Ed_Haynes

These are nice and the long-term promise of the projhect is even nicer. One hopes, though, they don't wind up "lifted", burned to CD, and put up for sale on e$cam. Presumably, the limitations placed are there for a reason?

You should get his MIC from the National Archives (online) and see if he qualified for the clasp.

While we might have wished for a more uncommon surname than "Cooper" a quick look finds no mention of him on the often-cranky CWGC site, so, presumably, he survived the war.

I suspect there is a good deal of mixed urban myth and intentional misunderstanding at work here. Rather like the Iron Cross that was "given" to Captain P. B. Bhuracha, DSO, IMS (the first Indian DSO, by the way) by a German officer he was treating. Sure, the German "gave" him an Iron Cross; it wasn't "awarded to" him.

(This is rather different from the Iron Cross said to have been awarded to the brother of Jemadar Mir Dost, VC, IOM, Bahadur, 55th Coke's Rifles, the second Indian to get the VC. Mir Dost's brother -- also in the 55th -- defected to the German side and is said to have been awarded the Iron Cross as a political/propaganda award.)

Abbot and Tamplin (2nd ed., p. 227) list 5,688 honorary MM awards for WWI (and freely admit their list is incomplete). By country:

France - 2,472

Italy - 1,320

Belgium - 442

U.S.A. - 413

Czechoslovakia - 320

Rumania - 259

Serbia - 171

Greece - 149

Portugal - 76

Japn - 68

Russia - 7

For comparison, for WWII, there were only 660 honorary awards.

Depending on copyright and the conditions set by the source, the terms and limits of access vary greatly.

When useful, Google Books is very useful, but you may find more frustration that joy. More an example of what may someday be possible than anything else?

Wouldn't this thread fit better in Other: Communist & Socialist States?

True, Carol, True.

You two are NOT alone. Just what I need!

Nice ones, Doc - these are still missing from my Bulgarian "socialist labor" theme.

Most honorary (foreign) awards were not listed in the LG and tracing them is much more difficult.

Let me see if I can find anything. As I recall, A&T have some data on the numbers of honorary awards. Maybe not.

While any exposure to light is harmful, I doubt we need to worry about the brief exposure that a scanner gives. Compared to xeroxing or framing and exposing to sunlight I doubt the damage is much. It is far better that handling the original on an ongoing basis. Sory of like a chest X-ray: done once is no problem, done many times can cause problems.

I suspect it is rare (though I have never seem numbers), but I doubt it is as rare as the Medaille f?r die Teilnahme an den bewaffneten K?mpfen der deutschen Arbeiterklasse 1918-23 or the Hans Beimler Medal, as far more of the smaller numbers of potential recipients of these two wouldn't have survived WWII.

In any case, these three are my favorites. See http://gmic.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=11514&st=4

Lovely LOVELY William. That's the one I'm missing!

The man.

His tunic (with some apparent self-augmentation).

Captain Sardar Thakar Singh, MC, Bahadur 47th Sikhs

Not mine (alas), but this has just come to a friend's collection. As received.

MC for Neuve Chapelle. The first Indian MC. And, it seems, issued in duplicate (while he was in hospital in 1915).

What joy, or lack thereof, r.e. the Archives opening up for research?

It is only a matter of The Researcher finding the time and an assistant who can read both scripts for Mongolian to start sorting things and assessing the magnitude of the chaos. Still politically tricky but, maybe, fall. Maybe. Cross fingers.

This forum will be among the first to know.

Cool! Whatever it is, I'm sure it's great stuff. So you mailed the pieces you bought to yourself from UB instead of in your luggage...smart idea. I suppose the Mongol authorities are starting to not look too kindly on this sort of trade.

Not clear what the real law/policy is, but it is better not to let customs official get confused and have to make unilateral decisions. Guess this is true in any country?

After the recent murder for collection episode, I couldn't blame them for getting concerned.

Ed,

What did you in fact buy while you were in Mongolia?

As it arrives, it will go up. Taking things out is very unwise. Some items are still in negotiation too.

A very rare very beautiful piece!

Nice ones, Leigh. Thanks for sharing these. I always like seeing new things and learning!

The sad thing, of course, is that some beginning collector might have bought it, discovered their error, and then abandoned the 'hobby'. More 'new blood' lost thanks to the fraudsters.

Absolutely right. If we use other that completely "archival" matreials, we may as well just trash the documents and be done with it. This is why I like Light Impressions, as they specialise in archival-quality materials. Though preservation won't be cheap (but, then, neither are the documents, and neither is the history). When you can get 3 mil archival quality polyester sleeves up to 19?" x 24" (newspaper page size) and albums to match, you can manage your document collection.

Nepal, Janapad Seva Padak (what it says on the obverse).

Awarded to civil service personnel for 15 years of service. Established 10 Pousha 2023 (25 December 1966) by King Mahendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev.

Again, I'd be quite AMAZED if he had any ribbons from the Republic of India. But, then, stranger things have happened.

Outside the high commission, I doubt there's much call for independent Indian ribbons in Malta, never has been.

Now, for British ribbons . . . sure. These old military tailors are joys, especially if you can entice them to dig into their lower drawers.

The numbered badges of the A 23 variety. These are cranky to scan, sorry.

Serial numbers:

1867 / 353 (2)

161 (3) / 3 (4)

Are these real awarded specimens or mere bank escapees? We may know this fall. Cross fingers.