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    Drugo

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    Everything posted by Drugo

    1. Hello Owain, Yes, it's a display of ribbons from the SFRY ranked in order of importance. These were mainly hanging in tailor shops and factories to guide tailors in the correct order of presentation of sewn ribbons on uniforms. What is a small oddity here is that the small devices on the order of republic ribbons are the coat of arms from the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (1992-2003), where the revised orders were introduced in 1998, while everything else is consistent with the pre-1991 regulations.
    2. Thanks for the followup muh. When I have time I will check my wartime examples to see if they have stamps.
    3. "Succedentisi" is not translated as successful but rather "explosions in sequence". I think it gives a better idea of the context... The chain reaction of an exploding powder keg. Must had been hell.
    4. Hello Muh, I don't see any obvious red flags with your cap. Fabric, inner lining, black thread, red star cloth are all consistent with a late war or early post war titovka. That said, most of the ones I've seen had no stamps. The stamps themselves certainly indicate that this specimen was never really used, as they tended to disappear rather quickly with wear and sweat. It could also be a movie prop, I'm not ruling that out. Finally, it could even be an original military titovka that ended up as movie prop, since the JA was very much involved in supporting the movie industry, both through their own productions (Zastava Film) and state film productions (Avala Film). When Avala Film went bankrupt in the mid 2000s, many such scene costumes and accessories came out. It's hard to tell what's what nowadays.
    5. That's an interesting badge I haven't noticed before, thanks!
    6. Yes, indeed, numis: Ante Šiško, born in 1914 in the village of Komorani – Livno (today Bosnia and Herzegovina), worker, arrived in Spain as a volunteer for the republican cause on 5.12.1936. from France. He died in November 1991 in Beočin (Serbia). My man: Anton Užarević, born in 1915 in Tovarnik – Vukovar (Croatia), worker, arrived in Spain on 7.2.1937 from Yugoslavia. He died in 1981 in Poland.
    7. Fantastic, thank you! And very interesting to see on picture that he used to wear his orders with that black cloth underneath, probably to preserve the uniform from attrition, but highly unusual and probably tolerated only because of his rank... Or maybe they retired him for that!
    8. WOW!! AMAZING GROUP Eatmeat! Congratulations! Can you share the name? What year was he born?
    9. Hey Numis, Excuse my week-long replies. Here are some pictures of my Zagreb medallion. Definitely these were given/the conferences were intended for Yugoslav participants to the Spanish War only! My only question is whether this one specifically was given to all veterans or only those of Croatian origin. Because as far as I remember all medals of this type that I've seen bear Croat names.
    10. Numis, I do have one of these medals, cased, at home. I can take pictures if you are interested to see. Consider that there were only about 1,600 Yugoslav volunteers in the Spanish Civil War, half of whom died during the conflict. Many more died thereafter, during WWII, fighting with Tito's partisans in Yugoslavia. On the other hand, many of those who survived raised to cover prominent positions in Socialist Yugoslavia, from being ambassadors, politicians, military leaders, etc. This makes any medal, document etc. of the Association of Yugoslav Spanish Fighters a rarity indeed. In 1966 the Municipality of Zagreb, SR Croatia, decided to mark the 30th anniversary since the start of the war by issuing this nominal table medal to Spanish veterans - I am not sure if from the city of Zagreb only or broader. But I think about 100+ of these were struck overall.
    11. I can warmly recommend this Italian craftsman, from whom I ordered a custom-made drawer last year: https://www.coinsandmore.it/ Top quality and craftsmanship, very responsive and helpful in meeting my needs and guide me through selecting materials/sizes etc.
    12. More correct dates appear to be in February 1945, when Alexander visited Belgrade. Here many interesting photos of the occasion. Confirming the timeframe, a telegram from Churchill dated 1 March 1945, congratulating Alexander for the successful mission to Belgrade. I am very pleased. ?
    13. Dear Johan, you were absolutely amazing! Thank you very much! Indeed, it is him, and it helped me find the concrete occasion at which this photograph was taken: https://www.gettyimages.fr/detail/photo-d'actualité/tito-posing-following-his-nomination-as-head-of-the-photo-dactualité/104421086 https://www.gettyimages.fr/detail/photo-d'actualité/field-marshal-harold-alexander-confers-over-a-large-photo-dactualité/515461342
    14. Dear colleagues, I have acquired at an auction this nice autographed photography of Marshal Tito of Yugoslavia with a British officer. Tito is wearing his Soviet Order of Suvorov, which was awarded to him in October '44, and the same uniform that he wore in Naples, in August '44, in a famous meeting with Churchill. In my opinion the photo was taken during the late war up to 1946 the latest. I would need some help in identifying the British officer standing next to him. I thought to see some resemblance with Field Marshall Montgomery, but I am not very convinced, both because my understanding is that Montgomery was not that tall and because I didn't find any evidence that the two met in this period. Any information on the person or perhaps even on the occasion on which this photograph was taken would be much appreciated. Thank you!
    15. Yes, probably fac-simile was not the correct term, I was thinking more of an autopen. Certainly, quite a rare document nowadays. ?
    16. Very nice items, BalkanCollector! It's always a plus when you can trace the unit and actions where the decorated person took part, especially when such an important one. Is Tito's signature on the document original or a fac-simile? I assume only a few hundreds of these could had been awarded in 1958... Cheers, Drugo
    17. Thank you for this link, Wilsson02, it adds another piece to the puzzle! Cheers, Drugo
    18. Indeed, if such a list of holders exists, I'd be most interested to see it. It would be nice if Valjevo could share a link.
    19. Amazing lot! Too bad it seems that many awards do not come with original diplomas or certification papers at least... Regarding your question about a medal, it should be a common civil defense award from SR Croatia.
    20. I found about David's death here, and I am very sorry about it. He wasn't an old man, and I haven't been in touch with him in years now, but we exchanged many many emails back in the days when I was starting my collection, and then again. I remember him as a tall, red haired gentleman and kind person. Perhaps most of you know him only as the "medals dealer", but David was an important figure in Slovenian modern history: Born in 1962 in Kruševac (Serbia, then just another republic of the SFRY), as a student in the 1980s he wrote for the Slovenian magazine Mladina, a left-wing liberal and outspoken Slovenian magazine at the time. In 1988, the magazine published a series of documents from a secret meeting of the Central Committee of the Communist League of Yugoslavia, with an alleged plan to arrest a number of Slovenian journalists and dissidents. At the time, the Yugoslav People's Army (YNA/JNA) was the strong arm charged of protecting and enforcing the socialist regime's grip in Yugoslavia. After the publishing of the article, the army arrested David Tasić, Janez Janša (later to become Slovenian Prime Minister in the 2000s and early 2010s), Ivan Borštner and Franc Zavrl, charging them with "betraying military secrets". As such, they were tried by a military, not civil court, and the trial was held entirely in Serbo-Croatian, despite the four of them were Slovenian. The trial* was held behind closed doors and the alleged secret papers the four were charged for were never disclosed in court. They were all sentenced to prison in October 1988, with 4 months to 5 years sentences. David Tasić got 10 months. All four were later released in August 1989, but the trial sparked such outrage in the Slovenian public opinion that it actually accelerated the struggle for greater freedom and democracy in the country, unifying different opposition streams in the country against the central government of Belgrade and catalysing the fight for independence, which came in 1991. After the independence, David abandoned the political scene, establishing one of the first independent Slovenian publishing houses. Still, he remained a well known public figure in the country, participating to public events commemorating the trial, Slovenian struggle for independence, and warning about the fragility of democratic systems and the need to always stand and defend freedom. May he rest in peace. Filip *More information about the trial can be found on Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JBTZ_trial
    21. Hello Eric, This is a spomenica in itself! It was awarded to living relatives of fallen partisans. So it's the spomenica to the dead. It entitled the family to some social benefits as those of the living holders, but there was no award beside this paper. I was discussing precisely this with BalkanCollector just a few days ago, he even showed me one like this with several names on the same document, an entire fallen family!
    22. I just noticed this one. I would not like it in my collection. The full "IKOM Zagreb" hallmark is new to me, and the position of the serial number (with a full stop?) is not correct. Besides, the case doesn't look appropriate, with that blue ribbon.
    23. Hello Dan, regarding the leather, as a friend of mine who is an artisan says, leather is a living thing that should be treated the same way you treat your own skin. So if you put a hand cream of any sort stay reassured that it won't do any harm, it will just be absorbed. ? Then, if you're not satisfied you can still think of alternative solutions... As for the oxalic acid, I don't know how it is regarded in the USA, I can speak for Italy and France, and here you can find it in its purest form in drugstores, DIY stores, cleaning products stores, etc. It's a white powder. Most helmet collectors use it freely to remove the worst rust from their helmets, I did use it in a couple of occasions as well. It is also used to whiten wood and clean hard surfaces. Of course, I wouldn't leave it around kids to play with, as I would not leave them with a box of powder detergent. Use a pair of latex gloves for extra precaution, but beyond that stating that it is "extremely dangerous", is, frankly speaking, nonsense. As far as you don't eat it by the spoon, sniff it in extreme doses, or anything else that I hope you would not do with any cleaning detergent, it's absolutely safe. Just FYI, you can check on Amazon the hundreds of people who used it for the most different purposes. If you are still not comfortable, I would say just check some common degreasers in commerce, and go with one of those, though the result might be a little less effective. Check out the composition, many of them will contain oxalic acid or other similar acids. Here's an Italian M33 that I found in Macedonia and cleaned conservatively with oxalic acid the way I described, just to avoid any further rust formation and remove major dirt:
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