new world

Another problematic Bulgarian award sold by a major dealer. Several issues with this set: Problem 1. Metal circle on the reverse of the cross. Circle looks too big and too thick, out of proportion and in the shape I've never seen on the At Alexander crosses. Gold plating is not on the reverse center piece. It also appears it's made from different metal (brass) than the rest of the cross (gilded silver). Note how white enameled center is mis-alligned. My guess is that that part was lost and later replaced by a custom made piece. Problem 2. Cross and crown are not put together correctly, cross is turned 180 degrees. Looking at the photo from previous post and one below one can see some warning signs: - Enameled ribbons on the crown and back side of the cross are on the same side, cross was turned around 180, - Signs of tempering on the loop which connects cross and crown. Clearly the cross and the crown were separated and then put together again. Possible constructor, where cross and crown are from different sets.

If he did not have any socialist period decorations - how do we explain two pilot badges on his funeral pillow?

I just noticed something interesting: Bravery cross on the 1st medal bar is of early type (19the century), while Bravery on the 2nd bar is from 1915 emission. I don't think that as a King and supreme commander he was given lowest grade of Bravery during the WWI. Perhaps when they made 2nd bar for him they just used another Bravery which was available at the time. What's the story here?

Very interesting! There's a book 'Slovakian and Bulgarian Aces of World War 2', which goes into details about Stoyanov's service during WW2. Parts of the book are available here: https://books.google.com/books?id=okfDCwAAQBAJ&pg=PT144&lpg=PT144&dq=General+Stoyan+Stoyanov&source=bl&ots=3p9srlHBl2&sig=0nTs3zpWiSo8d7wZ7Cl8ey1rD3I&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjU_8HExJ_UAhVL2IMKHfiMDzoQ6AEISTAI#v=onepage&q=General Stoyan Stoyanov&f=false

Congratulations! Very nice box! Considering that Opsomer was born in 1878 - it's very possible he was awarded this order...

Are these actually the same medals as in the photo? They look different to me, especially how ribbons are folded and how medals are attached. Note Civil Merit medal - you can clearly can see ring between the medal and the ribbon, while actual medal sits higher and ring is covered between the ribbon folds. Also, the medals in the photo seem to be held together by some device, while actual medal are bunch of loose ones.

Neck, Nice officer cross!

Here's another suspect. One can't be 100% sure without holding the award in his hands, however low quality of this cross and lack of details makes me very concerned. Look at the details of the swords and areas under red enamel - I've never such poor details, normally details are very crisp. Crown could be OK though, at least from the pics quality seems to be as usual.

This St Alexander 1st class cross I posted couple days ago was reported by another collector. It turned out to be a 'constructor', or an attempt to upgrade from 3rd class. Center piece with red enamel on front was fake, just like Graf reported in earlier posts. Red enamel was soft one. Fairly simple upgrade and faker offers an award which sells for double of what 3rd class sells. Furthermore, that collector also reported that the base of the cross was complete fabrication: 'The whole cross part (enamel and base/arms) is fake, the crown is good, the swords addition is fake too, very well done though! The enamel is cold, but unfortunately crappy pics don't tell you that'. This is scary that fakers can make such good looking cross!!! You have to hold it in your hand to determine it's not good! The seller of this fake cross was 'riaerica2000' on eBay, so beware!

Here's another candidate for discussion. Sold on eBay couple years ago. What do you think?

eBay is not going to do anything. Let's hope we alert as many collectors as we can here, that's the best we can do.

What's up with the symbols of current Republic of Serbia? Royal crown and lilies on the coat of arms, crowns on the awards? There's no monarchy, do these royal items really belong to the state seal/awards?

1st class star sold for $1,300 2nd class - for $900

The engraving is very suspect and my gut feeling is that it was added recently. If the rest of the award was fine I would consider inscription genuine, but giving the number of alterations on this star I have my doubts...

That site is maintained by the one of the forum members and was discussed here:

Interesting how Bradley's name is crossed off the document. Is there second page to this document?

This is actually great price for Pavlov's book! I would get it for myself if I didn't have 2 copies already.

Impressive museum collection!

Richard, The photo you are showing looks like some sort of a sample, I've never seen any sets with the silvered flag.

That central portion is what's left of the award after it was recycled for sterling silver metal.

I second what ilieff said - top ribbon looks like a modern replacement.

I second what 922F said - get Pavlov's book! You are talking about couple hundred dollars - which is the cost of a single common low class award - and it will teach you a lot about collecting and will show you all details on variations/types.

Good points from Graf on avoiding fakes. It's also very important to know who you are buying from. It helps to know the reputation and knowledge of the dealer/seller before making purchase. As said above, if it seems to good to be true... Don't get me wrong, I've got some incredible bargains on few occasions, you can sometimes find them. However in a some cases it turned to be not what I expected. Luckily I was able to recover my payments. So, be on the alert and don't be shy to ask for the opinion on this forum!

They also made a mistake with the engraving - called the grade of the award Commander (Komdr Stern), while this is 2nd class (Grand Officer). The true recipient would knew for sure the grade of the order he was awarded and would have given proper instructions to the engraver.

In my opinion the engraving was added recently to inflate the selling value of the star.