Dragomir

In fact, there appears something that might easily bet the breast star (may be partially seen under the yellow cloak of the old man, just to the left of the neck badge).

Dragomir

I'm not sure where to put this thread, but I'll try here.

I have this picture of a Norwegian miniature group. The three first awards are Norwegian: order of St. Olav, knight 1st class, king Olav Vs 100 years medal and the medal for service as conscript in the navy.

But the four last orders are unknown to me. Are they known to you, gentlemen?

Estonia, Hungary, Italy, Portugal.

Dragomir

Dear All,

Here's a picture I found of Prince Vidit I (Wilhelm zu Weid), Sovereign Prince of Albania for six months in 1914.

He wears an interesting array of medals on his upper chest. One of these is obviously the Medal of the Order of the Black Eagle, but what is the cross and the second medal.

The upper breast star appeared to be the Turkish Order of Osmanieh at first glance, but then I noticed that his has too many points. Doesnt the Osmanieh only have eight?

The lower star appears to be the Swedish Order of the Polar Star, which he received in 1896.

Any identifications and/or comments very welcome.

Cheers,

James

I hope no one will consider me to be a pedant, but - please - the princely title is WIED, not WEID.

Dragomir

This look similar.

Can you tell us something more ?

Yes, it looks similar, and - in fact - it is the same thing. Lamentably, I have no more detailed information, except that the Badge is worn from the neck ribbon.

Regards,

Dragomir

The Order was instituted after the year 2000, and it is still being awarded. There are two classes. Your's is the second class, the first class being gilded.

Regards,

Dragomir

Greetings,

does anybody know anything about this medal/order...seller is advertising it as Republic of Srpska order, but I can't find any details about it.

It looks fairly authentic

Thanks

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/SERBIA-REPUBLIC-OF-...%3A1|240%3A1318

This is the badge of the Order of St. Hieromartyr Mitropolitan Peter of Dabar and Bosnia, instituted and awarded by His Eminence Metropolitan Nikolai od Dabar and Bosnia, of the Serbian Orthodox Church. The surmounting miter is missing.

Dragomir

Does anyone know whether the red sash on his right (with a lozenge-shaped gold badge) is that of an order?

Sorry, I noticed this posting only now. It is Grand Cross Order of the Orthodox Crusaders of the Holy Sepulcher, awarded by Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem.

Does anyone know whether the red sash on his right (with a lozenge-shaped gold badge) is that of an order?

Sorry, I noticed this posting only now. It is Grand Cross Order of the Orthodox Crusaders of the Holy Sepulcher, awarded by Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem.

Hello!

Here is photo of the Tunisian president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali. What order he wear?

Regards, IVB.

He is wearing Order of 7th November. Manufactured by Arthus Bertrand.

Regards,

Dragomir

Hello!

Here is photo of the Tunisian president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali. What order he wear?

Regards, IVB.

He is wearing Order of 7th November. Manufactured by Arthus Bertrand.

Regards,

Dragomir

Thanks for your kind comments, Lukasz. Most of my Sarawak pieces came from a manufacturer, as did the Terengganu Grand Cross sets.

Since many of the State ODM emerged after O'Toole did his work, I have relied heavily on "Malaysian Protocol and Correct Forms of Address" by Abdullah Ali. It is primarily focused on the subjects in the title, but does have a state-by-state section listing orders and decorations, incuding royal decorations and orders of chivalry and classes, decorations and medals. Unfortunately, there is no description nor a single picture of the ODM.

I look forward to anything more you have in this SE Asia area. (And how did a Polish guy become involved with Sarawak?)

Best,

Hugh

A most fascinating theme!

May I offer here a photo (lamentably of the minor quality) of a Sarawak delight. The photo was sent to me by a friend from Sarawak many, many years ago.

Dragomir

The document states "Bronze", therefore it should be III Class.

Dragomir

Stangely enough I have no idea what the significance of a palm is on serbian awards, we'll have to wait for someone more knowledgeable to answer that question

Oak branch upon a ribbon denoted a repeated award of the same decoration.

Dragomir

Dear SaSaYU,

Thank you for your contribution to this book, sometimes I had difficulties to understand something, since I don?t speak Serbo-Croatian, and you helped me.

As you know, we have a separate thread ?Book?. There was a discussion what books do we use. If you look at that discussion you will find out that two books were mentioned:

• Known book ?Yugoslavia Army Insignia & Decorations 1918 ? 1990? Furlan/Bjelos in English.
• orden_master has mentioned that there is a 3. book from Molinar Exhibiton in Serbo-Croatian.
• New book of Mr. Velitschko in Russian.
• The existence of no other book was mentioned

If you look at this discussion you will get impression that there are no other books which covers this area.

I was happy and astonished to discover that of course there are other books which are dealing with Ex-YU OMD. I could even buy an excellent book ?Odlikovanja Socijalisticke Federativne Republike Jugoslavije? author - Stojan Rudez.

Even Sojan Rudez who was once chief of order office describes in his book only official OMDs with exception of ?Spomenica 1941?. All commemorative medals were not described, even not mentioned. He describes many types but still there are known types of OMD which were not mentioned in his book. And of course there is no typology, with all types and variants. Substantial extension and update of knowledge is necessary.

I?m happy that you too have this book which was released (2.000 books) in 1987 in Belgrade in Serbo-Croatian Language. It was hard work to translate this description for somebody who doesn?t speak Serbo-Croatian. Hopefully is this translation correct.

Of course I would like to refer to official documents as Sluzebni List but unfortunately I have no access to all of them.

It would be great help for all of us to have such book in English, since not of us could have access to such limited resources and not all of us can read Serbo-Croatian.

There is a need for reference book which covers systematic whole spectrum, it means all orders, medals and in volume 3 all badges.

To leave the status quo unchanged is not the alternative.

Thank you for your comment, of course I try to get in touch with Mr. Rudez and to invite him to work on this book. My request to related government agency is still open. I hope that all legal restriction will be clarified soon. And if Mr. Rudez is still alive maybe he can contribute new ideas.

Copyrights:

Article 43 of CRRL from 2005:

Short excerpts from the disclosed works may be reproduced without the author?s permission and without paying remuneration if used for non commercial purposes in the field of education, examination or scientific research.

waldemar

Gentlemen,

Mr Stojan Rudez passed away some ten years ago.

Dragomir

Thank you for information,Dragomir . What do think is it for Serbian Military Chaplains or for Russian volonteers (Chaplains)?

It is definitively Serbian. No Russian military chaplains are known to be involved in Balkan Wars.

Dragomir

No problem, welcome

This is a very, very rare badge, usualy described as "Faberge Made". The inscription reads ASSEMBLY OF BISHOPS (arhijerejski sabor) - ZA RATNO PASTIRSTVO (for war-time spiritual guidance). The only one I had seen so far was silver-gilt.

The years refer to the First and Second Balkan Wars.

Dragomir

Dragomire,

you are wrong.

ARJ PVO means: "Artiljerijsko-raketne jedinice protivvazdusne odbrane"

or

"Artillery-rocket units of anti-air attack defence"

I stand corrected!

Your are right, I was wrong.

Yours,

Dragomir

On the following picture is presented the badge which arrived in my collection last week. The badge measures about 2 cm in diameter. It seems to be an air defence badge (PVO = protiv vazdu?na odbrana = air defence). But this is the only thing that I can guess about this badge.

I will be grateful for any information about it.

Regards, Sebastijan

Well, ARJ stands for "Anti-raketna jedinica" (Anti-Rocket Unit), and - as you already guessed - PVO iz "Protiv-vazdusna odbrana", which is "Air Attack Defense".

Dragomir

Hi all:

It has been quite some time since I have been here (work has sadly occupied much of any time I have had recently), but wanted everyone who is interested to know that I am finished with the 3rd edition. Some folks may already have a copy (I wish I could remember who...), but if you are interested in a copy and your email can take a 15 meg PDF file, send me your name and email address and I'll shoot a copy to you free. Please pass copies around - just DO NOT SELL THEM EVER. They are free for a reason - I want people to have this information and I want to contribute to the greater body of knowledge.

I have decided that this will be the last edition. I am very pleased to hear folks in Albania are working on a book and would like that to be the "bible". My sincere hope is that my modest and albeit incomplete work has in some way fueled interest in these fantastic awards and more importantly a new-found interest in the very fascinating if not tortured history of this great country and its proud people. I sincerely hope that the folks working on the new book will want a copy so if you know anyone working on that project who would like a copy, let me know.

Cheers!

Eric

Off the top of my head the left hand five appear to be:

Badge of collar of Great Badr of Saudi Arabia - but need to check my records

Lybia - from ribbon Order of the Republic

Order of Renaissance of Jordan

Order of Omayyad of Syria

Order of Merit(?) of Mauretania

The left hand lot all appear to be other African Orders - the top one Order of the Nile of Uganda?

Regards,

Owain

As far as I can distinguish, the stars are:

1st row: An-Nahda (Jordan), Source of the Nile (Uganda) and Civil Merit (Burundi)

2nd row: Omayyad (Syria), National Merit (Central Africa), Merit (Guinea)

3rd row: National Merit (Mauritania), badge of a spurious Constantinian Order, Merit (Rwanda)

I concur on Great Badr and Lybia, as well as the Swiss parachutist medal.

Regards.

Dragomir

My research has so far thrown up the following: -

Order of the National Hero

Star of Merit

Medal of Honour

Order of St Christopher and Nevis

Independence Medal 1983

However the Medal of Honour is the only one I have found a picture of, although I do know the ribbons for the Order of St Christopher & Nevis and for the Independence Medal. The first 3 were instituted in 1998, the Order of St Christopher & Nevis in 2005.

Now you know as much as I do...

You can find some additional information in the book of Guy Stair-Sainty (World Orders of Knighthood and Merit), Chapter 19, page 1537, under "Saint Kitts and Nevis (Formerly the Federation of Saint Christopher and Nevis)"

Dragomir

"Order of Freedom": Full decoration AND mini ?

Gentlemen,

at my attached photograph, I see, that comrade Tito has his "Order of Freedom" AND the corresponding mini at his jacket.

Did I see right ?

Best regards

Christian

You did see well! Whoever was in charge of Tito's wardrobe was much more concerned with the pretended elegence then with regulations. Order of Freedom should have been worn on left, not right breast. Also, wearing of miniatures on uniform was not previsioned by any state or army regulations, and it was apparently a whimsical invention of Tito, which was followed by sycophants after his death. I can not remember to have had seen anyone daring to sport similar miniatures upon uniform during his lifetime. Similar to the peageon-gray shoes worn with uniform, this was his personal freedom to do as he pleased, without any regard to rules or laws.

Dragomir

The Romanian Order of Michael the Brave was closed in October 1944, so he must have received the successor, the Order of Michael the Brave with Swords.

The entire story is much more complicated. In fact, Tito paid a state visit to Romania in December 1947. At that time he still was considered the strong man of Balkans, and the communist government wanted to impress him, and decided that King Michael should officialy decorate him with all three grades of Michael the Brave, plus Collar of Carol I. However, something went wrong. Allegedly, King Michael refused to sign the decrees. Since Anna Pauker and her Party cronies already informed Tito about the intention to award him with highest Romanian orders, they had no choice but to present him with insignia, but without the decrees. That is why these two sets of insignia in his collection in Belgrade are not accompanied by any relevant awarding document. The incident is believed to have sped the communist decision to get rid of annoying King Michael.

Dragomir

And the bronze pinback badge for the same occasion.

Gentlemen,

I notice that Saujanya Books offers a book by Karma Ura, titled Deieties, Archers and Planners in the Era of Decentralisation, and in the contents it quotes Chapter 6: Medalic Decorations.

Now, this appears to me very intriguing. Does anyone knows the book? It was published in Thimpu in 2004, and has ISBN 99936-663-0-1.

Dragomir

OK, the information I have mentions a collar to the Wisam al-Rafidain/Order of the Two Rivers, established by Law No. 1 of 1968, and essentially a presidential chain of office. Somewhere, I have an image of Saddam Hussein wearing something that looked similar, but this is the best image of the mysterious collar I have ever seen. Presumably, President Ahmad Hassan al-Bakr would have worn this chain during his time as president, 1968-79, and it would have been worn by his successor, Saddam Hussein, 1979-2003. If it still survives, it may just pop up on eBay any day now?

Many thanks! I supposed that might be the case, but the badge appendant being not visible could not make my mind. Especially so because al-Bakr used to be photographed with all sorts of curious badges, including one mysterious (obviously Spanish) badge surmounted by royal crown worn on cord necklet.

Dragomir