paul wood

Most interesting, never seen the like before. I would have thought that they are Afghan Artillery unit prize medals. Anyone who has any other suggestions would be interested to hear. Paul

Great photo, nice acquisition, Paul

Bernhard, nice contemporary miniature, well done. Paul

I assume there were Russian members of the Order, don't forget there were both Catholics and Protestants in the Baltic and the western part of the Russian empire. Paul

Very unusual johanniter as it appears to have the Imperial Russian crown. Paul

Basically this is a low priced souvenir medal in brass that could be purchased by the public. They are collectable and this example is certainly scarcer than many encountered but as to value we are looking at under $50 Paul

Seeing the tickets are unused looks like his wife provided him with a sandwich box and a thermos. Nice bit of paperwork

Thank you so much for the photos a most useful illustration. Paul

The Romanian Order system especially post 1938 is quite complex as well as the varieties of swords there are also sash/ribbon variants depending on the nature of the award, having just catalogued a large collection of Romanian Orders it takes great powers of concentration to get it remotely right. The combination of Antii Ruokonen's book and the earlier Romanian book Decoratii Romanesti de Razboi 1860-1947 are immensely helpful in unravelling the complexities of the series and I would recommend them to any one remotely interested in Romanian Royal Orders. Paul

Brett, Any one who collect KGL will tell you that very often the spelling on the roll and the spelling on the medal are often quite different. I have just scanned through the KGL Waterloo roll, no exact match of Backeberg but in the 2nd Light Dragoons KGL there is a Private Frederick Baggenberg which could be conceivably be a misspelling of Backeberg. Will check the peninsular roll to see if I can find any matches. Paul Not really any matches on the Peninsular Roll (which was for those still alive in 1848). There must be muster rolls for the KGL lurking somewhere in Kew (if they haven't been lost or destroyed) however researching them could be a very costly business as researchers tend to charge based on time spent and it could be a very time consuming business which at the end of the day may draw a blank especially given the spelling variations on the rolls. I hope this is of help. Paul

I have just looked at Antti Ruokoen's book and while he illustrates both types he give no explanation as to the type 2 breast star with and without crown, based on a 1993 book from Romania it would appear the crowns on the star were added after 1938, so it would appear that type 2 star without the crown are 1932-38 and those with the crown are 1938-47. I hope this is of help, Paul

Tim, A most interesting group, I presume the first two are Metropolitan Police 1897 Jubilee and 1902 Coronation medals, they will be named and will have the division he served in. From those you should be able to find out quite a bit about his police career, we have good police specialists on this site. Paul

The reverse of the Ashanti medal could not be produced to day it would definitely be considered politically incorrect. The rank on the medal is Petty Officer 2nd Class. Paul

It is a badge of the International Order of the Good Templars. A society which promoted temperance. It is still inexistence today and has branches all over the world. Paul

Radmilo 9) I am sure is the 1898 Jubilee medal 10) and 11) I suspect are Imtiaz medals (Gold and Silver ?) Paul

Re Franklin and crew If they'd laid off the newly invented tinned food and stuck to rancid seal/walrus/Polar bear meat they would have been just fine Paul

It appears to be a concoction of an Austrian breast star by the Viennese jeweller Vinc Mayer with war wreath with Russian arms possibly removed from a badge attached, Shame the star has been so violated. Paul

I personally haven't seen any good touching eagle fakes, I have seen several that wouldn't fool a gentleman with a white stick and a Labrador. Paul

I confess I was 99% certain it was wrong but having condemned the odd genuine item due to poor photographs I never like to condemn things unless I am 110% sure. The Russian souvenir pieces are truly awful but in the early 1990s there was a Russian gentleman based in the US who was marketing the most fantastic quality fakes of rare Russian badges, including the Royal yacht badge and the rare guard units. The way you could tell they were fakes were that they were too good with absolutely perfectly struck hallmarks. I wouldn't be surprised if some of that work resides in a few good collections. Paul

This site gives amazing details about the Irish Legion during the war and what happened to many of them after http://www.irishbrigade.eu/

It's the badge of the 1st Sumy Hussar Regiment of his Majesty king Frederick VIII of Denmark, established 13 December 1908. Would need better images to be absolutely certain but they are extensively copied. Paul

The Wikipedia site lists a good number of his foreign awards with depictions of the ribbons. Paul

Order of Skanderbeg. I have just been shown a Grand Officers set issued during the Italian occupation, the star instead of having the Albanian crown has the eagle, yet I have seen sets with the star having the Albanian crown in the centre, can anyone explain the differences Paul

It's Chilean, It's the Valparaiso medal, instituted in 1882 for the war with Bolivia 1879-81, yours is the issue for the civilian naval artillery battalion, Officers received a gold medal, other ranks, your example received a silver medal. It is quite a scarce medal. Paul

The majority were given for test pilot or research work. Paul