new world

what makes you think it's made in Russia?

Here's Grand Cross awarded in 1937 (when Flat Reverse version was introduced). As you can see reverse of the cross is not Flat.

Star with smooth rays - 1st class Star with diamond rays - Grand Cross

yes, info on Bulgarian Royal Decorations site is correct. In 1930-40s both Grand Cross and First class were awarded. It seems Flat Reverse version didn't really impact Grand Cross, as it was given for only a few months. I have not seen any Grand Cross crosses with Flat Reverse. There's actually a debate on whether Flat Reverse existed above 3rd class. Flat was only feature of the cross, and the cross was the same for 1st, 2nd and 3rd classes. You pair that cross with a star and it becomes a higher class.

This is extremely rare and nice set of documents, however medal itself raises some questions. 1) That number does not look like serial numbers generated at Bulgarian mint. 2) Number is too high for stamped and hand inscribed numbers 3) Award was given in 1978 - by this time they stopped putting serial number on awards. 4) Award box obviously does not belong to the award, they had luxury box specially made for high ranking recipients. I can think of couple explanations for this: 1) Serial number was added by Polish to match the numbers in the document for inventory purposes. 2) Number was added by people who try to sell the group to increase its value.

"awarded orders and medals for impeccable and conscientious service in the army by Decree of the Presidium of the National Assembly No. 649 of December 13, 1950. The specific awarding standards are: - the Combat Merit Medal is awarded for 10 years of service; - the Third Class September 9 Revolution Order is awarded for 15 years of service; - the Order of the Red Banner is awarded for 20 years of service; and - the Order of Dimitrov is awarded for 25 years of service." In 1950 when this law was passed People's Republic of Bulgaria was only 6 years old (since Sep 1944), so how was it possible for someone to have 10, 15 and especially 25 years of service at that time? Did they count years served in Tsar Boris army? This was not the same situation as in Soviet Union, because when they adopted awards for service their Red Army was already 30+ years old and plenty of officers were in service for 25 years.

Same seller who listed fantasy St Alexander star also sells high classes of other Bulgarian orders - cross of 1st class of Bravery, 1st class set of St Alexander with swords, 2nd classes of St Alexander and Military Merit. His photos are small and it's difficult to say for sure whether the awards are real or not, however the boxes look highly suspect and remind me of boxes from fake sets offered in recent past by infamous seller from Bulgaria (we discussed his sets earlier in this thread). St Alexander 1cl Bravery Mil Merit 2cl

it's a good thing that quality of these Chinese Bravery crosses is quite bad, they will not be fooling collectors. These are more of souvenirs IMHO.

True, but considering that these medals were given in late 1930s, by that time families already knew their soldiers didn't make it back from the war.

these are nice! Fairly uncommon, congrats!

nice!

Many awards were converted by removing screw post and replacing it with a pin. You can see remains of screw post in the center. It was driven by practical consideration, as people didn't want to damage their clothes by making a hole in them. Screw post attachment was practical during war time and was quite secure to assure that you don't lose the medal, but as the was ended people started to care about nice clothes.

IMHO the shapes were different because Yugoslavia was a socialist country and wanted to have their own marks

Nice and rare award! Thank you for sharing!

Not sure you'd get the badge for donating such small amount. In 1915 1 US dollar = 6.50 Kr. $1 in 1915 is equivalent in purchasing power to about $31.22 today. 3 Kr would be worth about $15 in modern money.