Carol I

Belgium

Grand Cross of the Order of Leopold (military)

As well as, a white Maltese cross, similar to that worn by his father on the 1940 cover of Life magazine.

9 hours ago, Bayern said:

The photo is taken during the visit of Benes to Romania . Prince Mihai wears a military uniform with no visible badges of rank .evidently the photo was made in the moment of Little Entente meeting as Prince Paul is present too .the last officer at the right appears to be Prince Nicholas . The date is June of 1936 . after , King and Prince visited Czechoslovakia .perhaps he the Prince ,was awarded in this visit.

Thanks for the details of the photo. I am not saying that Mihai could not have received the Czechoslovakian award at a later time point, but June 1936 was an official event suitable for displaying the award. See for comparison the photo from the visit to Poland in 1937 where he is wearing the insignia of the White Eagle. It could also be that he was too young during the Czechoslovakian visit.

On ‎2017‎-‎12‎-‎11 at 03:21, 922F said:

If the Orchid Blossom is correct, then  other potential award candidates may include Japanese, Slovak [Special Grade of the Order of Prince Pribina according to http://www.axishistory.com/books/76-slovakia-general/slovakia-general-militaria/905-order-of-prince-pribina-slovakia], Croatian, and, maybe among others, even Hungarian honors.    Carol II had a Bulgarian Cyril & Methodius, disremember whether Michael got one while in Romania.  

Polish White Eagle maybe a ancillary to the various Romanian-Polish Alliances, suggesting award exchanges with other allies, e.g. Little Entente partners.   Somewhere a post here mentions that HM received a German Eagle Order.  

I really doubt Mihai received any Hungarian honours given the 1940 occupation of Northern Transylvania by Hungary.

On ‎2017‎-‎12‎-‎11 at 03:34, Bayern said:

King Carol payed state visits to Poland and Czechoslovakia before 1939 , in both with the then Voivoda Mihai. Carol in Poland weared Polish uniform . at least once . he was Colonel of a Polish Regiment. of a Yugoeslavian one too.

The photo below shows King Carol II and Prince Mihai in the presence of President Benes. Carol II appears to wear the collar of the Order of the White Lion, but Mihai has a rather plain appearance with no Czechoslovakian awards.

1 hour ago, new world said:

You have a point, although I am not sure photos will give us all his awards, as there were some he never or rarely wore and they were just not captured by photographers.

I also saw people making statements that he was awarded German Iron Cross (someone said it was Knights Cross grade). Not sure if this is accurate, I wasn't able to find any reference to KC IC.

I did not mean only photos, but other reliable sources as well. For example, I have found the date of the Polish award in a book on the Order of the White Eagle. The collar of the Order of the Orchid Blossom was in an exhibition of royal items in the collections of the National History Museum.

The Wikipedia list is terribly inaccurate for the national awards. It mentions for example collars for the Order of Michael the Brave and the Order of the Star of Romania (that never existed during either of his rules) and wrong grade for the Faithful Service Order, plus the title of sovereign knight instead of grand master, although this might be the same thing. This makes me suspect the foreign awards too. Although some awards seem plausible, I do not think that the references are fully reliable. For example the evidence for the Belgian award is a blurry photo. The Czech award and the Finish one have no reference, although both are plausible given the pre-war relations with Czechoslovakia (which would make it Czechoslovakian rather than Czech) or the war-time relations with Finland. Similarly, I do not know how much the references for the French or Italian awards could be trusted. Furthermore, the list does not include the Royal Victorian Chain in spite of the recent photographic evidence.

This is why I suggested to look for photographic evidence or other reliable sources.

Mihai has reigned during some difficult periods when the usual system of diplomatic exchanges between states did not work. This has most likely been reflected in the foreign awards he received (I do not think the list on Wikipedia is fully correct). Can we try to reconstruct his list of awards based on photographic evidence or other reliable sources?

Great Britain

Royal Victorian Chain

Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order

I think this order is also worn in the photo below at the British Royal wedding in 1947.

Greece

Collar of the Royal House Order of Saints George and Constantine

Grand Cross of the Order of the Redeemer

Manchukuo

Collar of the Order of Orchid Blossom (February 1941)

Poland

Grand Cross of the Order of the White Eagle (22 May 1937)

USA

Chief Commander of the Legion of Merit (20 March 1946)

USSR

Order of Victory (06 July 1945)

On 23/11/2017 at 17:21, laurentius said:

I'm trying to find out about the design, the origin and whether they are still awarded. Might there be a website with this kind of information for collectors?

The order is no longer awarded. Please take a look on its official description.

I know of no regulation that described the model to the left, so I assume it was made either as "transitional" insignia (as you put it) in ignorance of the regulations or directly as a fantasy piece to deceive collectors into believing it is a rare piece.  A giveaway should be the wrong ribbon on which is mounted.

On 06/11/2017 at 22:56, Graf said:

Such Cross in an original box can have a price tag 900-1000$

Lost it for about 1025... 

On ‎2017‎-‎11‎-‎02 at 20:30, Morar Andrei said:

But still, is there any image related to my question?

Andrei, you should go on a visit to the National Military Museum. They have a very nice collection of uniforms, including from the period you are interested in. Please take a look the the thread describing a tour through the Romanian Military Museum.

Thank you both for the replies. Please keep the fingers crossed so that I'll get a good price.

Here is the box:

Your opinion on this piece? Thanks!

21 hours ago, James Hoard said:

Thanks for your kind reply.

I thought that too, but the distinctive blue enamelled cross does not seem to be there. So I thought it must be something else.

Cheers

I thought that the photo had the kind of emulsion that was not sensitive to blue. It's only too bad that the resolution of the photo is poor and we cannot even see whether there is the shadow of the blue cross.

20 hours ago, James Hoard said:

However, a portrait of the young Maharaja Yadavindra Singh from the late 1930's appears to show him wearing the breast star of the GC of the Order of Faithful Service (Serviciul Credincios).

I might be mistaken, but the marked star could be the Order of the Star of Romania.

Thank you all for your contributions on this detective search. I am amazed by all your knowledge and for how quick you have replied me.

Thank you all for the replies. You seem to have extraordinary knowledge. With your help I can conclude that in the studio photo from Bistrita, most likely taken in 1898 (he wears the Jubilee Commemorative Medal of 1898 - maybe the reason to take the photo), Eduard was a feldwebel. Then, in the group photo taken at the latest in 1899 (maybe it marked the end of the 'Metalka-era' of the regiment), Eduard was a fähnrich.

Now it remains the question of the regiments in which he served. In 1898 he could have been part of the 63^rd Infantry Regiment. Then in 1899 he was part of the 2^nd Hungarian Infantry Regiment stationed in Metalka.

I understand that the collar colour of the 63^rd Infantry Regiment was orange-yellow.  What was the colour of the 2^nd Hungarian Infantry Regiment? Or of the 22^nd Landwehr Regiment?

I have seen that the latter was stationed in Cernauti (Czernowitz in German). Maybe this was the reason Eduard later settled in Bucovina?

Was any of these regiments stationed in Prague between 1917-1918?

A bit of quick research showed that 32^ndLandwehr Regiment was also stationed in Bistrita, so I think we should add this to our detective search.

3 minutes ago, The Prussian said:

Ah. That's clear. Now we see the braid  around the coller. it is an  NCO

What was his rank in the Metalka photo? Was he a Feldwebel in the studio photo?

Was his uniform special in any way? In the family he was mentioned as being part of the Austrian military postal service in the last years of the empire. After the war he settled in the Itcani (Itzkany in German) suburb of Suceava, where he worked for the Romanian postal service until the 1930s.

Detail of the studio photo.

This is the best I could do.

Thanks a lot. I think he was only NCO. Earlier opinions on the forum based on the studio photo were Zugsführer or Feldwebel. I think I have identified him in the first photo. What can you say about his rank in comparison to the studio photo?

12 hours ago, The Prussian said:

Here a part of the ranklist 1898:

Hi! Can you post the whole list? Maybe we can find him there. His name was Eduard Victor Gürtesch. Thanks in advance.

Thank you all for the additional information. A picture is worth a thousand words: the building in the photo looks like the building in the postcard posted by Paja. Can you comment on the inscription above the gates?

Now some background information. I have found the photo among some old papers from my wife’s side. Her great grandfather, a Transylvanian Saxon, (photo below), had been in the Austrian army but no other details were available except a move to Prague between 1917-1918 with his whole family. I have mentioned him before on the forum but the photos have disappeared there.

From your posts I suspect that he served in the 2^nd Hungarian Infantry Regiment and he was probably posted in Metalka, Bosnia before 1899. Can anyone spot him in the photo? After that he married a girl from Bistrita (Bistritz or Nösen) and they had a daughter in 1902.

I would appreciate if you can give any other information about the regiment and its moves.

Thanks for the reply, but there seems to be only forest there now. Is there any remnant of the building in the forest?

I feel somehow that we have to continue the search and look for a suburb of a larger city. Metalka has a Slavic resonance, so my bets are for Czechia, Slovakia, Slovenia or something similar.

What can you tell about the uniforms or the unit?

I would appreciate any information regarding this photo.

Can you identify the location? Or the unit? Other details?

I have tried to blow up the inscription above the gates. 

Thanks for the details, Egorka.

Could you please give details regarding this poster? Thanks in advance.