Ed_Haynes

Nut lil Shurta al-Khidman al-Aama / Police General Service Medal, 1939-58

Established: 1939? After the 1958 revolution, it was replaced by the Police National Service Medal. Manufactured by Huguenin (Le Locle, Switzerland).

Obverse: A 40 mm seven-pointed bronze star with ribbed points, with a crown covering the uppermost points. Behind the star, crossed police truncheons. In the circular center, an Arabic inscription "Faisal al-Thani" or "Faisal II". Suspended from a straight-bar suspender.

Reverse: Within a central circle, and Arabic inscription "Nut lil Shurta al-Khidman al-Aama" or "Police General Service Medal". Above the circle on the reverse of the crown, the maker's mark "HUGUENIN / SUISSE".

Ribbon: 35 mm, blue with 5 mm red edge stripes. Red 5 mm, blue 25 mm, red 5 mm.

King Faisal II Coronation Medal, 1953

Issued to commemorate the coronation of King Faisal II ibn Ghazi on 2 May 1953. Faisal had been on the throne under a tightly controlled regency (under the management of Amir Abd Ilah and Nuri al-Said) since his father's death in 1939. Established: 1953. Was struck both by the Royal Mint (London, England) and by Huguenin (La Loche, Switzerland).

Obverse: Circular 32 mm medal (patterned after the British medal for the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II), King Faisal II facing right. Suspended by a ring. The medal was produced both by the Royal Mint in London and the Huguenin Company (Le Locle, Switzerland) with slightly different designs. For example, the legend "HUGUENIN" appears in faint letters underneath the king's head on the Swiss-made variety.

Reverse: Crown with royal cipher of two interlinked Arabic "F"s above; these are much more stylized (almost unrecognizably so) on the Hugelin striking than on the Royal Mint striking. Arabic inscription: "Towija sanah 1372 H. - 1953 M." or "Coronation Year 1372 H. - 1953 M.". The Hugenin striking omits the hyphen in the date.

Ribbon: Maroon/red, with thin white, green, white edge stripes. The ribbon was slightly different on the English and Swiss strikings. English ribbon: ???; Swiss ribbon: 39 mm, 27 mm maroon center with white and green edge stripes of 2 mm (2 mm white, 2 mm green, 2 mm white, 27 mm maroon, 2 mm white, 2 mm green, 2 mm white).

Awards: The Royal Mint silver medal was struck in 5000 specimens.

Royal Mint variety - silver, small head (16 x 24 mm) and plain rim to obverse - the reverse inscription has a hyphen between the dates

Obverse

Reverse

Huguenin variety - larger head (18 x 27 mm) and rim on obverse - the reverse inscription has no hyphen between the dates:

silvered bronze - unofficial?

Obverse

Reverse

bronze

Obverse

Reverse

Nut al-Anaqaz / Rescue Medal, 1954

Awarded to those who assisted in rescue operations in the context of the massive flooding of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers in 1954. It was as a direct result of these floods that the major flood-control and irrigation works at Samarra (on the Tigris) and at Ramadi (on the Euphrates) were opened in 1956.

Established: By Law No. 69 of 1954. Manufactured by Huguenin (Le Locle, Switzerland).

Obverse: Bronze-gilt, 32 mm circular medal. The figure of a man rescuing a woman from floods; a sand-bagged wall is in the foreground. Suspended from a spray of leaves and a ring suspension.

Reverse: A three-part Arabic inscription. "Nut al-Inqath" or "Rescue Medal", "Fithan al-Iraq" or "Iraqi Floods", and "1954 Santah" or "The Year 1954".

Ribbon: 35 mm, white, with 8 mm green edges and a 5 mm brown center stripe. (8 mm green, 8 mm white, 5 mm brown, 8 mm white, 8 mm green.)

Awards: In addition to awards to Iraqis, approximately 66 medals were awarded to British Army and Royal Air Force troops from the air base at Habbaniya.

Nut al-Shujat / Medal for Bravery

This is a fairly complex award, which appears to have altered significantly over time. The first royal award was established in 1926 and seems to have been awarded with two ribbons, one for military forces and one for air force personnel. (Could there have been a naval variety as well?) With the revolution of 1958, a new design was established under General Qassim, altering the overall design of the star to an eight-pointed rayed star with a black emaneld dome in the center with a depiction of the republican emblem in a red-enameled triangle above the embossed swords. In 19??, the design was altered again with the fall of General Qassim, and the republican emblem was removed and replaced with the Iraqi eagle in a red triangle. There is great similarity between later issues of the medal and the campaign medals issued, for example, for the Iran-Iraq War. It is important to distinguish between the two, as the medal is almost identical. Awards for the Second Gulf War ("Desert Shield/Desert Storm) are similar to the award for the war with Iraq, but are cruder in design and manufacture, as they were manufactured in Iraq under difficult economic and industrial conditions. The swords on the obverse were no longer embossed as had been the case with the earlier designs. Details of the individual varieties are reviewed below.

Established: By Law No. 34 of 1926, the "Gallantry and Active Service Medals Law" of 15 May 1926. Revised after the Revolution by ??? Law No. 9 of 1959. ??? Law No. 14 of 1981. Early versions were manufactured by Huguenin (Le Locle, Switzerland). The Gulf War I version has an ornate "A" on the upper edge of the reverse and there is no evidence of this origin on the Gulf War II issue, which is Iraq-made, due to the sanctions regeime.

Obverse: The royal award was a 45-mm silver-gilt seven-pointed rayed star, with a silver circular center bearing a gilt crown with gilt crossed swords below. Suspended by a straight-bar suspender. The republican award was altered to a gilt 40-mm (point-to-point) eight-pointed rayed sunburst star with black-enameled center with crossed swords and triangular red-enameled national arms above. Suspended by an integral loop.

Reverse: Plain. Most are blank, but the Gulf War I version has a concave area in the center and an ornate "A" on the upper point (makers' mark?).

Ribbon: For army awards before 1958 and for all awards after that date: 31 mm, equal stripes black/red/black: 11 mm black, 9 mm red, 11 mm black. For air force awards before 1958: 40 mm very pale blue. Perhaps bearing a gilt crown?

Royal version, seven-pointed silver-gilt star with a prominent crown and crossed swords on the obverse, 1926-58:

Army version with black / red / black ribbon

Air force version with light blue ribbon (crown seen worn on ribbon?)

Obverse

Republican version, the star becomes eight-pointed with a black-enameled center:

Early (Qasim) version, 1958-63 (?)

Obverse

Reverse

1963-90 ("Gulf War I") version - the republican eagle replaces the emblem of the previous version and there is a concave reverse with an "A" on the upper point

Obverse

Reverse

Gulf War II version, post-1990 - of a cruder manufacture, the crossed swords are integral to the obverse, and the ribbon is manufactured from a coarse, almost plastic, material

Obverse

Reverse

It is unknown whether there was/is a Gulf War III version.

In response to a request in another thread that we try to address, more coherently, Arab ODM with separate threads on each country, I'll kick things off here, with Iraq.

A note on online sources:

http://www.omsa.org/photopost/showgallery.php?cat=684

http://faculty.winthrop.edu/haynese/medals/iraq/iraq.html

http://www.medals.org.uk/iraq/iraq.htm

http://www.coleccionesmilitares.com/cintas/cintasas.htm#i (Go here and click on Iraq, part 1 and part 2.)

http://www.netdialogue.com/yy/Asia/Iraq/Iraq.htm

http://www.4dw.net/royalark/Iraq/iraq4.htm

The awards will be discussed in no particular order (sorry).

"GREETINGS & SALUTATIONS!" Yes, Stolen Valor Act as I comprehend it is about people illegally getting the MEDAL OF HONOR and wearing it, but I still can buy any other medal of the United States Armed Forces here in southern California at local gunshows and insignia meetings. As I recall, the United States Congress puts forth Bills and many go nowhere with them. The only Bill from Congress that I understand passed was to do with the MOH, not necessarily the other medals. I have been collecting since the early 1950s and remember when one could not legally buy and sell U.S. Armed Forces medals. I was in the American Society of Military Insignia Collectors and contributed articles and my own graphic art and am still active in assisting writers of books on insignia as an unpaid volunteer. I believe posers who wear the MOH should be prosecuted, but do not see a need to restrict other awards. Its very easy to buy any medal or a handgun, even when it was not legal. I own neither! I gave away my own medals to a collector in the UK. Whether they pass the "Stolen Valor Act" or remains moot with all due respect, sir! Sarge Booker of Tujunga, California

Not to recaptulate months of discussion here and elsewhere, but the act has been passed and signed. Find those posts and read them, please. It covers all US decorations, medals, and even badges, it seems, though the idiots that drafted it were more concerned with flogging their silly patrioitsm than writing clear legislation. Rather than deal with the non-problem of fraudulent claims to awards, it has essentially killed the collecting of US medals, at least in in the US; they can still be collected and studied in the sane and free world.

Looks sort of like the U.S. LEGION OF MERIT breast star, doesn't it?

Not much.

"GREETINGS & SALUTATIONS!" Under U.S. Title 17, only the MEDAL OF HONOR cannot be given away, sold, or traded. No other other medals and controled as the ban of buying, trading, and selling full size U.S. medals was lifted several decades ago. eBay staff is like a box of cereal, full of flakes and nuts. Purple Heart Medal sells for about US$25.00 to US$40.00 and are quite plentiful. Distinguished Service Medals cost about US$75.00 more or less as a lot goes into manufacturing them. You always need to ask the person selling the medal how much shipping & handling will cost and if they can ship to where you are at? Under the U.S. Embargo on Cuba, we in the States cannot buy Cuban medals, so we have someone in the UK get them delivered to their address and remailed to the U.S. Be sure to have whomeversells you something declare NO VALUE on the customs declaration sticker! Sarge Booker of Tujunga, California

Have you followed the whole insanity of the recent "Stolen Valor" act? Apparently not?

"Excellent Badges" seem to be a world of their one

And, from all that I have seen, it is a very confusing and dangerous world. One better avoided, perhaps?

When even those whose expertise is reliable can't be sure, run away!!

On! Nice! Many thanks for adding this.

Obviously Spanish and intended for the International Brigades. Beyond that . . . ????

A lovely thing, though. Envious.

Thankfuly you can get your PH licence plate and DSC challenge coin...

When someone bans tacky and bad taste items, eBay will be dead, dead, dead.

An interesting OMSA analysis has been posted over at:

http://www.omsa.org/forums/showthread.php?t=1332

FYI.

Prototype possible and if so out of some museum I would dare say! Durov's book shows similar one (with no serial number) in Goznak Museum.

But hey.... this particular one was shown to Stalin no??? Guess yet again it is a case of buying the piece and not the story! And yes, the piece without the story is worth....exactly how much??!!

Rarity maybe....but importance??!!!

Jim

Importance? To the history of the erstwhile Soviet honors system: Tremendous.

But I still think some person from the Old Country with lots of cash and no interest in history will buy it and I stand by my price estimate. If nothing else, note who is selling it! And who else has one?!

Interesting. Thanks, Soviet!

They were one of the major -- if not THE major -- Austrian manufacturer of high-end high-quality orders, both European and global. I think they are still in the trade these days?

The only real problem is that they were one of those to continue manufacturing pre-1918 orders of non-existent States into the inter-war period, producing generations of minefields for phalerists.

The 50,000$ is just the estimated price. Who knows, it might sell over that price!

Oh, if enough people think it is legitimate, I suspect it will. (And if the Russian government doesn't intervene?)

Anyone care to guess? $125K is my estimate.

The start? I know that there are some US gallantry lots (though some look dubious) coming up at the La Galerie Numismatique auction this weekend. It will be interesting to see if they are pulled. Moreover, it will be interesting to see what the next FJP auction looks like. Will they be setting up a European branch office? (And may I apply for that job, Jeff?)

I hope someone sets up an "underground railroad" to get these poor medals to a civilised country (not including Canada any more, it seems) where they can be preserved and studied. If they stay here they'll probably be trashed. At least European phalerisists will be able to study and preserve US history in the face of the patriotic tyranny here.

first, i'am absolutely no expert with soviet Decorations. second, one thing i want to add. Funny that the ink on the documents looks like it was written yesterday and not 60 years ago. just my 2 cents

haynau

Yes, I'd like to hear from the more expert denizens of the forum. Please.

You have a nice late version of the Order of the held der Arbeit. I was amased how cheap these later versions were done when I saw the one from a collector friend last summer. The order is so light!

I don't have an earlier one to compare with. I have only this solo HdA and the Dankward Fehr group -- see http://gmic.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=2455 -- with his HdA from 7 October 1984. (Kunert's is earlier, 27 March 1981.)

Ed can you tell us if the document is really hand signed by Honecker and not printed?

Will bring both home and get back to you. I suspect they're printed, but will see.

Nice, Rick! Thanks for posting these. We need to know much more about Cuban awards. Hope this forum can help.

Nice, and the MRYL badge is in especially nice condition. All of these, however, are discussed on other, appropriate, threads on the forum.

This ribbon configuration with the stitched detail on the ribbon is actually quite common like this. I believe it was the "norm" for high-ranking recipients to have their ribbons for this award made this way. I've seen three or four uniforms from different officers with that ribbon the way it is.

Dave

Thanks, Dave. Interesting.

Last ribbon in Row 6 is a quite interesting CLOTH version of the original pre-1961 ENAMEL ribbon of the Mongolian Order of the Combat/Military Red Banner.

More precisely, it is an inventive effort at rendering the ribbon in cloth and with some seamstress help from the recipient's wife. An interesting and cute fantasy.

Wow (indeed)!

However marginal to my "core interests", I always enjoy learning new things.

... i don?t know??

Can you scan it close up, please?