new world

There are several things wrong with this "set": 1. Cross is not 1st class, at 52mm it's 2nd class. It should be worn on a neck ribbon, not on a shoulder sash. 2. I think star was made up, by taking 3rd class 1st grade breast badge (1915-1917) and attaching it to an unknown star base. 3. It's not a set, someone combined 2nd class neck cross of 1915 emission and fantasy piece made from 3rd class 1915-1917 cross. As for the actual base of the star - I never saw anything like it. First I thought it could be base from 1st class of Military or Civil Merit, however they have alternating gold/silver rays, so this is not such base. It does not look Bulgarian to me. I am not even sure it has anything to do with Schwerdtner. This "set" was supposedly part of old collection from 1946-1967, so not a modern creation. Perhaps this star was some sort of a prototype or a trial sample? In any case, this should not be sold as a set, IMHO.

Same type of pin and hook!

This is the worst quality of a badge I've ever seen, faker make better copies.

Book by Professor Pavlov is considered the best reference on Bulgarian awards

Trooper_D, Thank you, it's very informative article. To me the bar on the medal looks like it says 1915, although it could be 1913, as the photo is not detailed enough.

Wow, excellent bar and minis group! I puzzled by the minis group. I think it was to a British medical officer for merits during WWI. Red Cross medal bars say 'Balkan Allies War 1915 - Bulgaria', however Bulgaria was not part of Allies(Serbia, Russia, France, the United Kingdom, Italy, Belgium and the US), it actually fought against Allies on the side of Central Powers (Austria-Hungary, Germany, Bulgaria and the Ottoman Empire). How come this British officer received war time awards from the enemy?

Here's the same with old original red ribbon. Also note special leather case for this award. I have this cross in the same case somewhere.

I just read those 2 posts and it makes sense: Russian immigrants, society of Konstantin - that's what K stands for and crown is for him being a nobility. I just don't understand why they used design of Bulgarian order for this society. BTW, this Mr Goodwin that is mentioned by 922F - eMedals currently has his collection and they've been selling items from it for some time.

That's the one!

Graf, I found something interesting - a star with identical cross and the same crowned K monogram was offered by Liverpool Medals in the past. Their description: '0rder of Cyril and methodius Grand Cross breast star , very unusual star the centre in the form of the sash badge with crowned K in centre, excellent qaulity and condition, rare'

This is very interesting! Please keep posting!

where did his awards go after he died? I imagine they would be in a museum in Albania.

Anyone got large award documents for these stars?

There are lovely and unique sets, please keep posting!

This makes sense, no one was stuck with a crappy badge because you were poor.

I love how they personalized the medal by engraving names of the soldiers and award dates.

Amazing bar! Did you manage to get it compete?

Nice work with this book! Thanks!

and they got the colors wrong!

Inflation must have been extremely high at the time - I see 100 000 and 1 million notes. Thanks for sharing!

Nice photo in wear! I think I saw some photos of this award being worn on long ribbon over ones neck. I also recall there were two versions of this cross - same design, but different dates on the bottom left of the circle.

I recall reading somewhere that there were literally just couple of these badges awarded (around 2-3). It had to be such low number, think about it - capturing a flag in the battlefield was big deal and extremely rare event. To me the quality of your badge looks too crude and unacceptable for such honorable and rare award. Look at Bulgarian badges from that period, even common badges were of high quality. What you are showing us is just not on par with the craftsmanship of that era. Sorry to tell you, but your badge does not look promising at all...

So what? That is not 100% guarantee, that dealer sold questionabe items in the past.

This 1st class star is certainly a fake. Here are photos of real number on the pin, see how sloppy it is executed on the fake one.