AlexLev

Stupid incivility of some guys ("gentlemen") is a quite annoying thing, by the way. It will be better to put them into the black list sometimes... Boris III was born on 30 January 1894 in Sofia or the Bulgarian Red Cross was established in May 1878 in Sofia. A huge amount of sources mention these facts and in this particular way, and if I would like to mention this information in my OWN text here also, this has nothing common with plagiarism. Also this is a very useful information here for men who didn't know about this before...The forum is not a peer-reviewed research article or habilitation thesis with a huge reference list to corresponding research data, so if somebody wants to know source of information in the forum text (in the case of interesting disputes, of course), he needs just to ask for this. And ask very polite and respectfully, of course.

What did you add here about the Red Cross Medal and/or the history of Bulgarian Red Cross? Nothing (ZERO). As I have mentioned one time already, you are absolutely wrong and obviously you know almost nothing about plagiarism (I know very well, being the professor and journal editor for a long time already, but not in history, which is just my hobby). You are really add a zero (even very minus) info here, please, strictly avoid to do this in future (and, as I have already mentioned too, your excuses are very welcome!). And you have a bad memory, as I've already asked you about Petrov's book in my post #16 from 20 December 2017 in the Medal of Merit thread (I still don't buy it, but is going to do this)...How to mention the information about exact date of medal institution or about its face/reverse design? Everybody uses quite the same words in such cases, me too, when I am working on my own texts. See here, just look at this page (no any citing of Petrov's book, by the way), almost the same text also, because the subject is the same and the majority of known information can be descibed with just the few sentences - http://www.medal-medaille.com/sold/product_info.php?cPath=498_44&products_id=3223 http://www.medal-medaille.com/sold/product_info.php?cPath=498_44&products_id=8663 By the way, if you are really interested in decorations, you should know that, for instance, the description of coat of arms should be given according to strict heraldic rules only, so in every correct and knowledgable source the corresponding description is almost identical as there are no other ways to mention the same information. Quoting the source is necessary, but in this case - Royal Decree No. 9 only, with its exact document number from state archive! Yes, and I am not sure that I wrote 100% correct info here - “the Gold class of medals - for 20 years of service”... I found several mentions that it was awarded for 25 years of service. Need to check.... What does Pavlov’s book say about the Gold class and years of service?

Hi, new world! Unfortunatelly, I don’t have the Pavlov’s book yet. But I have 4 volumes about world’s decorations by Borna Barac (but this manuscript contains more illustrations than text information). So you are absolutely wrong in your assumption and excuses from your side are very welcome. I am using Internet resources, for instance, medal-medaille.com, and several others. But there are some different info among them. And of course, if you read the text at least a little bit carefully, you will see that it is completelly mine, but based on combined information I could find in internet and other forums; the design description I am writing using medals from my collection or known photos as well as I am making the own translations of all inscriptions. I never copy the foreigner’s texts, but carefully analyze the info I could find in different sources, try to check it and write my own quite interesting (as I hope) texts always! It will be very useful for all forummembers to combine all information concerning particular decoration all together (including photos from collections), this is obvious. So if you don’t know the answers on questions I’ve asked in post 3 here, I am having hard time to understanding the purpose of your post.

Nobody knows additional facts on the Red Cross Medal?

The local Bulgarian Red Cross (BRC) organization was established in May 1878 in Sofia after the liberation of the Principality of Bulgaria and the region of Eastern Rumelia from the Ottoman Empire in order to help the wounded men after the Russo-Turkish War 1877-1878. The Bulgarian Society of the Red Cross was established on 20 September 1885 when aforementioned Bulgarian provinces were united together (officially the Society was recognized by the International Commitee of the Red Cross on 20 October 1885). During World War I, the BRC was very active in assisting the wounded and sicken soldiers with charity sisters, sanitary trains and field hospitals. Significant contributions to BRC were made personally by Tsar Boris III (a supreme patron of BRC) during the period of 1918-1943. Also Tsaritsa Eleonore (wife of Tsar Ferdinand I from Saxe-Coburg and Gotha dynasty) and Tsaritsa Giovanna (wife of Tsar Boris III) patronized the BRC. In 1928 the BRC helped a lot to victims of strong Chirpan earthquake in the South Bulgaria. The contribution of BRC in development of healthcare system in Bulgaria was great as a lot of hospitals were built that time as well as first aid training courses for nurses were organized across the country. In 1937 Rapid Medical Assistance was established in Bulgaria, and in 1940 - the Blood Donation.

Also German mint firm C.F. Zimmermann from Pforzheim could produce these crosses.

The most interesting questions are the exact mint companies for this medal (there are no any mintmarks on the Bronze medal...), amount of awarded persons and the period of awarding (I guess the medal was awarded in 1918-1944, but it remains unclear were the medals of the type I awarded till 1929 only when the type II was introduced or together with the type II during the whole period of Tsar Boris III's rule till the abolishment of monarchy?).

Seems to be that this medal (Type I, Bronze class) was worn by its owner very often as the inscription on the reverse side is a little bit frayed (because of cloth friction), the suspension ring was probably replaced that time also...

Hello, dear friends! I would like to collect an information about Bulgarian Red Cross Medal. From what I know at the moment is the following: The medal was instituted by Royal Decree No. 9 on 15 February 1918. Circular medal with laterally-pierced cylinder for ribbon suspension had size 33 mm. The trifold ribbon was red, with white and white-green (alternating narrow strips) strips at the edges. This medal was awarded for acts of philanthropy, charity and humanity during World War I, also for merits to the Red Cross Movement in three classes – Gold (actually the gilt bronze), Silver and Bronze. The Silver class medals were awarded for 15 years of service in the Bulgarian Red Cross, and the Gold class medals - for 20 years of service. The face with three concentric circles – in the center of the innermost circle was a Greek (Geneva) cross, rays around the second circle, the outer circle inscribed БЪЛГАРСКО ДРУЖЕСТВО „ЧЕРВЕНЪ КРЪСТЪ” (“Bulgarian Society of the Red Cross” in Bulgarian). The reverse with a heraldic shield (escutcheon of the German type) supporting the Bulgarian royal crown and bearing the Bulgarian crowned lion rampant with the Saxon coat of arms imposed on its breast; a laurel wreath encircled the shield. There were two types of the medal: Type I – Silver and Bronze classes. The face with vertical hatching of the Greek (Geneva) cross, denoting the heraldic red color (gules); the second circle had the date “1915” at the top (the date of Bulgaria’s entry into World War I); the outer circle inscribed БЪЛГАРСКО ДРУЖЕСТВО „ЧЕРВЕНЪ КРЪСТЪ”. The heraldic shield in the reverse was encircled by a laurel wreath and inscribed below ЗА ПРИЗНАТЕЛНОСТЬ (“for appreciation” in Bulgarian). Type II – Gold and Silver classes, instituted in 1929. The face with red enamel Greek (Geneva) cross; the outer circle inscribed ЗА БЛАГОТВОРИТЕЛНОСТЬ (“for philanthropy” in Bulgarian) below and БЪЛГАРСКО ДРУЖЕСТВО „ЧЕРВЕНЪ КРЪСТЪ” above. The heraldic shield in the reverse was encircled by a laurel wreath and inscribed below ОТЪ ПРИЗНАТЕЛНОСТЬ ("from appreciation" in Bulgarian). Any additional information is very welcome, thanks!!!

So use a polite way for discussions always, Graf! No need to use such erroneous phrases as “young and energetic eager” as you did before, discuss only crosses and their history here! And remember to use type II for Boris III’s Long Service Cross as well as Tsar (preferably) for his royal title to be 100% correct.

Do you mean that first examples of Silver-class medals of Tsar Ferdinand l’s period were minted by L. Chr. Lauer from Nurnberg (famous German mint company, founded in 1790)? Interesting info, thanks. Unfortunatelly, it is impossible to identify the exact mint company for Bronze-class medals of Tsar Boris III’s period, as they don’t have any mint marks or special details for such kind of identification.

Hi, Graf! No, I am not young and I know a lot already, but, of course, always open to a new knowledge))) If you read carefully my note (by the way, I read and write everything very carefully) you should know now that Tsar is more correct word for East-European Slavic monarch (mainly orthodox) than King (mainly catholic West-European monarch). But both variants are widely used in the English-language literature.

Yes, larsb001, a very nice miniature of the officer’s cross for XX years of service from the Boris III’s period! Dear Graf - this is type II (Boris III), not type I (Ferdinand I). Also it is better to use Tsar instead of King for Bulgarian (and for other East and South European Slavic monarchies) highest royal title Nice item also!!!

So, according to the aforementioned journal, this medal was minted also by Carl Poellath Munz- und Pragewerk Schrobenhausen (old and famous German mint company).

What is the name of the book? Need to translate this text from German (which I know not very good), but I have seen some mistakes already, for instance, the medal was introduced in 1881, not in 1883...