christerd

And the backside showing the multipiece construction

Here is a closeup of a class II order

Christer

Thought I would celebraty the new sub forum with a new thread

Order of Civikl Valour and Merit was instituted 4th August 1966

It comes in three classes , I, II and III the first class has agolden Lion with golden rays round it, the II class has only tje lion gilded and the third class

has everything in silver.

This order was awarded for valour exhibited in rescuing human lives, salvaging property (!) and in combating crime.

This order is not one of the more common ones and only 2359 pieces was awarded and that is for all three classes.

A very nice and well constructed Order

Here is a Class I with document and late plastic box.

Christer

:jumping:

Thanks for great Pics ! I would really like some of thoose ribbon bars....

Have a nice summer

Christer

:cheers:

YES!

Now I looking forward to seeing a lot of interesting Bulgarian things

Happy Birthday, New Subforum

Christer

:jumping:

Thats was a new one !!

During more then 3o years of collecting I have never seen one of theese

Its like the Holy Graal for Honor Cross collectors

All the best from Sweden

Christer

:cheers:

Great Bar Mike !!

When I have looked further into this I found that the Clasp

-Kotijoukot

-Karjalan Kannas

-Ilmapuolustus

All could be found on Foreigners medals, so your home front cross fit right in I think.

And another discovery, in just 2 years at least 4 of the silver medals has been sold in Finland and Sweden ......

Ohh god , why isnt my name Bill Gates ...... I want one

Christer

:cheers:

Now I have taken a deep dive into the mysterious world of Finnish Awards and I think all the different Types of awarding for the "winter war" medal

First award cert would be for a person with Both Swords and Clasp (name of clasp ) Only one clasp was to be on the band!!

Next award cert looks almost the same but only say clasp ( and name of clasp)

Third award cert was for someon without swords or clasp

And now comes the fun part, there is a fourth award cert !!

A award cert for next of kin, with another writing " in memory of ....." I have never seen such a cert or should I say havent been able to read what it says ... Have to learn Finnish.

So Three different medal combos: Swords+ clasp, clasp , nothing

And Four award certs ! Ahh forgot one thing !!! All types of certs could be written in both Finnish and Swedish since some people in Finland was Swedish speaking in 1940.

Puhh I hope I got that right now, Next step is to get pics of all the different types of certs

All the best from summer sweden

Christer

:cheers:

Great Award papers Rick !

If my memory don?t fool me I think it is totally correct to get a medal without any bar

The swords was for anyone who had been under "enemy fire" in some way, the battle clasps was for participating in

the battle . But the different Army, Airforce clasps ... hmmm

I think for example woman who was part of the Lotta organisation didn?t get any clasps at all.

Firefighters,civilians,police probably the same. I will have to do my homework tonight and return with a better answer.

And please dont put me on the breakfast table because I disclose the award numbers on Gold and Silver medals

The numbers for awarded Foreign medals (Iron & Bronce) and all other Finnish Orders is still well locked in my safe.

Have a great day all!

Christer

HI Mike ,

About the claps on medals to foreigners I belive the two awarded is Kentt?armeija or Lappi

I don?t think any others where awarded to foreigners ?

But I am not 100 % Hav anyone seen a Foreign medal with another clasp?

By the way, the silver medal was awarded to 42 people if my sources is correct, haven?t got the names yet but still looking.

Good night

Christer

Here is another ship in my collection.

A beautiful Steamer SS Duchess of Atholl , built in 1928 by W. Beardmore & Co Ltd, Dalmuir.

She was a big ship 20.119 tons and one of the biggest ship sunk during WWII.

In October 1942 she was transporting 534 passengers including woman and children when she was hit by an torpedo from U-178 at 08.19 on 10th Oct.

She was in all hit by three torpedos and this could have been one of the worst disasters, but the casulities stopped at 5 crew members.

All others was saved by a British ship HMS Corinthian.

The German Submarine ? Well she ended up scuttled in Bordeux in 1944....

Christer

:cheers:

Great Cards Vince!

Here is another new card in my growing collection

M. V Roxburgh Castle built 1937 by Harland and Wolff ltd Belfast. Her story ended at 08.28 hours on 22 Feb, 1943.

When she was hit by a torpedo from U-107 north of the Azores.

I don?t think anyone ombord was killed during the sinking and the crew got into lifeboats and reached the Azores.

The submarine u-107 was itself sunk by an aeroplane in 1944 and got down with all hands...

Christer

:cheeky:

I got some more info about the Golden and Winter War medals !

The Gold and Silver medals could only be awarded to Foreigners who had helped Finland between the dates November 30th 1939 and

March 13th 1940. Notice, that only people working outside Finland with aid was awarded theese medals.

And ohhhh so few

What I know the following people got an Gold medal:

Crown Prince Fredrik of Denmark

Crown Prince Gustaf Adolf of Sweden

Crown Princess Louise of Sweden

Prince Carl of Sweden

Amiral Nicolaus von Horthy , Hungary

Ex president USA Herbert Hoover

General V. G Th?rnell Sweden

So if you find one of thoose lying around, don?t hesitate to send it to me for safe keeping

Christer

And here is the normal issue besides the Foreign one !

The back is the obvious difference , but notice also that the Foreign one is bigger and one very important thing, look at the different

connection rings.

Christer

Hi Rick and Hendrik !

And you are right of course Hendrik the "Kentt?armeija" is the most common one

The Tolvaj?rvi is one of the harder ones I think, but I have seen it for sale in Sweden, theese medals turns up on a Swedish Internet auction site from time to time , I keep you in mind and if a Tolvaj?rvi clasp shows up, i?ll mail you.

Rick, I dont think theese where awarded after the war at all, but since there are no dates on the papers I really don?t know

Maybe some member from my neighbour country Finland knows??

Here is the Backside of the Foregin Issue

Christer

Here is the four Army, Airforce , Coastal Defence and Home Front

+ the two for Foreigners.

The ones for foreigners is awarded in very small number, especially the bronce one ( for non fighters)

There is also a Silver one awarded in very very small numbers to high ranking politicians for ex (saw one for sale last year for about 2000$ )

And even one made of Gold for head of states and similar awarded in extreme small number

I have never seen one.....

Christer

Here is a little better pic of the different claps !

One of the hardest to get is Mantsinsaari , and the most common is Karjalan Kannas I think

When the swords are mounted the value is a little bit higher.

As you can see , they can be made in some different materials and types.

Christer

:jumping:

At last I got all the different clasps for the Finnish Winter War medal .

Thought I show them for you

There is Eleven clasps for different battles during the Winter war

They are :

Kainuu

Karj alan Kannas

Koivisto

Laatokan-Karjala

Lappi

Mantsinsaari

Pohjois-Karjala

Summa

Suomussalmi

Taipale

Tolvaj?rvi

Then we have four different ones for

Airforce : Ilmapuolustus

Coastal Defence: Rannikkopuolustus

Army : Kentt?armeija

Home Front : Kotijoukot

First picture is all of the eleven battle claps + one medal issued to a woman.

I thought that the HK was only awarded to German nationals?! Very interesting bar! You have one heck of a collection here! What are the award numbers on most of these? In the millions?

Regards

Paul

Thanks Paul,

I also thought until recently that the HK only was awarded to Germans, Austrians but no other but since then I have seen

photos and read that at least the Finnish soldiers in J?ger Batl 27 , fighting with the Germans in 1WW was awared the HK.

Concerning award numbers of Finnish Orders/medals all I can say that Finland is a rather small country and the numbers are related to that.

Christer

:jumping:

Thanks Thomas !

I thought the North Star band looked somewhat strange, so it is a Oinonen Group Com Cross

What does that look like ?

Well it explain the somewhat mystery life of a "swedish soldier"

All the best

Christer

And here is the backside, some different types of backings !

Christer

:cheers:

I thought I would show some new ones in my collection.

I haven?t found out who the owner was to my big ribbon bar, but instead I bought some other interesting bars during the

hunt for the name.

First one is a fighter from two wars

LC 4th 1941 - LC 4th 1939 - Com medal war 39-40 - com medal war 41-44 - 11 Div Cross war 41-44

Next one is a quite strange bar given to a Swedish military?

First Swedish Order of North Star - Finnish medal for air raids protection -Finnish medal war Olympic games 1952 - Com medal for war 41-44 ?? A swedish firefighter? working in Finland 41-44, in some way working in Olympic games 1952

Another one given to a Swedish guy fighting in Finland 1939-40

Swedish medal for Civil Defence - Swedish Red Cross medal - LC 4th 1939 - Com medal 1939-40

Fourth one is a little unusual

LC 4th (swords missing) Medal for war in Kaunas 1919-20 - Air raid protection 1939-40

Hmm was in the war 1919 but not in the 1918 war, probaly police or firefighter in 39-40 and awarded with a LC 1939?

The last one is a mini bar (navy bar)

LC 3rd class w oakleaves 1941 - LC 3rd class 39 or 41? - LC 4th class 39 or 41 - Com med 39-40

Christer

:jumping:

Fantastic Rick !

1500 $ for that I thought I have seen all......

But I wonder, did the F?hrer himself get an award cert? Or did he just get the medal without any paperwork

Have a nice weekend all

Christer

And what did the postman bring me today

Yep, another one, this is a never ending story.....

SS Salsette from the P & O Line built in 1908 a very nice ship. On this card in Aden Harbour.

She was transporting people from London to Amsterdam, St Petersburg, Stockholm all over.

And in July 1917 she was going for Egypt and Australia when she was torpedoed in Lyme bay by German Sub UB 40

15 people followed her down. The only positive is that the wreck now is a popular diving site.

Christer

:rolleyes:

I realize this photo is a little bit in the outskirts of my collecting area, but I thought i was such a interesting pic so

I wanted to show you this.

The photo shows some survivors from a "torpedoed" ship I cant be sure that the ship was indeed torpedoed, but

i might have been. and they are rescued by a German Sub !!

Sorry to say I haven?t a clue to what ship they belonged to

One more to my "Torpedoed Ships 1914-1945" collection

Have a nice summer all

Christer