paul wood

There is certainly a sense of Deja vu, haven't we seen this before. Paul

Note however that this will not include any DSCs awarded to French officers for the allied intervention in Russia (assuming there were some). Paul

According to the Navy List January 1920 85 DSCs were awarded to French Naval Officers. Hope this helps. Paul

And there are still poor suckers out there who fall for them. Mind you some of them would have looked good on Michael Jackson's jacket. Paul

The first soviet silver coins had a lot in common with the late Czarist coins. They contained the silver weight which corresponded with the value of the coin and the edge contains the value in zolotnik and doli (the Russian weight system), so (providing you were literate) you could see exactly how much silver the coin contained (I suspect this was especially important in the eastern and central asian areas), the edge on the first communist coins are virtually identical to those of the Czarist issues of the previous century, there only difference, no Czar. Later as state contralled economics took over the coinage became purely token. The last silver coinage were the 15 and 20 kopecks of 1931. Not until the 1970s when the Soviets released they could get valuable foreign reserves for selling gold and silver coins to foreign investors was any precious metal coin issued. Paul

1,563 French soldiers are recorded as having received the Distinguished Conduct Medal of which 154 were gazetted in the London Gazette of 16th November 1915 IN the second world war 20 were awarded to Free French Forces. Paul

Wow that is a pretty sexy Agdas. Paul

It shows how markets have changed 20 years ago the fakes would have cost more to produce than the originals were worth. Paul

This just turned up with a group of world orders and decorations, I wonder if anyone has the faintest idea what it might be? Thanks in advance. Paul

Ching Period Medal for Meritorious Deeds and Achievments, several varieties exist, probably manufactured after 1900. Paul

Unmarked badges in non precious metal are quite difficult, about 20 years ago they presented no problem for the simple reason they were not worth faking, they were easily purchasable at a relatively small price, now that unmarked badges are making several hundred (if a rare regiment or unit even thousands) It is well worth the faker producing them and as you are probably well aware there are extremely good fakes coming out of Russia. Were it silver and hall marked it would be much easier to assess. Fake hallmarks are usually the biggest give away. From the photograph you show I cannot see anything obviously wrong with it but one would need a much higher resolution photograph to have any serious possibility of making an informed decision. I am sorry that I cannot be more exact than this but I hope my contribution is of some help. Paul

Mike, I have suggested that our auction house buys it as our new headquarters as we seem to be there a lot of the time. Paul

This is a rather distressed example of the State Militia badge, Nicholas II issue. I have no reason to doubt its authenticity. The back is hollow as issued and the clips have long since departed. It is probably the most common of Imperial badges and even a nice one should set you back less than $100, hope this helps. Paul

This is a rather distressed example of the State Militia badge, Nicholas II issue. I have no reason to doubt its authenticity. The back is hollow as issued and the clips have long since departed. It is probably the most common of Imperial badges and even a nice one should set you back less than $100, hope this helps. Paul

Dan, Image please. Paul

I have conclusively discovered that there were NO inter-war awards of the Royal Victorian Order to Germans. However let us look at the picture the subject is certainly not in his first flush of youth and could quite likely be in his 50's. The pictue looks as though it is pre-WWII. Also I notice that after his EK he is wearing the Order of Hohenzollern (possibly the Princeley Order). Now look in the pre-war awards there is one which sticks out. Prince of Wales visit to Sigmaringen on the marriage of King Manoel of Portugal, September 1913, where and MVO 4th class was awarded to Captain Fritz Wehr, Baron von Schonau, 8th Gendarmerie Brigade. He would have been late twenties -early thirties at the time which would fit in with the time scale of the photo. All the best, Paul

Makedon, No offence meant, perhaps I should have said as likely as England winning the European Championships (even less likely than my previous allusion). Paul

Marcus this is great news and from the illustrations it looks like he does a really good job. Paul

I suspect there will be several bigwigs both governmental and MOD who have never seen a shot fired in anger, would be nice if one of them gave up their place for him but hey there's more chance of Greece paying off their debts. Paul

I wil try and post again. As usual I was being dyslexic. What I meant to say was that the postcard almost certainly dated from the 1880s or 90s when the Karoly studio was at its most prolific. Hope the post works this time. Paul

Divald Karoly (1830-97) ran the major photographic studio in Budapest. I would date this photo to 1800s-1890s Hope this is of help. Paul

3rd Attempt at trying to reply to this. In my opinion this is a somewhat later privately made piece quite possibly made to replace a lost original. Paul

Owain, thanks for this I was aware of the other three which you showed previously but not this, an interesting find. Paul

Nice group, especially with all the documentation and nice to have a named medal. A good find and should keep you busy researching for a fair while. Please post any more info that you dredge (as its Naval) up. All the best, Paul

This item has already been posted on the site see http://gmic.co.uk/index.php/topic/54517-unknown-order/unread/ Paul