new world

If that's the case, then we should not be taking endorsements of this "royal fund" seriously. 922F set it straight - these are fantasy pieces, made from scratch for collectors. They resemble real awards and could fool most collectors at the times when information was scarce, but today we have enough reference materials to reject these imitations. What bothers me is the fact that this modern royal fund puts these imitations on the same level as authentic awards. Think about it - someone bought these at the auction, with no history, provenance or maker attribution, no proof these were ever awarded or even worn, yet this society decides they are legitimate. Why? Because they were donated? This is insane!

What you are saying is that some of these "copies" were made from leftover parts, such as unrelated, generic star bases, with newly manufactured elements on top of them.

These don't even look like collectors copies, which are supposed to be exact replica of the originals. I've seen some high quality copies made for collectors, they were practically indistinguishable from the originals. The idea is that collectors can purchase copies that look exactly like originals, from the same materials (silver, enamels) or from same looking substitutes (i.e. gold plated instead of pure gold). Such copies were made because originals were impossible to obtain due to rarity or prohibitive price. Also, those copies did not cost $8,000, more like hundreds of dollars. These items sold by eMedals look more like fantasy pieces.

Based on the information provided this set for sale by eMedals is not real. Dealer knows something that made him describe these awards as copies. If he could he would have happily sell them as originals and would have asked much higher price. He is a dealer after all and I never saw a dealer voluntarily downgrading value of the items he's selling. Did anyone ask Barry what's the story behind these medals? I'd be curious to know what he says.

Boris is certainly wearing old style star. Look how dark are wings around the head in the center, they are dark (red) color like on old designs, not grey color like on new star.

2nd class of Bravery order. Type 1 - 7 dots. Note repair on section where crown connects to the cross.

Here's nice chain of heavily decorated German with 2 Bulgarian Civil Merit miniatures - 5th and 6th classes

here are some photos of early Bulgarian awards, pics were taken in Military Museum in Sofia and posted on GMIC by a fellow member:

Really bad fake, some sort of old star base with modern parts attached.

$401 + 20% premium

"If the Dealer did it it is too bad If a lonely collector" Whoever did it - those stones do not belong there. I think we can agree this was not done by the person receiving the award. This was given for acts of bravery and owner was an officer, this type of modification would result in jokes and mockery from his fellow officers.

It doesn't really matter who did the "enhancement", what matters is that it was not official and does not belong to this award. It certainly does not add to value of it, quite the opposite - it decreases the value. Dealer put this on an auction and attached description to it which implied that this is some sort of improvement. The price is already above the price for what these crosses normally sell for.

For sale by a dealer: Военна ордена на смелостта, Гранд Крос. Instituted in 1880. Grade I with 1915-1917. In silvered bronze with red and white enamels, with four glass stones embedded in each handle of the crossed swords, measuring 48.5 mm (w) x 48.5 mm (h), vertical pinback, intact enamels, scattered silvering wear, near extremely fine. Note that stones were attached to already worn award (see how silver plating is worn out and bronze metal is visible right under the stones). This is a sure sign that stones were applied later, after this medal was worn quite a bit. This was done long after this was awarded, likely it is a modern addition, to increase value of the award.

clown!

colors are wrong on the center, it should be white or green enamel, not blue.

it looks like a fantasy badge to me

I am a bit puzzled by this stamp, as CF Zimmermann did not put full name of their firm on German awards, normally it's a number 20 as I recall. On WWII German (DKIG, various badges, etc) awards you can see underside of the pin marked "20" which is the code number for C.F. Zimmermann, Pforzheim. On the other hand, here's similar St Alexander star with diamonds with same stamp, sold by Spink. No photo of the stamp, but description mentions same stamp to the pin: A spectacular diamond-set star of the Bulgarian Military Division of the Order of St. Alexander Bulgaria, Principality, Order of St. Alexander, Military Division, Star, by C. F. Zimmermann, Pforzheim, 84mm, gold, silver-gilt, siver and enamel, enhanced with approximately 848 'diamonds', maker's name to retaining pin, nearly extremely fine and of the finest quality The overall quality of this Star illustrates the supreme experience and detail undertaken by the craftsmen in the workshops of Zimmermann. Each stone upon the rays is individually set into a pierced silver frame; in this material to accentuate the natural colour of the stones. Besides this a sliver-thin pierced gold plate is painstakingly affixed and pierced to align with the pierced silver plate, allowing light to the stones whilst ensuring the reverse of the Star is as attractive as possible at the same time alleviating any tarnish being transferred to the uniform of the recipient in time. Zimmermann markings on German Iron Crosses: C.F. Zimmermann / Pforzheim 20 & 800 http://www.medalnet.net/Iron_Cross.htm

wow, such a beautiful star! I am sure it belonged to someone very important. Congratulations! The stamp on the pin is for German maker Zimmermann.

not exactly fake medal, star actually looks fine, but Godet and other stamps are very suspect.

Wow, impressive medal bar!

This is rare medal, congrats!

Seller of these supposedly Rothe stars is based in Austria, which could mean something if these awards were manufactured post-war. One factor in favor of this theory is lack of proper F Rothe stamps, as finished awards were all endorsed with such stamps. One of the main mysteries are enamels. Enamels on these awards seem to be real hard baked type enamel, which are extremely difficult to replicate. It's possible though that someone found supply of already made parts (center of the star) with enamels already applied, but never assembled.

Last one looks like medal for the Election of King Peter I.

Thank you! In post #69 Graf said "Notice the Swords they are mounted upside down" - that's exactly what we see in the 2nd photo you posted. It seems to be identical star to the one in the Romanoff's book.

What kind of cross goes with this star?