Carol I

I have seen this badge in the window of a dealer and out of curiosity I would be interested in finding out more information about it. What class is it? Is it authentic? Approximately how much is it worth? Thanks.

Obverse

Marking on the bottom arm of the cross

Detail (reverse)

Detail (obverse)

Reverse

I have seen this badge in the window of a dealer and out of curiosity I would be interested in finding out more information about it. What class is it? Is it authentic? Approximately how much is it worth? Thanks.

Obverse

Detail

Detail

Detail

Badge (reverse)

Badge (obverse)

Reverse

I have seen this badge in the window of a dealer and out of curiosity I would be interested in finding out more information about it. What class is it? Is it authentic? Approximately how much is it worth? Thanks.

Obverse

And a shot of the markings on the ring. Sadly this is best that I can do at the moment.. There appears to be a number "722" and a series of other markings and the word "silber". Nothing much I can tell fro these, I hope someone else will have better luck. Thanks for watching and I'm eagerly awaiting your comments.

Congratulations Blitz for your Commander's cross of the Order of the Crown of Romania.

The oval hallmark after "SILBER" probably has "CFZ" inside. It is the mark of Zimmermann of Pforzheim, so your badge is actually manufactured in Germany under licence from the National Mint in Bucharest. This also explains the "silber" mark. And, if I remember right, the diamond-shaped mark has the logo of the National Mint ("MN").

As for the crown, several former communist states have reverted to using old royal symbology in their coat of arms (e.g. Russia, Romania, Bulgaria) and also on their orders and medals. It may be a little strange using royal symbols in a republic, especially to us living in countries with a monarchic system of government, but crowns are a potent symbol of sovereignty and convey a sense of history.

Romania has not returned to the use of the crown as a sovereignty symbol, even though its Steel Crown has multiple symbol values.

However I'm wondering why the crown is added to this order??

As Poland is a republic now, communists having decided to ban every sign of the former kingdom.....

Thus the crown doesn't make any sense to me ....

Could anyone explain this or is it just a fancy addition??

As far as I know the Poles were not afraid to use the crown during the republican times. As an example, their coat-of-arms has a crowned eagle.

I am still trying to figure out the situation in this photo? Is this photo post war?

The photo was taken during the war as the officer facing the crowd appears to be Marshal Antonescu.

The order below however was a wartime award, albeit not for direct contact with the enemy.

Romanian medals

Romanian Orders were definately give to german soldiers in WW 2. I could find one example of a Medalbar in the collection of our member Gary B. :

http://gmic.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=5755...er+of+the+crown

(See post #11)

The Romanian order in the picture above was a peacetime award.

And then the battery of the camera went dead...

Order of the Redeemer (Greece)

Order of Leopold l (Belgium)

Order of Leopold l with swords (Belgium)

Austrian Order of Franz Joseph

Order of the Rose (Brazil)