paul wood

The type 1 does turn up occasionally and is quite scarce and ought to be worth 150 euros or so. The Moussault piece is amazing I have never encountered one in over 30 years, it should be worth considerably more than type 1 piece. Paul

Royal American Order of Isabella the Catholic was the title given at its inception by Fernando VII in 1815 and was originally awarded for exceptional services in pursuit of territories in the Americas and overseas. In 1847 it was reorganised by Isabella II and retitled the Royal Order of Isabella the Catholic and was given a much broader focus than the Americas taking into account the current political situation and the virtual extinction of colonies in the Americas. I hope this is of help. Paul

It is an award document for the Commander's insignia of the Order of Isabella the Catholic, I can't make the date out but it is certainly Isabella II pre 1868 Paul

Difficult to read but it appears to be a warrant of the order of Carlos III and quite scarce as it is an award by Amadeo of Savoy. Paul

Goodness Lars, that must be one of the earliest known miniatures of the Lion and Sun, absolutely fantastic. Paul

Obviously Cyrillic was not the strongest skill of the Godet workmen. Paul

Have actually seen the Aftab set in Windsor castle, which she was given when Nasr-ed-Din visited Britain in 1873. There us also a nice medal issued by the city of London to commemorate the banquet held in his honour in the Guildhall. Paul

The Barre pieces were the official issues, the ones by EF, Falot and Sacristan were privately manufactured pieces. Paul

Many of the Orders were reproduced especially during the second empire when anything Napoleonic was the in thing I have seen the Orders of Louis Napoleon, the Order of the Reunion and the Iron Crown reproductions from that period. Paul

Goodness looked quite similar naming to the medals for Afghanistan and Second Iraq, maybe the luxuriant mirror surfaces dazzled me. Paul

Looks like laser impressing to me. Paul

Radmilo It is either quite worn or a cast difficult to tell from the photo. Nicer examples are available (one in London on 15 December for example) All the best, Paul

The sad thing is that many collectors who are sold fakes are reluctant to believe they are, especially if they have paid a good sum of money for them. As an auctioneer I am frequently the bearer of sad tidings to next of kin when they inherit a supposedly fantastic collection where the original owner became a patsy of the fake purveyor. Paul

Yes the problem is once you have cleaned medals and made a pig's ear of the cleaning you can't 'unclean' them. Paul

Lambert, Very nice indeed especially as it is attributable Paul

Francois, Can't see anything wrong with it. Paul

And preying on the ignorance of others. Paul

I wish you luck in your quest for a 1939 silver. Paul

Ah the old one of German's impaling babies, It was that sort of propaganda which meant that people didn't believe the atrocities in WWII until it was too late. Paul

I suspect the doctors will, despite him being 96, put him down as a smoking related death. Paul

Andreas It is satirical piece concerning the Ottoman Empire and Greece being on the same side in the Second Balkan War despite their noted antipathy towards each other (in those days it would have been like Israel allying with Iran today). tried Google translate but it is about as much as using recent Russian Federation medals as an investment fund. Paul

Interestingly although the bronze QSAs were issued without clasps the roll lists clasp entitlements, which makes one think that there had been an intention to issue them with class but to save time/money the idea was abandoned. Paul

Excellent site, thank you Karhu. Paul

Excellent, nice to see one of those rare beasties in captivity. Paul

Thanks Dieter Paul