Emanuel

Thank you both for your kind words.

Ken,

I have more pieces,I just found now time to slowly take some pictures of them and yes I will add more in time.

Megan,

I live in the island of Crete it's south Greece, you might know the place you might not, but I am sure you do because it is a must destination for British citizens

I visited your nice site that you maintain, you done a good job so far and please feel free to use any image you like, especially the War Cross you see is very rare even to see on an auction site so it's good to have a close up photo as reference for your visitors ;)

Close up from Obverse and Reverse of the medal:

SERBIA - Albanian Campain Commemorative medal- 1915

Another one piece from my collection, a Serbian medal from the historical retreat of Serbian forces through Albania to Greece and the island of Corfus.

It was a hard task with a lot of loses but was proven to be a wise military decision as these forces during World War I and to be precise in Saloniki Front, they made a breakthrough and defeat Austrian-Bulgarian forces.

Here is the medal in astonishing MINT condition.Photos do not justify the quality, weather was cloudy when I shoot.

Indeed superb photo of a Serbian General.

Is it yours Andy?

As I told you ,it is sky-light blue with 2 stripes on both sides.

I search in Wiki and I found it,you have the ribbon on the right side with more details for the 5 grades.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Order_of_the_Redeemer

Hope it helps ;)

Nice Order you got there,

Of course I can Sasa and thank you first of all for your contribution.

You have here the Order of the Redeemer (Saviour)and it is the first distinguished Hellenic Order.

It was established in 1829 and bears the name of the Redeemer in reminiscence of the fact that the Greek nation was re-born thanks to the Lord's divine assistance. The Order was first conferred by King Otto in 1833.

The degrees of the Order of the Redeemer are awarded to distinguished Greek citizens who have defended the interests of our country in time of war or, who have rendered highly exceptional social services in Greece or abroad.

The Order is also conferred upon eminent personalities who are not Greek citizens.

One of them as you can see from the photo below is Czar Nikolaj II.

The obverse of the Star and the Cross bears a portrait of the Redeemer in enamel with the legend:

IN YOUR RIGHT HAND, LORD, THE POWER AND THE GLORY.

It comes with sky blue ribbon with white stripes on the edges.

The reverse of the Cross bears the Greek cross with the legend THE IVth NATIONAL ASSEMBLY OF THE HELLENES AT ARGOS - 1829.

The Order consists of 5 grades or classes.

GREECE-Medal for 10 YEARS MILITARY SERVICES 1937-BRONZ -Army version in it's original box.

GREECE-Medal for 15 YEARS MILITARY SERVICE 1937-SILVER-Army version

GREECE-MEDAL For 20 YEARS MILITARY SERVICE 1937-GOLD- Army version.

In all 3 medals with King George B',Navy and Air force had different ribbon colors.

Close up of the medal

GREECE-Medal of Military merit 1916-1917 3rd Class

Instituted 28 Feb 1917, awarded to soldiers for heroism.

This example is in it's original blue box in a very good condition with original yellow ribbon with black stripes.

GREECE- 2nd Balkan War Medal 1913

A medal issued for the needs of 2nd Balkan War when Greece was in war with Serbia against Bulgaria.

On obverse you can see King Constantine A' ,who was Prince back then and Field Marshal of Greek forces.

On reverse Byzantine Emperor Vasilios B' who mostly was in war with Bulgaria Kingdom when he was the Emperor and this gave the idea to put both men in this medal.

Ribbon is sky blue,white with red thin strip.

Obverse

Reverse

GREECE- War Military Cross 1916-1917

Issued for soldiers and Officers that participate in WW 1 and the Minor Asia Campain in 1922.

Relative rare awarded medal with high collectable value.

The sword is part of the cross,very interesting design.

I do not have an original ribbon which is black with dark blue strips on both sides.

Greetings,

I open this topic in order to show you some pieces of my collection.

I will add in time new images,as clear and close as possible.

I collect all kind of medals ,but this part will be as it states from Balkan and Greece.

Users of the forum can see and be more familiar in the future with some awards from these countries,recognize them and most of all compare them and avoid copies.

I have to say that this is not only a gallery,but also a place for discussion,so feel free to post any comment you like.

Thank you all in advance for looking ;)

Thank you Sasa,

I am honored to own a Medal Bar like this one. It is one of my favorites from now on.

Some things about medal bars, mostly from Balkans.

A lot of them do not have pin and catch system and some that you see are hand made in order to attached to the uniform.

Mostly soldiers and Officers sew them on their uniform because there were no workshops like in Germany for example to accept orders to make medal Bars.

In Germany as it's known, you could send your medals and your ribbons and order your Medal Bar, several Mark makers from Germany even made their own medal bars, but this is not the case in Balkans.

That's why you see such ribbons in these medal bars, in this one for example we have two threefold ribbons if you notice, because mostly they have been made from ordinary weavers or even simple women with no knowledge how to make an exceptional medal Bar like the famous "Bavarian Southern style" or the Prussian that I own in this photo below.

Nevertheless, we are dealing with historical collector items in any case and it is another one reason why these medals Bars from Balkan states are more rare than Germans.

Of course, any comment for this issue is welcome.

Prussian Medal Bar -WW I era for Iron cross and Hintelburg Frontkampffer Cross

Awesome photos Sasa,

I am speechless,first time I see Serbian Pilots, look at those leather jackets, Jezz.I hope they was black

I like a lot also the last photo of the previous page,these soldiers look great and happy while at the front during war.

I bet they could hold four times their number of Austrian soldiers.

Serbian Army was one of the best in Europe that time,true heros.....

Thank you Ulsterman

It could be an NCO ,Yes, Milos Obilic was not so common medal.

Close up of the medals

Reverse with Green cloth

Greetings all,

I want to share with all a nice Serbian medal bar from Kingdom Era.

5 pieces as you can see, here we have:

Milos Obilic Silver medal for Bravery, Kosovo medal 1912 from I Balkan War, King's Peter Cross 1913 from II Balkan War , Albanian Commemorative medal of King Alexander ,Peter's Merit medal for WW I 1914-18.

I hope you like it....

Great addition Ulsterman,

A Captain of 2 class here ( 3 stars on his epoletes ).

Seems to me a real war hero this man.

First, Order of Karadjordje for Officers, then Order of St.Sava and if I am not mistaken the French cross at 3rd place,but I am not much into French awards ,so I might mistaken.

Serbia-Yugoslavia Kingdom bars are rare with high collectible value, especially something like this one with 2 Orders and a foreign medal.

Nice pictures Emanuel. Thank you for sharing.

Thank you Sasa :)

Another 2 portraits of Serbian Officers,

1st Lieutenant's both, interesting photo the one with white wear, Summer uniform maybe?

The one on the left has been taken in Thesaloniki when Serbian army was there during WW1.

Cadets - future Officers of Military school

Some more Serbian Military photos.

An Army, Infantry 1st Lieutenant with Sabre.

He wears a medal but I cannot recognize it....

......also-the Royal Greek navy was in Egypt. This chap may have been one of the officials who assisted in suppressing the anti-allied "navy revolt".

I doubt that was his case, this is a badge 1st of all, very very rare and very expensive,I think no more than 150 foks got that and that was during WW2 also.....

When I said they,I mean Greek authorities of course.

This medal had in years 3 variants, this one is for WW1, another one similar is for WW2 and one for 70's.

I guess this "Merit medal" name was called after WW 2 but this newspaper (or book whatever )of yours use the old one during WW1.

There is of course a Distinguished medal for WW2 created at 25th of January 1945 that was awarded to AIR FORCE personel of 12 months of meritorious service with combat units in time of war.

But I doubt Baker is a recipient of it as the chap was already 61+ years old when this came into light.

I bold the word to see how in Greek language Meritorious is used for a Distinguish medal so the same can be for a Merit medal.

Here is the medal I mention from WW2: