new world

Nice medal and super rare document!

Ugly fakes! Be on the watch out not to get tricked into buying these.

very nice rare types, thanks for sharing these!

Unknown Soviet General with 2nd class Saint Alexander order with swords, awarded post September 1944. Post 1944 Saint Alexander was renamed into Saint Alexander Nevsky order

Stunning award, but even considering it's rarity I am surprised it sells for this much.

There is symbol of city of Rome on the center of 5 million note - wolf feeding Romulus and his brother. Why do they have Italian cymbol on the Romanian note?

Are you saying it was too cheap or too much?

Possible, it could also be Grand Cross of Austrian St. Joseph order.

it's sad to see how quality of the badges declined over the years

That's wise, we shall hope that all collectors avoid this 'set'

awesome photo! What award is his shoulder sash for?

Really, the text is completely yours? Let's compare just the beginning of your post: Your post #1 in this thread: The medal was instituted by Royal Decree No. 9 on 15 February 1918. Professor Pavlov's book, page 435, edition 2015: "The first emission was introduced by Decree No. 9 on February 15, 1918." Your post: The face with three concentric circles – in the center of the innermost circle... Pavlov's book: "The averse of the medal contains three concentric circles. In the centre of the field, within the innermost circle..." Not only it adds zero useful information, it also would be qualified as plagiarism by my college professors without properly quoting the source.

I've just noticed something interest interesting about this lot - it is titled A Military Order for Bravery, 1st Class Grand Officer with Swords This actually makes no sense, Grand Officer is 2nd class and it can not be 1st class at the same time. It's either 2nd or 1st class...

Alex, I am having hard time understanding the purpose of you taking the text almost unchanged from Professor Pavlov's book and posting it here. Most collectors with serious interest in Bulgarian awards already own one edition of his book, so what's the value of you starting multiple threads with the same content copied from the books?

They also refer to this old collection, but there's no proof it actually was part of that collection. It's all hearsay...

Something interesting happened few years ago (2010): Bulgarian collector donated original dies/stamps for making some high level Bulgarian awards to a National History Museum in Bulgaria. The tools donated amounted to 146 pieces and were from Rothe and Nefe, well known legitimate makers of Bulgarian awards. They covered award variations from Knyaz Alexander to Tsar Boris. My question is - if this equipment was in private hands until 2010, was it ever used for making awards? If so, how many were made? What's worrying is that awards made on such equipment would be very difficult, if not impossible to tell apart from original period made awards, unless they don't do enamel work correctly. Specific awards included: 1. Cyril and Methodius: - Full set of Grand Collar, - Full set of Grand Cross, - Miniatures 2. Saint Alexander: - Grand Cross, - 2nd class, - Lower classes 3. Civil Merit: - Grand Cross Knyaz issue, - Lower classes 4. Military Merit - various classes 5. Miscellaneous awards, badges (Red Cross, etc.), monograms. Photos of some of tools donated are attached. You can clearly see C&M tools in the photos.

miniature

mini, Knyaz period, before 1908

Miniature of 4th class with war distinction

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.