larsb001

... the badge to the left is Norwegian, kind of ski competition, ski club or similar. Roughly translated it's "ULL God of the Skirunners". You have to dig into the Scandinavian mytology which is rather complex, but... "Ull = God of justice, hunting and duelling. Ull was the son of Sif, wife of Thor. Ull later married Skadi, a giantess and ex-wife of Nj?rd. Ull lived in Ydalir in Asgard. Ull was an excellent archer and taught man how to ski and was the inventor of snowshoes. Ull was known variously as ski-As, bow-As, hunting-As and shield-As." Hope this helps, Lars

Hello Dave. Thanks for showing us this very interesting group. It may interest you to know that this 1935 type exists as miniature as well. I have enclosed a few other types in addition to those shown by Wildcard & ErikMuller as well. Enjoy! Regards, Lars

... speaking about Bavaria. I have had this miniature for some time. Stricktly speaking I'd say it's a large miniature, 24 mm from tip to tip top-down or across, also larger than normal miniatures but too small to be a "prinzen". The interesting thing is the Hemmerle backplate. I'm not 100% sure about the use, have anybody seen a similar miniature? Any comments about this will be appreciated. Lars http://gmic.co.uk/uploads/monthly_06_2009/post-4854-1245020876.jpghttp://gmic.co.uk/uploads/monthly_06_2009/post-4854-1245020886.jpg

Yes, indeed a nice miniature sword, but in this case an 100% original piece which I have had the pleasure of having in my hands many many times! Unfortunately someone wanted it more than I - or was willing to pay more than I was. Lars

... browsing through this thread it seems most of us have a complete set of these miniatures - and at least I thought the Gold one was rare, huh? Here's my set: But I also have what I presume is a late war production of the 15 years miniature award. It's not enamelled but painted and it lacks the reverse legend. But the details is excellent and I somewhat tends to like this more than the normal seen version. Does anybody have similar versions, also of ie the 25 years award?

Another Russian miniature is the extremely rare Saint Anne 5th class medal (or is it 4th class?) - in this case for non-christians. One appeared in a fine contemporary chain which sold for 625 euro on the German eBay site, I assume this is also appr. 1? ago: Since that chain sold I have seen appr. 10 of these extremely rare awards on the various eBay sites, again offered by French, UK, Israeli, German and US based dealers - although I don't have the pics anymore. Does anybody here have the same suspicion as me - high quality copies in gold and enamel - or again, am I just paranoid? I will not mention the various miniature medals that have started to appear on esp. the German eBay offered by two different dealers, one who lists them as "new" and another who tends to forget that word - but seems to have a massive volume of 5 different miniature medals.

At the same time a fine Bravery sword was offered by a Auction House which I normally would say is serious, here's the sword: Now, have we seen similar miniatures before? Note the non painted reverse of the Wladimir, the thick green enamelled surround of the Stanislaus etc. Of course all of the above is sold as 100% original period items and maybe they are, maybe I'm just paranoid? During the past 20 years or so I have had alot of miniatures of Saint Anne and Saint Stanislaus through my hands, lets say appr. 20 of each. What I can see from my files is that they were all different!

The German dealer instantly listed these fine decorations on eBay and sold them all for some quite high prices! But the same dealer was even more lucky, because two months later another person came into his shop and sold him a completely identical set of miniatures - those was also listed on eBay and again they sold for high prices. His luck didn't ended there because another two months later a third person came into his shop and sold him a third set of completely identical miniatures which was also listed on eBay. Now things changed a little because a forth person came into his shop and sold some more miniatures, but they differs a little, this is one of them: http://gmic.co.uk/uploads/monthly_05_2009/post-4854-1242163077.jpghttp://gmic.co.uk/uploads/monthly_05_2009/post-4854-1242163090.jpg Note that the suspension have changed a little although the badge itself is identical to the one above (note the non painted reverse medaillion). At the exactly same time he also bought another Saint George, this time a screw back version - but the averse resembles the above quite well: At the same time the same type Saint Stanislaus started to appear on eBay offered by French, Israeli, German and UK based dealers, here's one of them:

http://gmic.co.uk/uploads/monthly_05_2009/post-4854-1242162570.jpghttp://gmic.co.uk/uploads/monthly_05_2009/post-4854-1242162578.jpg http://gmic.co.uk/uploads/monthly_05_2009/post-4854-1242162715.jpghttp://gmic.co.uk/uploads/monthly_05_2009/post-4854-1242162695.jpg

A German dealer who specializes in jewellery was very lucky about 1? year ago. A person came into his shop and sold him a set of 4 fine Russian miniature decorations, all in Gold and enamel, here's the set he bought: http://gmic.co.uk/uploads/monthly_05_2009/post-4854-1242162374.jpghttp://gmic.co.uk/uploads/monthly_05_2009/post-4854-1242162387.jpg http://gmic.co.uk/uploads/monthly_05_2009/post-4854-1242162455.jpghttp://gmic.co.uk/uploads/monthly_05_2009/post-4854-1242162465.jpg

I am an avid collector of miniature decorations and have been so for the past 25 years. One of the advantages of collecting miniatures is that they are not copied - or so I thought! A fine miniature Bravery sword with 4 decorations was posted on the US eBay site a few days ago. We all know that these are quite rare, so I instantly bookmarked that auction. Here's the fine sword: Today another of these rare Bravery swords appeared on the German eBay site, here's the image of that one: Do you see any similarities, I do, but I may just be paranoid!

Hi Dolfek, thanks for your effort so far. The arms are not enamelled, it's openwork gold. The only enamelled parts is the red flames/hearts or whatever it's supposed to be at the end of each arm. The whole cross is only 9 mm wide and the red parts is only 1,5 mm wide so there can be some inaccuracy here. Regards, Lars

Gentlemen, I have this beautiful miniature chain in my collection which I believe dates around 1820-30. I can easily identify 3 of the 4 miniature decorations. Despite that they are rather small they are quite accurate, so I assume that the one in question resembles the full-size in all details. Can anybody help? This is the full chain, excellent workmanship, Order of Carl III Grand Cross chain: And this is the miniature that I need help with:

... hmm, an interesting photo, maybe he was a little late for the photo session or in a hurry - seems he have reversed the Albanian Retreat medal? Or is there any good reason to show the reverse of this medal?

... if you really really want to see these first type miniatures it seems that your colleques here can produce these in quantities - one slightly different from the one WildCard just presented!

... another one of the 1929 badges made as a miniature for chain mounting. 800 silver.

Hi Ferg1. Sorry for the delay but here's the reverse. This is also a two piece contruction with the car separately beeing added and although unmarked it appears to be silver. You can clearly see where the car have been added. Rgds, Lars

Mike, WOW! But we're missing the rest of the chain - is it of egual rarity? Please let us have the full beauty! Lars

Hello Ferg1. I took a closer look at one of your previous posts as I recently got this chain: Although I'm not 100% sure about the originality of this combination I wanted a few of the items on this. One of them beeing what resembles the aviator badge but with the car in the center. I've been through my litterature including various auction catalogues but cannot really figure out exactly what this is. If you know, could you please enlighten me (or if somebody else knows ..)? Regards, Lars

Hi Christian L., thanks for posting the photo of the chain, was it yours originally? I knew it came from eBay and it fits completely with the info I have, it's those 4 I can get with a little effort. Rick, thanks for trying but I understand it's difficult or not possible to identify. I think I will stick with the chain as is and eventual use it as "spares". Thanks, Lars

Hello All. I've got the attached miniature chain in my collection. Well, for the moment it have the status of "Not really included" and resides between spares and exchange material. It's also not in the best condition as several medaillions is missing. It may have been exposed to heat at some time? The bad thing is that it's not even complete as 4 decorations is missing. The good thing is that I have the original fitted case. Another good thing is that I do know who removed the 4 missing items and as such I do know what's missing. Another good thing is that I could get my hands on those decorations with a little pursuation and thus I can actually complete the chain. But I will only do that, taken the condition into consideration, if this chain could tell a history and turns out to be of some interest, meaning would it be posible to do an ID here? The 4 missing items is, in that specific order: W?rttemberg - Order of Friedrich, civilian issue (no X) Preussia - Johanitter Orden (I believe it's the grade called "Rechtsritter") Baden - Z?hringer L?we, R2 with oakleaves Austria - Order of Franz Joseph Can anybody help? Regards, Lars

Thanks Rick, I believe that's actually a qualified guess, I'll stick with that. It seems that nobody really knows what this has been used for. Lars

Hi Mike. If you check Stevnsborgs recent book (fig. 237, although with a white enamelled cross) you'll see that this (most boring) type with the flat arms is introduced by Michelsen in 1909. My best guess is that this Star is from around this period. If Jeff would care to take it apart this would probably reveal a date! Lars

Paul, unfortunately I have to disagree with you. Until as late as 1909 the official and awarded Commanders breast crosses and the GC Stars were the tinsel types. Most recipients seems to have a metal version privately manufactured. The very early types is most often without the white enamelled center, later on you'll see both types. Regarding sizes these differs alot. The Swedish King Karl XV had i.e all his Stars produced in 50*50 mm sizes as he couldn't bear the weight of the larger Stars. A Order of the Elephant Star with the same provenience is currently for sale at an dealers e-shop. I have myself had several GC Stars smaller than the Star Jeff have. Yes, the star Jeff have is smaller than most often seen but to me this is a perfectly genuine quality GC Star produced in that size - it doesn't differ in any way from what can be expected having in mind that these have been produced in many various sizes by private order. The book by Rolf Christensen, "Danske Ordeninsignier" about the different badges held in the collection of the Chancellery shows several Commanders breast crosses in sizes similar or smaller than the Star in question. Regards, Lars

... I could also show a little Red Cross miniature from the Weimar period that I like alot, Ehrenzeichen f?r Verdienste um den Vaterl?ndischen Frauen-Verein 1866-1926. Enjoy!