JohanH

I have no idea, but it's a question I have been thinking of. If they have kept all orders that were sent in after the recipients death, they must have enormous amounts of orders in stock. Just the commander class of the order of the Sword have been awarded just over 5000 times since it's institution. But it's a question worth asking the royal chancellery about. The royal palace have a very impressive collection of orders in exhibition. So if you ever go to Stockholm, it's well worth a visit.

Glad to be of assistance. It’s a very simplified explanation but at least it’s something. The discussion about abolishing the orders had been going on since the 1800s. But as long as the king had power, the governmemt couldn’t abolish them. When the power was transferred to the government they could.

Hello! In the change of constitution in 1974 when the king lost all his political power the government decided to stop awarding orders to Swedish citizens. The main reason was that it was a thing of the past and the abolishment of different social classes. All citizens are equal and to differentiate with the use of orders was unappropriate. The order of the Sword and Order of Vasa was declared "resting" but still existing, just not awarded anymore. The order of the North star is still awarded but only to foreigners and members of the royal house. Same thing with the order of the Seraphim. So today it's impossible for a "normal" Swedish citizen to receive a Swedish royal order. Hopefully the orders will be "re-instituted" in a near future.

Strange. But here are one of the photos for you to enjoy.

He got the Swedish order on December 8th 1894.

Hello! It's field marshal Harold Alexander and the picture is probably from their meeting in april 1945. There are alot of information about Alexander if you google him.

Strange, I don't get any warning and it's a well known auction house. You may try to go the long way and go to www.probusauktioner.se and click on "catalogue 35...." in the top right and then "samtliga utrop" and the orders are on page 10.

The Order of Merit of the Prussian Crown that was awarded to Swedish prime minister Arvid Lindman was sold today in auction for 370 000 SEK which is about 36 000 € plus 22,5% commission. Apparently only 57 ever awarded! See the beautiful pictures here: https://prob.auction2000.se/auk/w.object?inC=PROB&inA=20200526_1458&inO=446

The short answer is yellow ribbon for 2nd class and up. This changed however to red ribbon for front line awards and yellow ribbon for homefront /civilian awards. Today all awards are with yellow ribbon, if awarded for gallantry under enemy fire it's awarded with a rosette (these are very rare). If Finland would be in war again, I suppose the ribbons would be red and marked with the year of the outbreak of war on the back. Libertycross 4th class with red cross 1941 was awarded 861 times. But I don't know how many was on red vs. yellow ribbon.

The picture is bad. If the sun decide to show up I will try to make better pictures. But yes, the front has been polished and there is nothing strange about the year on the back. It only looks flat on the picture, not in real life. As far as I know, Sporrong never made any 1918 medals with red cross, they only made the medal without cross. I have never seen or heard of any red cross medals with hallmarks since they are made of silvered bronze. (Just like the ones from 1939, the early ones are made from silvered bronze and the later in hallmarked silver)

Since the sun apparently not is on my side today, I made a scan of my newest find. 1st class medal with red cross 1918! According to Tiainens book it was awarded 197 times, but I have also heard that probably only a fraction of those was with the red cross and most got the normal medal (without cross). Anyway this medal have eluded me for years since it's so rare. But now it's mine and it completes my collection of 1918 medals and crosses, from 1st class crosses down to 2nd class medals. During the last years I've seen one of these for sale (this one) and 4-5 Libertycrosses 3rd class 1918 (and those was only awarded 22 times). That gives an idea of how difficult these are to find.

Here is a piece from my collection. Awarded to a Swedish major in 1964. Since 1926 (if I remember correctly) only Swedish recipients recieve orders in gold, foreigners receive gilded bronze.

I have finally found a missing piece for my Libertycross collection! Almost two years since the last time. This time it's a piece that I haven't seen for sale in many years, I've hardly even seen it on pictures. If the sun decide to show up tomorrow I will take some pictures of it.

He got the Swedish Order of the Sword on August 3rd 1905

The crown is the Finnish control stamp

The earliest crosses (1919-1921) was made by Viktor Lindmann and was maker marked V.L. and was after 1921 made by Tillander, A.T. In 1923 the lions was made larger than before and in 1929 the dimensions of the cross was increased to 40x40mm. In 1936 there was a official change that introduced the rosette on knight 1st class. The change in 1941 was only affected to the breast stars and the 1963 change affected the grand collar (replaced swastikas with spruce). The silverstamp 813H was used between 1895-1972. So we can know for sure that your cross is from before 1972. My personal guess would be 1950-1960s.

About 17 000 medals was awarded during the reign of Olav V.

Hello! It looks like the seal of the Cambodian Armed Forces. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Cambodian_Armed_Forces A.R.K. could possibly mean Armées Royales Khmères

Hello! I recently bought a certificate for a Swedish naval captain is awarded the officer degree of the Legion of Merit and have some questions. Unfortunately there was only the document, not the medal. 1. Was the awarded medal engraved with the recipients name on the back? 2. According to some photographs he was later awarded the commanders grade (neck cross) of the Legion of Merit. Is it possible to find out when? He got the officer degree in 1979. 3. I would like to find a medal to display with the document, but I want it to be original and correct time (1979). Can anyone point me to where I can find a medal? Preferrably in Europe to avoid the insane swedish import taxes. 4. Are these documents easy to find for foreigners? What I have is a folder, diploma, citation and some photos from the award ceremony. Best regards Johan

Hello! I believe the symbol of the elephant in Denmark comes from the old danish colonies in India. I guess elephants was very exotic in northern Europe in the 1500s.

Really impressive!

Hello! Does anyone know if there exists any rolls over recipients of the Polonia Restituta 1918 to foreigners? I am trying to research a swedish miniature bar with a Polonia Restituta knight cross and a roll with recipients would be really helpful. Thanks in advance! BR Johan

Hi Christer! Do you have the name of any americans who recieved the 1st class commander cross and star during 1919-1925? Is you list published and available anywhere?

Nice collection! what are the year marks on the stars? You need a sword order and an order of the seraphim to complete the set of swedish stars.

Yes, you are absolutely correct. It´s the 1st class medal of the order of Liberty (Vapaudenmitali) and the last one is the commemorative medal from the liberation war (Vapaussodan muistomitali). The 1st class cross is the variant with brilliants, I believe only two such pieces was awarded in 1918.