Carol I

I am glad you liked the images. I remember some more mixups than the wrong ribbon of the Order of the Nile, but in the end I liked that the orders survived through the ups and downs of history.

Here are some images of these pieces, on display in a temporary exhibition many years ago:

I came by chance upon the photo of this group showing the awards of a reserve officer that has fought on both fronts. It illustrates a possible combination of WWII and post-WWI awards, but of course it is difficult to extrapolate it to all WWII veterans. Source

I wonder whether these are his decorations (the lot was sold a couple of years ago in Germany, but the name of the awardee was not disclosed at the request of the family). It will add the Order of the Crown of Romania and the Order of Roman Eagle to the list of WWII awards.

Great, thanks a lot! Cheers!

Is this piece OK or an example of 'dark margins'-fake?

The King of Sweden was on a visit to Romania between 3(15) and 5(17) April 1885 on his way back from Constantinople. The visit was described by the Official Gazette of 6(18) April 1885.

I remembered two other generals that should be mentioned in relation to Eastern front activities, both receiving for those activities the Order of Michael the Brave with Swords 3rd class after the Order of Michael the Brave 2nd class on the Eastern front, General Avramescu who was most likely assassinated by the Soviets and General Dumitrache who survived many years after the war. The complexity of the topic increases if we take into account the members of the Soviet Tudor Vladimirescu Division that fared somewhat better in post-war years, including its high ranking officers. They probably received more or higher ranking Soviet decorations. Regarding Soviet decorations awarded to Romanian officers, some names are mentioned in the following topic on a related forum.

Dicezare fought on the Eastern Front with Grupul 1 Vanatoare. Another example is Ion Dobran (1919-2021) who fought on both fronts, was dismissed from the army in the 1950s and could work as a pilot only in the 1960s. The photo below shows him with his WWII awards (including one replacement decoration), as well as a modern one. Several other decorations are on his ribbon bar. Another flyer that had a somewhat smoother career was B. Ferderber, the navigator of YR-IMB when he used his WWII knowledge and who was apparently decorated for that incident. Changing the branch, please look at the life of General N. Dascalescu, who fought on both fronts, was dismissed from the army, thrown into jail, released (apparently at the intervention of Czechoslovakian communist authorities) and eventually reinstated in the rank and pension. Some anecdotal evidence mentions that he was allowed to wear an uniform and the decorations he received on the Western front, but he refrained any further collaboration with the Romanian authorities at that time.

You have brought up a very difficult topic, for the veterans, for the authorities and for the historians, one in which the context influenced very much the treatment of people, events and awards. Between 1944 and 1947, awards were made with the national system of orders irrespective of whether the awardee had or had not been on the Eastern front. Some officers received higher classes of the orders for Western front activities after those received for Eastern front activities. In fact there were also cases when Eastern front participants received awards for activities on the Eastern front after the Soviets became the allies. The only notable difference was the Order of Michael the Brave being replaced by the Order of Michael the Brave with Swords (speculations were that this was done at the pressure of the Soviets who were suspicious of the awards made to high German officers). Old awards could be worn, but it was war followed by troubled years and events were rather few. The Soviet-backed Communist takeover in Romania intended to create a rift with "the old regime" after 1947. The proclamation of the republic also brought an annulment of the national system of orders. New decorations were created to reward the loyality to the new regime. Wearing the old decorations was banned and there was a program for exchanging old decorations with new ones (however I do not have details). This had limited effect as the armed forces were gradually purged of old members who in many cases also faced many years of repression. The authorities recognised/celebrated only Western front veterans (mostly low ranks) as WWII veterans. Few of the veterans received Czechoslovakian and probably Soviet awards (again I do not have details). Only the beginning of the 1990s brought a more balanced treatment and a recognition of the awardees of old royal orders. The WWII Commemorative Cross was issued in mid-1990s to the few WWII survivors and replacement insignia for WWII-awards were also made/circulated. Old surviving decorations were taken out of drawers and dusted out for public events, but after 50+ years the numbers of the awardees was extremely low. Nevertheless, new and old awards were once again mixed on new uniforms: General Ioan Dicezare (1916-2012) - Source: Agerpres

Can you give more details on what you are interested? The awards were those in the national system of orders and in many/most cases the awardees went up in the hierarchy of orders. The only exception was the Order of Michael the Brave with Swords replacing the Order of Michael the Brave (including resetting the advance through classes). However, many awards were hidden or converted after the communist takeover. And I assume that Soviet and Czechoslovakian medals may also be considered as possible.

Still on display in the former garage:

The collection is interesting, but in terms of ODMs on display it is rather disappointing (or it was in 2017). But things like these are probably also somewhere in the inventory...

I think this is one of the closest models (from the collections of the Hotel de Salm).

Very interesting, indeed. Congrats!

Congratulations, if authentic it is a rare piece. You may try contacting the Parliament or the Ministry of Foreign Affairs if they have surviving archives on the awardees of this order. The eagle has some details indicating that it has been cast as opposed to being struck. Probably very few of these signs have been made to have accurate statistics, but it was rather unusual to use gold for the Romanian orders of the period. Hallmark for silver. It is unfortunately incomplete to indicate purity.

The medal was under the responsability of the Ministry of Industry and Commerce/Economy (it had different names at various times). Maybe they can cross-check names in their archives (I do not know though whether the medal has its own archive and if it has survived until now). The alternative would be to try to guess which of the possible recipients had connections with Romania.

Information on this kind of badges is rather scarce, but it is likely not a paratrooper badge (it has no parachute). It would rather be a qualification badge (in this case 1st class) for an aviation specialist in communications from the period 1990-now.

Then it is probably not silver. And it is interesting that its design differs from other Weiss-manufactured crosses (see below).

HW: Heinrich Weiss 33: 1933 83: production/serial number Do you also have an inverted triangle with a crown somwehere on the ring? By the way, please move this topic to its right place: Central & Eastern European States

Additional image of this order, thanks to Igor O.

I think this is is rather plausible given the markings on the piece, but it would be strengthened by the photographic evidence with Queen Elisabeth wearing the brilliant star. Thanks for the additional images of the Order of St Sava.

Thanks for posting this image. I do not have to look again for it.

Thanks Igor for the details. It seems indeed that there are (at least) two different models. Not clear whether Elisabeth's star had dimonds on the motto ribband, but Marie's had diamonds on the arms of the cross, which the Telge piece did not have. And if Marie had the piece in 1931, it was not part of the treasury lost in Soviet Russia. As an anecdote, it was said that Col Boyle recovered the queen's jewels, but not succeeded with the national treasure. I remeber seeing several years ago an exhibition with the orders of Marie and Ferdinand that had a jewelled Order of St Sava, but no Order of the Crown.

Indeed a very interesting and quite rare piece. Given the (mis)fortunes of the royal house after the communist takeover, it is not a full surprise that the piece was broken down. It is a pity nevertheless. The question on the owner(s) of the star remains. The owner was without doubt royal and because of that probably no proper records of the manufacture or award exist. Queen Elisabeth and Princess and later Queen Mary are the most likely recipients. Princess Elisabeth was under age at the death of Telge and probably did not have a pice of her own. But she could have inherited either that of her mother or great aunt. Is her photo dated?