heusy68

Hello Gentlemen, I have read through this forum, very few has been written about the Chaco War 1932-1935 that opposed Paraguay to Bolivia. It was a very bloody war, with a lot of casualty from both side. At the end Paraguay saw the size of its territory almost multiplied by 2. But maybe better to read this : http://theminiaturespage.com/boards/msg.mv?id=310092 I have chosen to open this topic, because I was in Asunción 3 weeks ago, and I visited the Ejercito Museum (Army museum). The museum is open every day, but close at 3.00 Pm for those who wish to go to. So this topic will be mostly about the Medals issued by Paraguay, rather than on uniforms or Equipment. During that War, Paraguay instituted 3 Award, : the Cruz del Chaco (it exist mainly 2 variation, all in bronze, but one that was awarded to the President of Paraguay in silver), the Cruz del Defesnsor that also exist in mainly 2 variation (but I also saw one that was cast); and the Boqueron Medal 1932 to Commemorate a Battle. Mariscal Jose Felix Estigarribia was the Commander in Chief of the Army of Paraguay during the Chaco War, later he was President of Paraguay from August 1939 to his death in September 1940. Here you can see him in his Presidential Portrait, in civil dress, and also a Military portrait. You can see that, and this is a very surprising fashion, in Paraguay the Cruz del Chaco is worn at the neck (often). Mariscal Jose Felix Estigarribia was the Commander in Chief of the Army of Paraguay during the Chaco War, later he was President of Paraguay from August 1939 to his death in September 1940. Here you can see him in his Presidential Portrait, in civil dress, and also a Military portrait. You can see that, and this is a very surprising fashion, in Paraguay the Cruz del Chaco is worn at the neck (often). Here you can read more on him : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/José_Félix_Estigarribia His hats are on display too. Here is a map of the Paraguay showing the various battle.

In 2009 King Tupou V felt like an urgent need for a military Order for the Kingdom of Tonga, so was created the Military Order of St Georges, in 5 classes + 1 medal. The 3rd Class is a beautifull neck Order, made by WORTH, the company of Mr Philip Eagleton. The cross is 54 millimeters, and 81 millimeters eight from bottom to the cross on top of the crown. The crown is articulated by a hinge. Marked by WORTH & "925" on reverse. I know a few Awards have been made. Emmanuel A Commander of the Royal Australian Navy, Peter Thompson was awarded the 4th Class of Military Order of St georges at Nukua'lofa on 21 November 2009 http://pacific.scoop.co.nz/2009/11/aussie-navy-commander-honoured-by-king-of-tonga/ There is also Corporal John Alofi & Private Feiloaki Ngunguta from Tonga Armed Forces who were both awarded a 3rd Class of the Military Order of St Georges. Any more information concerning these Awards would be much welcome. Emmanuel

King Tupou V during his short 6 years reign has instituted many new Awards. Including the new Order of the Crown. Despite being a 1st Class breast star, its diameter is only 80 millimeters. No maker marks of any kind on reverse.

The Order of Georges the First seems to still "exist" in its shape (sorry for my English)...., but has been re-named Order of the Royal Household (with a new yellow edged in what seems to be very pale blue stripe), by King Tupou V in 2008. As King Tupou V passed away in 2012, I have no idea what his brother, the current King Tupou VI will again reform the Tongan Award system. Regards. Emmanuel

Hello Gentlemen, This is an Order of Georges the 1st Knight Commander (or 2nd Class) breast star. It's 88 millimeters in diameter. The pin is hallmarked : "STERLING" and "935" Emmanuel A better photo And because it's great to be able to compare, the 1st Class breast star of Order of Georges the First of Tonga. Same hallmark on pin (no hook on side of reverse of breast star), but 1st Class breast star is 94 millimeters in diameter. Regards. Emmanuel

Hello Gentlemen, Here is another photo of the Ability Award, but I do not know much about. Emmanuel And another Awards, that I believe is some sort of Bravery Award. And the 3rd one is ....I do not know, even no reference from ribbon. All these 3 Awards came from Ernst Blass Collection.

Hello Gentlemen, This is a Pride & Performance Award with its ribbon. Emmanuel And yes Paul is right, most of them are awarded to civilian. The one in my collection to Dr. Muhammad Salahuddin. I bet a 21th Century awards, but despite I was looking through their list, I have not been able to trace it. Paul....;help !! If any one here does have a ribbon for it, I would pay a good price for, or barter with others rare & early 1960ies, Pakistan Medal ribbon I have. Regards. Emmanuel

Hello Ray, at one of the OMRS Show a few years ago, I got 2 Order of the Revolution for 35 Pounds each. The Order of Constitution I bought it from liverpoolmedals long time ago for 75 pounds, and the Order of Victory I also got it for about 75 or 85 Pounds from liverpoolmedals. The ribbon for Order of Victory had costed me more than that in an exchange.......but to collect, requires to do sacrifice. The Order of Persistence I got it in an exchange on the basis of 50 Pounds. The 2 Orders of Production I got them, one in the UK for 70 Pounds (from Spink), and the other from Germany for 30 € The National Unity I got it without ribbon (from a dealer in Hamburg) for 75 €, and much later I got the ribbon from a british source for 3 pounds. But all these ribbon from Sudan are EXTRA Rare. Ribbon for Order of the Republic & Order of 2 Niles are not hard to get, but all others yes. The Medal for Long & Distinguished Service, you may find it, between 20 to 60 Pounds. But yours is an old one in real silver (from very late 1960ies, early 70ies). Regards. emmanuel

The Order of National Unity is also among the so called "Revolutionary Orders" Here shown an Order of National Unity made in Sudan, but that Order was also made by Spink (and quality is MUCH better). I have the 2 variation, later I will post them side by side to show difference in feature. Regards. Emmanuel

Hello Ray, the medal is Long & Distinguished Service Medal, with Armed Force Ribbon (the same medal exist also with 2 different ribbon, 1 for the Police and one for the Prison Service). Your medal is from the late 1960ies, early 70ies. The Order of the Revolution is part of a series of Orders that Sudan had awarded after the 1969 Revolution (and the date 1969 is on reverse). Best regards. Emmanuel These are the 6 "Revolutionary Orders" I got from Sudan. First row, from left to right : Order of the Revolution, Order of the Constitution, Order of Victory Second row, from left to right : Order of Production 3rd Class, Order of Persistence, Order of Production 2nd Class Only the Order of Production is a multi-class award. I have seen very few Order of the Revolution in my life of collecting, especially with ribbon. But there seems to be a slight variation in the colors of the blue stripes (in middle of the edged white stripe). Regards. Emmanuel

I like myself when I dig. I look the web page of Ismaili Somoni from Samanid Empire, in english first, then click onto Tajik language. There it was Ordena Ismaili Somoni 3rd Class. The ribbon I saw yesterday on President of Kazakhstan Museum was a bit darker blue, and the golden stripes were in relief, because likely they seemed to have been manually clothed to the ribbon (embroidered). I'am really happy to have got a photo, so fast. Now you can all enjoy. Emmanuel

Hello Gentlemen, I know it won't help much. But currently in Astana, Kazakhstan, I have visited the Museum of the First President of Kazakhstan (and onliest Président). His awards are displayed, but photo are forbidden. But for those who will come here, I Strongly recommend to visit this Museum. In Year 2000, he had been awarded Order Ismaili Somonli, but a breast badge (so likely following the information above, it should have been a 3rd Class). Ribbon colours of the Order are similar to the sash awarded to Vladimir Putin, ribbon is straight ribbon, not pentagonal type. The quality of workmanship of the badge is great (very good quality). It is a large size, likely 45 millimeters wide, 8 pointed star, with the head of the Tajik historic hero Ismaili Somoni looking left (an old style local crown on his head), a bleu motto with "likely" the name of the Order. The ribbon is dark bleu, with embroidered gold stripes towards the edges. I have no idea if the badge was in gold or silver-gilt. I bet if there would be someone that could seek in Tajik language on the web, he will catch some photo. In latin alphabet....likely unsuccessfull. Best Regards. Emmanuel This is Ismaili Somoni, so you have to figure out that on the Order that bear his name, his face is shown from side (with crown). He was great King of the Samanid Empire from +/- 885 to 907. You can read down there https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samanid_Empire That's very interesting. Emmanuel

Hello, I agree with you. Obverse side is the side with Coat of Arms, just that Civil Issue was "mounted" such a way, and long time ago. Just for fun I will ounce buy on eBay a cheap and current issue Nigeria Independence, and then post them side by side. You will then see the difference. The quality of nowday is poor, the quality of the older medal shows crips détails, and that is something collector like. Not so much amazed nigerian general are (were) more interested by drinking beer, rather than by their jobs............ Emmanuel

Hello Gentlemen, I bet everybody knows about the regular Sierra Leone Independence Medal with QEII. I recently was able to purchase an "unofficial" Sierra Leone Independence Medal, in metal-gilt (from an old collection). The obverse refer also to Gambia which get full Independence from UK in 1965. As long as I know the administration of these 2 colonies were separated. Also colours of ribbon are the same of regular independence medal, but inverted (bleu, white, green), and that medal was born such a way (you can see ribbon was clothed). Diameter 38 millimeters & thick 2,75 millimeters. What is "strange" is the date on reverse 1441-1961, as Sierra Leone was first discoverd by European in 1462 by portuguese explorer Pedro de Sintra. The year 1441 could refer to discovery of Cabo Blanco by the portuguese, but that area is more than 1000 miles north of nowday Sierra Leone. Can anybody helps ? Mervyn ? You lived there. Regards. Emmanuel

Hello Gentlemen, About 3 Years ago, I had shown here a Nigeria Independence Medal (but one of the very early striking with medal struck separately from suspension). Ribbon charts refer also to another ribbon for the Independence Medal (sand yellow ith a tri-coloured central stripe orange, dark bleu, sky bleu). I recently purchased parts of the collection of an old friend, that had passed away 6 months ago. So here is the Independence Medal of Nigeria with Civil Issue ribbon. it's a different striking of the medal, but it's NOT a recent one. The medal is thick : 3,5 millimeters, with a diameter of 36 millimeters. I post a photo side by side with the Independence Medal (with military ribbon). That Civil Issue ribbon, I never saw it before, nowhere (except in ribbon chart). If anyone has a photo of any official from Nigeria wearing this Civil Issue ribbon, that would helps, or photo from the independence Celebration. Regards. Emmanuel

Hello Ilja, This is Postal Merit Medal of Gabon with its ribbon. I do not know if it's a multi class (3 Classes ?) medal, or a single class medal. Where did you get that photo ? Emmanuel

Hello Caz, Great finds. I have send you a private message. How about to read it. These are the photo of items I'am speaking about in that message. Regards. Emmanuel

Hello Gentlemen, Last week, from an old collection, from a fellow who had lived in Djibouti for a whil, I have been able to get this Order of Africa 2nd Class. Size is 33 millimeters, ribbon is 32 millimeters width. Regards. Emmanuel

Hello Gentlemen, all Mauritania Medals except the National Order and sometimes the 3 ranks Medal of National Merit, are very hard to catch. I was ounce lucky enough to catch the Medal of Military Valour. Emmanuel I have ounce got an averagely good photo of the Mauritania Medals for war Wounded If any body on this forum may have that medal for sale, I might be interested. Emmanuel There is at least one Medal or Order, that is not listed on the photo provided by Ilja, it's the Order of Sport Merit. No idea if I got a single class award (mine is in bronze), or if it exist in 3 Classes (bronze, silver & gold). However, it is what it is. It's made by Arthus Bertrand, and enamel is of good quality. Now you can enjoy the photo. Emmanuel

Hello Gentlemen, the third medal in the row is Medal for the 50th Anniversary of Independence in 2012. Emmanuel

Hello Gentlemen, Long time ago, I posted a scan of the Nigeria Prison Service Cross. Last months I got a Nigeria Prison Meritorious Service Medal. As you can see on third photo, both awards use the same green/white/green ribbon (width 30 millimeters). Diameter of the medal : 36 millimeters. Thick : 4 millimeters. If anyone may have a photo, or any evidence of a Prison LSGC Medal, he's most welcome to post. Emmanuel

Hello Gentlemen, I might go to Japan sooner. I knew the onliest surviving Order of Satsuma Ryu Kyu was on display somewhere (maybe in Kagoshima City Hall). However I would like to know if some member on this forum have more reliable information about the current display of this Decoration. I read on internet that Kagoshima City Hall was under renovation....?? As Japan is not in the list of countries I go on a regular basis, it might be for me the unique occasion to see it with my own eyes. Thanks for all kind of information. Emmanuel