JBFloyd

Paul, I think you're on the right track. As you can see, it's a well-made piece, so it's not a church school attendance badge. I've seen photos of several minor princesses of Denmark wearing what were described as ephemeral or ecclesiastical orders, but the photos are never clear enough to see the detail of the insignia. This is when I miss my old friend Eric Ludvigsen, who had a remarkable knowledge of Danish insignia in addition to encyclopedic knowledge of Austria and German awards.

The reverse is blank except for an "AM" maker's mark (Michelsen?) and it has a vertical double pin.

Can someone enlighten me about this breast star? The inscription reads "Juliana Maria/D.4.S. 1783"

Lars, Many thanks for the information. That fits with several other things in this collection. Of course, there are also some beautiful Danebrog pieces as well. I'll be posting some of those as I get through the inventory.

But the most unusual aspect is the backplate -- Godet & Sohn, Berlin.

An interesting Medjidie popped up out of an old-time collection. Note the fine work in the center and gilt surround.

This popped up in a collection put together by a US Army officer who served in Denmark in the 1960s. It's gilt and enamel, with the otherwise blank reverse marked "Michelsen/Gravor/Aarhus". Any information would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

The Yraburo piece is probably a little earlier than the LeMaitre piece (and both are absolutely right). French-made stars will often use a bit more artistic license and may thus have a greater aesthetic appeal, but the Carlos II star is very attractive in any case.

His Canadian service would have also qualified for a War Medal, which required only 28 days of service. The Defense Medal would have required at least 6 months of service outside Canada. It is certainly possible that he wore the second Croix de Guerre ribbon as a unit award. That mistake was a common one where units were cited for the CdG.

The first ribbon in the bottom row is the French Croix de Guerre 1939-45 (as is the middle ribbon on the next to last row); the last ribbon is an unofficial ribbon used for a variety of local and organizational medals. The group shows some serious flaws with Canadian, USAF, French and very recent US Army ribbons.

There is also an Italian-language version. Very rare, with only about 130 awarded.

Does anyone have a Navy List from the 1830s-1840s for a look-up. I'm looking for info on the career, if any, of Alexander Henning. He was a midshipman in 1810 aboard Christian VII and Galatea (2-bar NGS), but I'm looking for his follow-on service. Many thanks.

The only medal I'm aware of for Hawaiia was their Long Service Medal from the 1890s, which are quite rare (The ceremonial guard at the Iolani Palce used to wear modern repros of that medal because originals just weren't around). You do see some Marksmanship badges occasionally (a 10-bar Hawaiian National Guard Marksmanship badge just sold on eBay in the past month). I have an 1894 Marksman's Badge, but had never seen a multiple bar award like that.

Skipper, Royal Naval Reserve. Ranks with warrant officers. The WSA prefix means it's a war substantive appointment. Probably a man with experience in small craft, skippers were often in command of drifters and trawlers.

I believe this is a non-governmental award of some kind, but that doesn't help much. It certainly appears in no official listing I've ever seen. The shields seem to be the arms of the major provinces of Cuba, so I would guess that it's an organizational award that spans the entire country.

He enlisted in 1916 in Vancouver (resident of Spokane at the time). His occupation was mechanic, which may account for his assignment to the Canadian Railway Troops.

The document recognizes long service by a civilian employee of the US government. It was accompanied by a small lapel pin. General Saint, who would sign such documents, was Commander-in-Chief, US Army, Europe, and NATO's Central Army Group,from June 1988-July 1992

Check http://www.ww2roll.gov.au/ to see if he's listed and what info the services have on him. I've found several POWs listed here.

General officers received the first class of the order, which included a breast star, sash and badge. The design is the same as the badge illustrated in the other thread, but the star has the badge superimposed on it.

Grand Cordon of the Order of the Plum Blossom, a one-class order created in 1900.

The value of "Call of Duty" lies in the photographs -- real medals, with numbering and naming styles illustrated. The text is adequate for telling you what the medal is, but little beyond that.

Jan, That's exactly the informaton I needed.

Jan, Do you know which US headquarters issued the orders? I'm starting to gather up orders for US awards to allies and knowing the issuing headquarters would be helpful in searching for citations.

In 1947, the US Army reported that it had awarded 164 Bronze Stars to Belgians. Also, Brazil - 163 British Empire - 1242 China - 49 Czechoslovakia - 7 Denmark - 2 France - 1752 Germany - 2 Greece - 1 Italy - 176 Luxembourg - 4 Netherlands - 66 Norway - 5 Poland - 54 USSR - 129 Yugoslavia - 3 Unfortunately, they only reported numbers, not names of the recipients.

Thanks for the translation, Paul. It's a pain being functionally illiterate in so many languages!