Daffy Duck

great work indeed. Many thanks. I had the same impression, that somebody enameled soldier class...

Great photos indeed Paja. Thank you for your time, you have dedicated to this topic. Just short remark. Last person looks like some imperial officer, with some capitalistic decorations, especially French and Kingdom of Bulgaria...

And unusual enamel. I have seen one similar few weeks ago on the Ebay, it was sold for quite high price even I have some doubts about both enamel as well as central medallion, as the inscription is the one from soldier star.

Quite interesting position of Yugoslav orders. They are before the ones from most of the Eastern block countries. Unfortunately I can't identify those on the first position in fifth row.

indeed

What the striking difference between two medals, especially in the thickness.

Paja, that was excellent! Thank you for your effort!

Well you have the most prized one, the one which belonged to Pavkovic Concerning the others from the internet, I am quite sure that no.2 and no. 3 are traceable. First one is good, but before the year 1985.

In those times I thought that collecting decorations is extremely expensive hobby, so I have focused on military uniforms. I possess few of them (all with ribbon bars), but wanted to have those with some historical importance. Back than, the most important thing was to have a credible supplier, someone from the army, who can sell you those things. Amazingly, most of the uniforms were left behind on the cleaning, or in the offices after they left their positions. Once again, I never intended to collect solely ribbon bars.

Dragomir, many thanks on this complete list.

Any guess about the medal between Nikola's 50 years and Gold medal for Bravery 1877?

Medal looks legit, but it shouldn't exist. As it appears to be from WWI period, what only comes to my mind is that was done during the exile of king Nikola of Montenegro. He could have ordered those instead of gold Obilic one, if manufacturer didn't have a possibility to produce Obilic's. Or maybe if a recipient lost his Obilic one and found only a producer which had a production of silver ones. Of course, it's a guessing.

Wonderful! extremly useful information. Just pay attention to the difference between two Kardelj's orders!

Proper time to collect most of the uniforms was the end of 90s, as I was able to find Mamula's uniform (very customized) as well the parts of uniforms of general Kadijevic and general Mirkovic (very strange emblem on the hat). Just after the war 1999, I have acquired mentioned Pavkovic's uniform and I am so unhappy that I have missed the cap of late general Lj. Velickovic. After that I stopped collecting uniforms and bars, just orders Concerning Mamula ribbon bar, it should be at least 16 ribbons, as he had received Order of the Hero of Socialist Labour as he's last decoration, and it's on the top of six row ribbon bar. There is also a version without mentioned Order.

Wonderful indeed. I have to check, but I am certain to have one of his uniforms, but without the Order of Freedom bar. It must have been used before 1999. The crown in my collection is a gala uniform with bars which belonged to admiral of the fleet Branko Mamula, and he had all top decorations in Former Yugoslavia (except mentioned order). Unfortunatly I am away from Belgrade and will give photographs ASAP.

There is a huge problem with all those numbers. We can speculate, but huge majority of all pieces were actually lower ranks. Just one step back, in that time Serbia hade a pretty introvert foreign policy, and most important foreign partners were AU monarchy, as well as Russia. Third one was Ottoman empire, a side of all hard times in bilateral relations. So we can guess that those were possibilities: It belonged to king Aleksandar; It was awarded to ex king Milan, which I personally doubt (newspapers at that time will write something about it) That this extremely expensive and delicate set was awarded ( or prepared to be awarded) to foreign recipient. I have to strongly advocate this possibility, but to who? First guess is FJ, and it's not so hard to check in Austrian archives. The other is Russian tzar Nikolai, but due to political reasons ( most probably) he never received it. Even if it's true that the list of foreign recipients is not concluded, I can't find any suitable recipient of that high status and with that political weight for Serbia to receive that kind of special Order. Last, but not the least possibility is that some of them ordered on their own a new set with brilliants, but that seems highly unlikely. Article from today's Serbian Newspaper ,,Novosti" http://www.novosti.rs/vesti/naslovna/reportaze/aktuelno.293.html:679601-Orden-Milosa-Velikog-nude-za-240000-dolara

First time seeing this. It could be right and ok. If the person was awarded with Grand cross of the order, he was wearing on daily basis only fourth class. If he was obliged to wear uniform, this was the only way to show that he has higher class.

I have slight doubts. locks are completely different, apart there are two of them instead of one in the AB box. It could be earlier version, or maybe even the prewar. They paid much more attention in later times to small details. Once again great find!

Is there by any chance possibility to track down this order? It couldn't be done in no time, so there is maybe a chance to find something. Just to remind all that a year ago, two hat badges (kokarde) were sold on ebay with a cypher ,,A" and brilliants. Maybe there is some connection. Another hint, do we know anything about the existence od Grand crosses of this order? Anybody seen the one belonged to FJ? It's a pity that sash is not present. That could be the way to exclude queen Natalija if the sash is normal... I am just thinking, what if this piece was never actually bestowed. Maybe this was prepared for Russian tzar. King Aleksandar Obrenovic wanted badly to go to Russia, but after that scandal with the Draga fake pregnancy, everything was postponed for good.

Pay attention to the remarkable difference between two types of awarding diplomas. Are they as well from the Yugoslav archive?

Is there by any chance an corresponding number on the bottom of the case? That was quite regular in those times. Once again congratulations. Concerning the files from the Chancery, still haven't seen a single one. It could be done in another way: to check all names of the recipients from Czechoslovakia through the Official gazette, or trough the corresponding files in the Ministry of foreign affairs.

Father of my paternal grandmother was an officer in reserve ( one of 1300 corporals) and we still have his memberships card of the interwar Association. I think that he past away in the same year of the formation of that new Association. Radmilo, many thanks for clarification. BTW, he was the recipient of Albania retreat medal even thought his unit (Student battalion from Skoplje) just barely passed troughs Albanian mountains on their way to Northern Greece. They never laid their foot on the Corfu island.

As I am not so familiar with the Order of Takovo, any information about this specific order (producer, period...?) Many thanks in advance.

Any ideas of this particular piece? It looks like AB (appearance and dimensions) but there are fee issues (e.g. crown enamel on both sides, strange color pattern, and wrong ring piece on reverse side) The rest of the order looks ok, but I am not 100% sure. I don't have better pictures, but seems to be hallmark under the crown, which should be the French mark for silver.

Unfortunately, the list is far from beeing concluded. I couldn't find my predecessors, but what is even more important, some of the most prominent generals in Yugoslav army are missing. But, to be fair, this is good beginning.