Carol I

Thanks Alex for the advice. I have the badge for some years now but I haven't done anything yet out of fear that I would damage it even more. Personally I would incline towards an operation at a jeweller who would probably have the means and expertise to improve the fluidity of the metal to bend it without breaking it. But for various reasons the operation would still have to wait some more time. However, I think it is an apropriate topic of discussion for this thread. How would such an operation be regarded by the various members of the forum? Is it acceptable or not?

This is an interesting debate, but I think that what to do to a damaged piece, how much and how depends on the piece and the type of damage. As an example I will show a Knight's Cross of the Order of the Crown of Romania with the tips and hilts of the swords bent. I am very much tempted to straighten the swords, but what would you do? Leave it as it is? Is the straightening a welcomed restoration or an unwanted repair? If one decides for restoration, should this be done with a pair of coarse pliers to leave obvious marks that a restoration has been performed? Or you would better seek the help of a jeweller to do the restoration as finely as possible? As a foot note, personally I do not like enamel restorations/repairs.

Here is an image of a Commander's Cross of the Order of the Star of the Union from the National Military Museum.

Is this in your collection? If authentic, it is a badge of the short lived Order of the (Star of the) Union. May I please have better images of the badge?

Thanks Mike for the dates of the two awards. I guess the medal in the photo is the 'Litteris et Artibus'.

Close-up of his medal bar

I have come upon this photo of Herman af Sil?n, officer of the Swedish Navy and marine painter. When reviewing his medals I was surprised to find a most interesting combination: Swedish Order of the Star, a Swedish Medal, the Danish Order of the Dannebrog and the Order of the Star of Romania. Any information on his activity and connection to Romania that could justify the Order of the Star is most welcome. Thanks.

The Order of the Star of Romania has always been ranked above the Order of the Crown of Romania.

Its name is "Commemorative Cross of WWII, 1941-1945". It was established in 1994.

The Order of the Star of Romania has recently become 130 years old. It was established in May 1877 through the first law passed after the declaration of independence. This was a highly symbolic gesture in the light of the long opposition of the Ottoman Empire towards the official establishment of a Romanian order. The Order of the Star of Romania used the same insignia as the Order of Union established by Prince Alexandru Ioan Cuza in 1864 to mark the 5th anniversary of the union of the Romanian principalities of Moldavia and Walachia. The opposition of the Ottoman Empire as well as the political situation in Romania at that time prevented the completion of the establishment procedures during Prince Alexandru Ioan's reign although the insignia were already manufactured and some of them were even handed proprio motu by the prince. The insignia was subsequently used for the Order of the Star for the first awards of the War of Independence, with only minor changes (such as the motto and the cipher) that reflected the changes in Romanian society that occurred meanwhile. The Order of the Star of Romania was restructured several times during its history, the most important being that of 1932 when the insignia and the ribbon were changed. The order in its traditional structure was officially disbanded in 1948 together with all the other awards of the national system of decorations. The order was re-established in 1998 and it is now the highest order of Romania. Below is an example of the three main types of the order. They are a reflection of their respective periods of existence, both with respect to the design and the finishing quality.

"This summer" probably means the week or so since the heat wave came. Terrible! Stay cool, Kevin!

How are you surviving, Kevin? If there were 34 degrees in Deva, it's not hard to imagine what must have been in the south...

As an interesting note, the Medal for Valour and Faith appears to continue the tradition of a short lived medal from the time of Prince Alexandru Ioan Cuza. That medal, named Medalia pentru Devotament şi Curagiu (Medal for Loyalty and Courage), was created in 1864 and awarded to policemen and civilians in recognition of distinguished activity during the catastrophic floods that hit Romania during that year. The establishment of the medal was however not finalised during Prince Alexandru Ioan's regin and subsequently it was not included in the national system of awards. More details about it can be found here.

Here is more information on the official and unofficial awards of the 1989 Revolution: Order of Victory of the Romanian Revolution of December 1989.

The central element on the badge is a representation of the Monument for the Heroes of the Country placed near the National Defence University in Bucharest. Image from the National Office for the Memory of Heroes

A.V.S.A.P. cold be the acronym of Asociaţia Voluntară pentru Sprijinirea Apărării Patriei (Voluntary Association for Supporting the Defence of the Motherland), a paramilitary organisation modelled after the soviet DOSAAF. It was established in 1952 and disbanded in 1962.

I have to pass on this Kevin. Badges are outside my area of interest.

This is an image of the Order of 23 August, established in 1959 and awarded for activities that "led to the insurrection [of 23 August 1944] and the consolidation of power". The order was however not restricted to the participants of the 1944 events and was in fact one of the higher awards of the communist period.

The Crusade against Communism medal has been officially des-established (is there such a word?) in 1944, so formally there was no distinction for the early war years. As a matter of fact, the "pro-fascist" label for those first years was a communist propaganda thing to incriminate the efforts to liberate the Romanian territory occupied by the soviets following the provisions of the Ribbentrop-Molotov treaty. Anyhow, in the 1990s the Romanian authorities decided to remove the segregation of the communist period and establish the WWII Commemorative Cross (shown by Kevin) destined to all the Romanian combatants of WWII.

The text on the badge is typical for the distinction made by the communist authorities between the "true" veterans of the western front and the "brigands" who went to fight on the eastern front. Besides, the "dot" in the yellow field was supposed to mean the coat-of-arms present on the state flag between 1948 and 1989. These details indicate a communist-period badge.

Cold night in 1942, small unit, turning point... There was another question on such an event. See here the answer to that question. I hope it is not only a coincidence.

This is my impression too. In the end of the 19th century they realised that they do not have a military correspondent of the Order for Civil Merit, so they established the Order for Military Merit. Probably the 1891 date was supposed to strengthen the fact that the two orders were equally ranked, in spite of the fact that they were destined to two different categories of awardees.

It was actually an order, the Order of Queen Mary Cross. Established on 15 March 1917, the order came in three classes and it was destined primarily for the military and civilian personnel with distinguished sanitary activity in wartime. The 1st class badge was enamelled in white, the 2nd class badge was silvered and 3rd class badge was in brown metal.

I have just noticed that the Bulgarian Order for Military Merit bears on the reverse the founding date of the Bulgarian Order for Civil Merit (2 August 1891). While this detail confuses things instead of clearing them, the two Bulgarian orders appear to be referred to as two different awards rather than two divisions of the same award.

This model of the pilot badge and the similar observer badge (with coat-of-arms) were adopted just before the war, through the Royal High Decree no. 1540 of 26 May 1941.