JBFloyd

I bought every one I saw and sold them here in the US. Other than this piece from our auction, I haven't seen one on the red ribbon in several years.

And the reverse.

I used to commonly find these in Germany (25 years ago), sold by Turks working there. The ribbons were generaly a coarse weave similar to this example (Lot 1375, FJP Auctions Inc., 19 Nov 09 sale)

On the cover of Thiess's Auction 29 (April 2006), there is a badge of the Hessen Order Pour le Virtu Militaire. Can anyone tell me what it sold for? Or, if unsold, what the estimate was?

Pte William Barry, 44th (East Essex) Regiment, received the MGS with "Badajoz" clasp. The roll notes that he appears on a pension list 1/6/13.

#4 is the North Korean Order of Coal Mining Industry Service Honor, third class. Established in 1973 for those who had long service in the mining industry or who had contributed to increasing production.

The only Japanese miniature group I've ever seen was the one illustrated in Jim Peterson's book on Japanese awards. We sold that with the rest of Peterson's collection in 1995. From the response by Japanese collectors, there are very few Japanese miniature groups mounted like this. However, I had seen individual miniatures of the various Red Cross awards, probably indicating awards to foreigners.

Villardebo y Riera was the "Tiffany" of Cuba, making a number of very high quality orders for Cuba and other Latin American nations. I've never seen any reference to the firm after the Revolution, but I assume they continued on, although Fidel probably frowned on contacts with governments such as the Dominican Republic, especially on something as elitist as orders. I'd estimate this piece is probably from the early years of the order.

Value is tough to establish for Latin American awards, largely because supply far exceeds demand (although neither is very great). However, I'd probably list a cased officer's badge like this at $125-175.

Officer grade is denoted by the rosette.

The Order of Merit of Sanchez, Duarte and Mella. Established 24 February 1931 and known as the Juan Pablo Duarte Order of Merit until 9 September 1954. It comes in seven grades: Collar; Grand Cross, with gold breast star; Grand Cross, with silver breast star; Grand Officer;Commander; Officer and Knight. It was awarded for meritorious service (civil or military) and could be awarded to foreigners.

Probably made in the late 1960s, but difficult to date precisely. These were made by private manufacturers, so quality varied. The strikes I saw in the 1971-1972 period had no detail at all on the back. Early (1950s), French-made pieces often had some detail mirroring the design of the golden arms on the front. There is substantial interest in Republic of Vietnam awards here in the US (both among veterans of the Vietnam War and among Vietnamese who came here as refugees). There is also interest in France. The last breast star like this I sold went for US$750.

The breast star was the same for first and second class. The first class included a sash and badge; the second class was the star alone. The first class set I acquired in Vietnam were housed in long caes, without fitted pads to hold the badge and star (i.e., the star was just tucked into the case to rattle around unhindered). The second class stars were individually cased.

It's Masonic.

The soldier is certainly American and the dates are those of American involvement.

I've never seen this medal with a title. It's always simply described and, while the designer is certainly French, the manufacturer is often identified as F.D. Brown Company, of New Jersey. I doubt it was ever "issued", but available for purchase by interest veterans or their families. It's certainly evocative of the period.

The middle ribbon, bottom row, of the first batch looks more like a Rhode Island Long Service ribbon than SAR, and the last one is certaibly the Reserve Officers' Association.

The lower bar has the Danish Home Guard Service Medal; Neherlands Medal for the 5-Days March; Vatican Jerusalem Pilgrims Medal.

As the crest is on a sash, perhaps it is more organizational than personal. The structure of the piece looks more like a piece of lodge or society regalia than a family crest. There are no symbols in the crest that I connect to any particular organization (other than there are no obvious Masonic symbols), but maybe one of our UK members with an interest in fraternal organizations can offer some clues.

No roll of "honorary" recipients has ever been published that I'm aware of. However, Abbott and Tamplin's "British Gallantry Awards" show the following for World War I (which does not include Navy awards):

Arab Army - 6

Belgium - 134

China - 2

Czechoslovakia - 20

France - 678

Greece - 43

Italy - 251

Japan - 21

Montenegro - 1

Portugal - 21

Romania - 29

Russia - 1

Serbia - 38

Slavo-British Aviation Corps 1

USA - 83

They made no similar list for World War II, but show only numbers of honorary awards: Navy - 80; Army - 296; Air Force - 38

There's very little text beyond the captions on the photos, and still lacking in Warlord Period material, but excellent images of a lot of material that is not illustrated elsewhere.

I can't add much to the list, but #2 is the Latvian Liberation War Commemorative Medal, 1918-1920. #7 appears to the Latvian Order of the Grey Wolf, a Scouting award.

About the only place with info other than Laslo is the "Gleim Medal Letters", an OMSA publication. However, you still won't find much on Army variants.

Sounds like the Armata Altipiani Medal 1918, which is an unofficial medal by the Italians to commemorate the Battle of the Piave, 15th-24th June, 1918. Usually seen in silver, they were also struck in gold.

A few more unknowns requiring greater skill in naval insignia than I have.

I assume the second to be Saudi Navy, but I have no clue about the first. Any info appreciated.

If you follow the link in post #2 above, the entire roll is there.