JohanH

It is definitly not a Norwegian order. There is no other order than St. Olav and Lion Order. Wilhelm II was admiral in both the Swedish (1888) and Danish navy (1903). Sweden and Norway was in a union until 1905, so perhaps he could wear the Norwegian Navy uniform. But the picture is taken after January 1904 when he got the Lion order. I believe that the uniform is a Danish one, comparing the buttons on the picture to the one below.

Here is my take on the orders: 1. Grand master of the Johanniter order (just as Alex say) 2. Jerusalem cross 3. Bulgarian Order of civil merit? 4. Norwegian Grand Cross of Order of Saint Olav 5. Norwegian Order of Lion 6. Adjutants badge 7. Sovereign order of Malta

Thank you Tony for your reply! I was hoping there was a complete list published somewhere. I am interested in awards to Swedes but there were none on the link. But I know it was a pretty common award and have some names of recipients on my own lists.

Hello Tony! Does this "The recipients are listed by nationality as you know" mean that there is a list of all recipients of the academic palm? Where is this list located? //Johan

Here is his entry in the award-roll.

von Humboldt-Dachroeden got the Knight 2nd class of the Swedish Order of the Sword on September 20th 1897. He was the 48th person to receive the 2nd class knight.

Could it be "ihre kameraden" after "in Freud und Leid"?

I would recommend you to contact Livrustkammaren on Stockholms slott and ask them. They are usually very helpful. They probably have all decorations from Oscar II in the collection. Here is their email-address: samlingar@livrustkammaren.se

Could it be Joseph Carl Anrep-Elmpt?

von Blumenthal got the Swedish order of the Sword commander 2nd class on January 16th 1862 and the Seraphimerorder on May 12th 1873.

So probably one of these: Wilhelm Christian Ludvig Philip von Wickede Tysk korvettkapten Paul Max Wilhelm von Reibuitz Tysk korvettkapten W. Grapow Tysk fregattkapten Franz Kinderling Tysk fregattkapten Robert Prezewinski Tysk fregattkapten Hans Emil Max Jung Tysk korvettkapten Oscar Johann Caspar Klausa Tysk korvettkapten Conrad von Bodenhausen Tysk korvettkapten Curt von Maltzahn Tysk korvettkapten Volkmar Otto Wilhelm von Arnim tysk kommendörkapten Carl Heinrich Anton Louis Richard Aschenborn tysk kapitän zur see Christian Gustav Adolf Schwarzlose tysk kapitän zur see Alfred Peter Friedrich Tirpitz tysk kapitän zur see Carl August Lucien von Haugwitz tysk kapitän zur see Walter Koch tysk kapitän zur see Rudolf Rittmeyer tysk kapitän zur see Friedrich Franz Ludwig Vüllers Tysk korvettkapten August Ludwig Schröder Tysk korvettkapten Albert Robert Reinhold Brussatis Tysk korvettkapten Fabian Alexander Eugéne Kalan von Hofe Tysk korvettkapten Guido Ernst Adolf Julius von Usedom Tysk korvettkapten Carl Wilhelm Heinrich Coerper Tysk korvettkapten Max Karl Friedrich Gustav Galster tysk kapitän zur see Adolf Carl August Thiele tysk kapitän zur see Hermann Jacobsen tysk linjeskeppskapten Friedrich Wilhelm Julius Paul Schäfer tysk fregattkapten Hugo Emsmann tysk linjeskeppskapten Wilhelm Ludvig Christian Schack tysk linjeskeppskapten Max Grapow tysk linjeskeppskapten Johann Wilhelm Friedrich von Witzleben tysk linjeskeppskapten Wilhelm Lans tysk linjeskeppskapten Gustaf Eugen Hugo von Gotzhausen tysk linjeskeppskapten Ernst Gustav Wilhelm Fritz Hoffman tysk linjeskeppskapten Maximilian Peter Caesar tysk fregattkapten Paul Schlieper tysk fregattkapten John Schirmer tysk fregattkapten Rudolph Berger tysk fregattkapten Leberecht Friedrich Max Maass tysk fregattkapten Paul Wilhelm Karl von Hintze tysk kommendör Friedrich Boedicker tysk kommendörkapten Jaraslaw von Rothkick u. Panth tysk kommendörkapten Ernst August Clemens von Mann Edler von Fiechler tysk fregattkapten Heinrich Karl von Restorff Tysk korvettkapten Ludwig Alexander Theophil Georg Dewitz tysk fregattkapten Carl Wilhelm Sievers tysk kommendör Theodor Frey tysk kommendör Walter Gustav Ferdinand von Keyserlingk tysk kommendörkapten, marinattaché Otto Back tysk kommendörkapten Albert Julius Emil Hopman tysk kommendörkapten Heinrich Rohardt tysk kommendör Carl Martins Theodor Fuchs Tysk kommendör Heydel tysk kapitän zur see Karl Friedrich Brehmer tysk fregattkapten Hans Paul Volkmer Zenker tysk kapitän zur see Ernst Wilhelm Danick? Janselow tysk kapitän zur see Seebohm tysk kapitän zur see Hans Carl Anton Humann tysk fregattkapten

He seem to have the Swedish order of the Sword around his neck. Could it be anyone of these admirals? They all received the Sword order. Georg Alexander von Müller Friedrich Wilhelm Alfred Breussin Alfred Friedrich Martin Herz Maximilian Johannes Maria Hubertus von Spee Karl Ernst Ferdinand Behm Reinhold Sigismund Heinrich Werner Friedrich von Wietersheim Gottfried Paul Leopold Hansen Otto Werner Steffan

Thank you! Interesting that he received it with red sash! I thought all foreigners got the green ribbon.

Here is a video-clip that show the medals fairly clear. Russians pay respects to former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev at funeral service | News | Independent TV

I see. Unfortunately my knowledge in languages are limited. As you might have noticed. But surely there must be someone here who knows Farsi?

No answers yet... I am certain that there must be someone here who can read Arabic script?

Prinz Otto Emil Karl zu Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg received the grand cross of the Swedish Order of the Sword on September 20th 1897.

Here is the entry for Poenaru in the order roll. He received the order on the same day (June 29th 1895) as Major Constantin Manescu. A few Spanish navy lieutenants also received the Order of the Sword the same day.

Here is one of the most common combinations of Swedish orders. Knight of North star and knight of Vasa. Here is a pretty boring and un-impressive miniature bar but the original owner was CEO of one of Sweden's largest companies. I also have the large medalbar with the same medals.

He received the Sankt-Olav Order on May 15th 1909.

I see. I bought them mainly because of the document to the Norwegian gold medal "til belønning for fortjenstlig virksomhet". Only 48 medals were awarded of that type!

That is an great photo. Thanks for the link! I wish I could find that miniature-chain! Do you mean the part about reproductions in the museum archive? Or that you think the documents belong in the museum?

Yes, that's exactly what I wrote. He made a book about Bulgaria. Sven is a Swedish name, the Norwegian form is Svein. Gjestvang was born in Norway and Even is a fairly common name in there. I don't know much about cyrillic, but I have always thought that S looked like a C in cyrillic. So Sven would be something like Свен? It is a very nice group of documents to a quite important person. Unfortunately there are three documents missing which the seller didn't have. They only had seven of the documents and as far as I know Gjestvang received ten medals/orders.

Even Gjestvang did many things in his life. He was mainly a business man in the paper industry but also imported cars as early as 1903! He was also general consul of Persia in Sweden which gave him the order of the Lion and the Sun. If the document states him as a writer it must be that he got the order for a book about Bulgaria that he apparently wrote in 1896. If the document say Sven it must be a spelling error. His name was Even.

Thanks Nick!