Carol I

Dragoş Traian Alexandrescu was posthumously promoted to the rank of second lieutenant and awarded the Order of the Star of Romania with wartime insignia. Source: Ministry of Defense

There here is some more. The Order for Merit (also known as the Honour Sign for Merit) had indeed 5 classes, but not those on your site (that were usual for other orders). They were: Grand Cross, Commander, Officer, Knight and Cross (not to be confounded with the Honour Cross ). It had only two types or divisions (peacetime and wartime) identifiable by the crossed swords on the badges and the gold stripes on the edges of the ribbons. Similarly, the Honour Cross for Merit had two classes and two types or divisions, peacetime and wartime. Again the types could be told apart by the crossed swords on the badges and the gold stripes on the edges of the ribbons.

:jumping: Amazing! :jumping:

May I add some pieces of information? The Order for Merit was established in 1931 as the 'Honour Sign for Merit' and was under the exclusive control of the King. I wonder whether that is the "King's Personal Award" you mentioned on your site. Anyhow, it was organised as an order and had only one type of badges (no difference between civilians and military). It was referred to as the 'Order for Merit' when the wartime badges were introduced and the order was listed among the national wartime awards in 1937. The Honour Cross for Merit was established in 1933 as a complement to the order. As the order, it had only one type of badges until 1937 when the wartime badges were introduced and the cross was listed among the national wartime awards. There is some confusion with respect to the ribbons of these awards. One source mentions the order with a green-blue-green ribbon, while the cross had a green ribbon with 5 thin blue stripes. However, there are many images (including in this thread) where the cross appears with the green-blue-green ribbon. ... Another source of confusions.

Here is his homepage. As far as I know, the 2003 decision of the Romanian court recognised his inheritance rights as a child of Carol II, but not his claim to the throne, the rights of succession being decided according to the constitution and the rules of the royal family.

Dragoş Traian Alexandrescu Source: Ministry of Defense

Staff Sergeant Dragoş Traian Alexandrescu was killed today while on patrol near Qalat in Afghanistan. Four others were injured: Staff Sergeant Matei Gheorghe Irinel, Lance Corporal Angelescu Dumitru Bogdan, Private Mihai Dumitru Marius and Private Butoi Ionuţ Claudiu. Press releases from the Ministry of National Defence (Romanian language): http://www.mapn.ro/cpresa/continuarearhiva.php?id=12643 http://www.mapn.ro/cpresa/continuarearhiva.php?id=12644

Can you give more details about this? Thanks.

I do not think it is a pilot's badge. The gear beneath might indicate techincal ground team. However, more details could probably be found in the book Insignele Aviatiei Militare Romane (Romanian Airforce Badges) by Marcel Iliese. I think Kevin has a copy. As for images of other badges, see A Cloned Wing, But From WHERE? or Communist Romanian Air Force, Grade Insignia.

See post #8 above. Without swords. Only the Order of the Star of Romania and the Order of the Crown of Romania had different insignia for peacetime awards to military personnel. The other ones did not.

No Megan, it is a Honour Cross for Merit. The Order for Merit was enamelled in white (see badge no. 7 in Kevin's post above). Furthermore, the ribbon is a peacetime one not suited with the swords on the badge. And I also think the ribbon is that of the Order for Merit, but there is conflicting information as to what was the ribbon of the order and what was the ribbon of the cross.

Thanks anyhow, Anatoly.

It could very well be, Anatoly, so... Great! MS for Monetaria Statului and an worker for gold. Any further details that you can see, with a magnifying glass perhaps? Is it two letters in front of his face or two "dents"? They could indicate the purity. What is on the silver one? An oak leaf?

Good question, Anatoly. As far as I know there has not been any official change of the coat-of-arms in the period, so we cannot use such information to decide which was the first one. Based on pure guess, the RSR version seems quite close to the RPR design used until 1965, so maybe it was the first one to be used... Both please, if possible. :blush:

This looks like the one on the history page of the Chancellery of Orders.

If you look carefully you will see that on the ribbon around the wheat ears is also written Republica and Socialista in smaller letters. Can you please post closer images of the halmarks? Thanks.

Plaiting would be ?mpletire, quite different from ?ntrecere... :unsure:

Thanks Anatoly for illustrating this thread.

That was a third class. The information on communist awards is indeed very scarce and must be pieced from here and there. For example the images I posted are from a Romanian auction site.

You're welcome. Try this one: English-Romanian Dictionary - Dictionar Englez-Roman.

The order and the medal "In the service of the socialist homeland" was the police equivalent of the Military Merit Order and Medal. Here is an example of the order... ... and the medal.

Rick, ?ntrecere means competition. It often appeared as ?ntrecerea socialistă (the socialist competition) and was probably aimed to increase productivity through friendly competition.

That was a note to Lorenzo's quest for a first class of the Order of Michael the Brave (the 1916 model). Regarding the badge you posted, I have no information as to how many were issued or who was entited to receive one. I have seen before images of a badge with Carol II's cipher, but I'm afraid I have not saved them. Check the finishing quality of the badge and especially that of the cipher. It is very difficult to judge solely on the small image available.

With only 16 awarded to royalty or very high ranking officers you'll have a tough time finding an original one on the market (not mentioning the price). ;)

It looks like a badge for military justice from WWII (it has Michael's cipher).