the badge in the National Military Museum and there are some differences from the piece you posted.

I'd say it is a fake. There were only 15 of these awarded during WWII, so information regarding thickness or weight is not easily available. But 40 mm x 40 mm was the size of the 3rd class, while the 1st and 2nd classes were 50 mm x 50 mm (if I remember right).

Thanks for the additional images, Emmanuel.

Thanks Emmanuel for the update on this old thread. It seems that my first guess (erroneous pair) turned out to be true.

I was not aware of any "class versions" of this cross. There are indeed two types of the medal depending on the years written on it, but other than that there are only maker versions. Take a look in the thread on the Commemorative Cross of the 1916-1918 War.

What makes this an "officer's version"?

The name was "The Order of the Crown of Romania with swords", knight class/grade on Military Virtue ribbon (indeed type I). Well, it had the crown on the centre medallion on the obverse. It was not until 1937 that the Order of the Crown of Romania acquired a suspension crown and even then it was only for the military grades.

This was actually referred to as "The Order of the Star of Romania with swords". It is indeed a fine example of the type II, Officer class on war ribbon.

What about jewelry tags? There are some with strings to be attached on the rings of the medals. Look for example on eBay in 'Jewelry & Watches > Jewelry Boxes, Cases & Display > Retail Packaging & Display > Tags, Price Tags'.

'Tacake' does not sound right. The last name might be "Tacaks". Might be Gheorghe Stoica.

No period was mentioned in the relation to the item, as fas as I remember.