Carol I

On 15/04/2024 at 00:07, Igor Ostapenko said:

This is my PRO Virtute Militari 

Nice medal, Igor, congratulations!

From the Newsletter of the State Numismatic Portal named in another thread:

5 hours ago, tifes said:

Here, I would be very careful. Rozet&Fischmeister piece (first on left) is probably having the War Decoration replaced. It's definitely not original one and it might be latter manufacture. Köchert piece (in the middle) has the War Decoration completely missing as it was originally a piece with WD. Moreover central shields looked to be damaged and repaired (not very sophisticated indeed) Last one (on the right) seems like gilded bronze piece made without WD in somehow better quality. 

 

Regards, 

 

Tifes/Tomas

Thanks a lot for your opinion, Tomas.

Thak you for the reply as well as the link to the coming Dorotheum auction!

Thank you very much for the detailed reply (here, as well as in the other thread).

37 minutes ago, Zaim Qyteza said:

The publication is from the Bank of Italy and is available to buy online.

In the part that belongs to Albania, it contains the Cross of the Order of Besa and the Collar of Albania, both belonging to Mussolini and accompanied by the corresponding articles that describe the itinerare of them in these 8 decades.

Finally, after 8 decades we have an accurate image of the Collar of Albania, Type 1.

 

 

 

Thanks, Zaim, but I was referring to other than Albanian orders. The table of content indicates no less than 58 pages (pp 133-190) of inventory, with the star of the Order of the German Eagle on page 183. What other rare ODMs are included?

17 hours ago, Zaim Qyteza said:

Hello to everyone!

After several years of silence in this discussion, finally something new! Finally, the Bank of Italy published a special issue for the MEDALS OF MUsSOLINI, where several pages are also dedicated to COLLAR OF ALBANIA. It is the absolute first time that detailed photos of this Kollar appear and I wanted to share this information with you.

Regards,

Zaim

https://www.shop.ipzs.it/it/tracce-di-metallo3000046091.html

It looks like an image rich catalogue. What other ODMs does it contain? Is it available on paper or as an eBook (ePub or pdf)? Thanks.

Two similar items on which I would like to hear your opinion:

Franz Josef Order

Red Cross Badge

Thank you in advance.

Can you please let me know your opinion on the badges below?

Thank you in advance.

On 08/10/2023 at 17:07, tifes said:

There is another fact confirmed, which was discussed here. Gebr. Resch had its branch in Romania, Bucharest. 

1858:

The "Podu mogosoe" address in Bucharest is "Podul Mogoșoaiei", the main thoroughfare of the city at that time, hosting among others the Royal Palace. It was named "Calea Victoriei" on 12 October 1878, honouring the Romanian victory in the Independence War of 1877–1878.

On 24/10/2023 at 05:43, farmer said:

Josef Resch build his house in Theater district in Bucarest between 1855-57, top floors were the living quarters and the ground floor became their main store. House was sold in 1880 but the retail location remained there, until at least when Heinrich died in 1930. The actual workshop was in another part of Bucarest. Considered provider to the Royal House of Romania at least by 1881, their biggest business was clocks and watches and custom jewellery plus they imported fine things from different parts of Europe. Some of the earliest Romanian orders were retailed by them but in all likelihood made in Austria first (Fischmeister, possibly others).

The address of the house and shop was Calea Victoriei 52. Here is a link to the history of the place:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_Passage

... and the house on Google Maps:

https://www.google.com/maps/@44.4364826,26.097865,3a,75y,39.75h,103.54t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sPDVYem1jhoUN265UM_aq2w!2e0!7i16384!8i8192?entry=ttu

29 minutes ago, Alex K said:

Just seen thi thread and getting back to original post if i may, i have this example wherectge swords appear to be on tge reverse side of the medal, not tge obverse as indicated on other examples posted, also they appear to he well fitted as if they were integral, any comments welcome

 

In this old thread there is a photo of a medal bar with a similar knight's cross, albeit on Military Virtue ribbon:

On 22/07/2023 at 05:03, 922F said:

Does anyone know this officer's history?

 

 

His last name is Popa, which is a rather common name and hence difficult to stand out, unless the British, Serbian/Yugoslavian and Russian awards will help.

Older regulations mentioned that wartime decorations should be in front of peacetime ones, hence the Order of the Crown with swords should have been in front of the military Order of the Star. Also, many WWI awards with swords were on the Military Virtue ribbon. However there are bars where these rules was not respected, including some at the National Military Museum.

Hi Johan. There does not seem to be any more information on Zamfir Calinescu popping up on a web search. You may check with the Embassy of Romania in Helsinki whether there are records of him with the diplomatic mission of the 1940s.

My modest contribution, a Schwerdtner case with "eaves" (as mentioned by new world):

On 28/02/2023 at 19:08, Alex K said:

Hi, just to update, finally found a type 1, officer with swords, quite diffuicukt to find, (in the uk), comes with the original case, which  i admit, has seen better days, sesrch fir Knights version now 🤔

Nice piece, congrats!

On 30/12/2022 at 02:38, Rusty Greaves said:

Dear Carol I, many thanks for posting these images of the breast star of the Order of Ismail, the Nishal al-Kamal, the Order of the Nile (with a red sash rather than the correct blue and yellow one), and the Order of the Republic. I really appreciate getting to see these pieces from the National Museum of Romanian History! Cheers, Rusty

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.

On 19/11/2022 at 23:12, Rusty Greaves said:

There is an example of a 2nd Class Grand Officer Order of Ismail in the National Museum of Romanian History in Bucharest (https://www.mnir.ro/portfolio/onoarea-natiunilor-ordine-si-decoratii-ii/). There are no online images of this set, and it is unclear whether it includes both the breast star and neck badge or not. The Inventory # is 126489. The minimal online information identifies this as the Grand Officer Class award, and the diameter of the breast star is identified as 70 mm, confirming that designation. A weight of 82.95 g is given, probably for the breast star. There is no mention of the neck badge and no measurements are provided for that, making out uncertain whether the holding includes the neck badge. Other Egyptian Orders in the collection of the National Museum of Romanian History include: an Order of Al-Kamal (Inventory #: 37459 a-c), probably a Supreme Class of this award as it was conferred on Queen Marie of Romania (1875-1938, last Queen of Romani who reigned from 1914-1927); a Grand Officer Class Order of the Nile (Inventory #: 126490 a-b); and a Commander Class Republic-era Order of Merit (Inventory #: 126491). 

 

 

 

 

 

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.

6 hours ago, Graf said:

Hi Carol I

 

This is OK By the size it looks it is Commander Class. - King Ferdinand Issue that means 63-65 mm wide

The dark are is nothing to worry abut The enamel and the War decorations look good

 

Cheers

Great, thanks a lot!

Cheers!

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

On 09/08/2022 at 09:33, JohanH said:

It seems like alot of awards were made on April 17th 1885. I believe the Swedish king made a state visit to Romania then.

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.

8 hours ago, Bayern said:

Carol I ,thanks for your data ! General Dicezare was a notable fighter pilot in the 7 Grupul Vanatoare and fought in Stalingrad , over 500 combat missions and a kill count of 16 confirmed and 3 non confirmed . but its all that i could find ,nothing about him after August 1944 but he must have continued in service and after December 1947 also 

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.