Carol I

That was indeed proposed in the original thread.

Lithuania (from the site of the president of the country, http://adamkus.president.lt/ordinai/vdordinas_e.phtml)

Latvia (from the site of the president of the country, http://www.president.lv/pk/content/?cat_id=1229)

Estonia (from the site of the president of the country, http://www.president.ee/en/estonia/decorations.php)

Let's build up the list of awards: 1. Bulgarian Order of St. Alexander 2. Bulgarian Order of Military Merit 3. Bulgarian Long Service Cross 4. Bulgarian Independence Medal 5. ... 6. French Legion of Honour 7. ... 8. Serbian Order of the White Eagle 9. Montenegrin Order of Danilo 10. Order of the Crown of Romania 11. Italian Order of the Crown 12. Order of the Star of Romania 13. Serbian Order of the Takovo Cross 14. ... 15. ...(?) Beneath: Austrian Order of Franz Joseph

Next to the Italian Order of the Crown there is also the Order of the Star of Romania. Odd placing...

Thanks, Kevin. I think it's nice that we managed to crack this nut (one way or the other).

An update on the Romanian Loyal Service Medal as promised: the regulations of the medal stated that it was awarded to Romanians and foreigners in recognition of civilian and military services brought to the state. Unfortunately this does not help with narrowing the search.

OK Kevin. My statement was based on a work on Romanian aviation badges, so if that was wrong, I am also wrong.

Kevin, the proficiency followed a class system with "1" the highest and "3" the lowest.

The 10 pengo Soviet occupation note is surprisingly similar to the 10 lei one issued for Romania (images from Ron Wise's site).

Hi Artur! This is a Romanian scout badge, but there is some confusion as to its exact use. Some sources say that it was for the recon officers from WWI, others that it was for the boy scouts who were active during WWI and yet others that it was for the officers who acted as boy scout instructors in the 1930s and 1940s. If you would have some information on the Romanian officer who gave it to your grandfather or even on your granfather's activity during the late 1930s, maybe you can shed some light on this.

One might judge the bar as belonging to a Bulgarian since the Bulgarian decorations appear in the first place, but on the other hand the the ribbons do not have the trifold style used by Bulgarians. What is also strange is the position of the Ottoman order. Wasn't it supposed to appear before the foreign medals?

Kevin, Prof. Librescu received the Grand Cross of the Order of the Star of Romania and this was also mentioned in the article Ed posted.

To my knowledge there are no published rolls of the Romanian awards, except for the Military Order of Michael the Brave. However, there is some chance that some award lists are in the archive of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs that administered the Chancellery of Orders at that time.

Alex, it is a memorial to Romanian soldiers fallen on the Western front (Romanian point of view) while defending their homeland.

Unfortunately I do not have that much information on the Romanian medals. The Romanian Loyal Service Medal in the bar appears indeed to be the second class (silver) of the first type established by King Carol I. I will try to see if I can find something on the award criteria for this medal, but I doubt that it will advance very much the search of the name of the original owner of the bar.

Kevin, this is a monument to the heroes of the battle of Păuliş, most of them only cadets at the time of the battle. Here it comes: "Here, the soldiers and officers of the Păuliş Detachment fought heroically and sacrificed themselves between 14-21 September 1944 for the defence of the motherland."

That would identify it as a "Regency issue" from the end of WWII.

Take a look in Bulgarian Order of Saints Kyril and Methodius.

He's obviously wrong. They are different orders.

Actually there were three of them: - Order for Merit (1883) - Order for Civil Merit (1891) - Order for Military Merit (1900) Take a look on Dave Danner's site for images of all three.

No, they were two different orders. The Order for Civil Merit had been established in 1891, while the Order for Military Merit had been established in 1900. The latter had two versions, peacetime and wartime. The Order for Merit was a completely different order established in 1883.