Hendrik

Hello Tim, The ones with the I or II on the reverse are manufactured by the firm of Wolfers. So, definitely not referring to either Leopold I or II. The one in the picture dates probably from before 1914 but one would need to see the crown suspension to properly date the piece. Cheers, Hendrik

Hello Tim, Firstly, you are completely right in that the centre is fixed and should not rotate. As to the centre being offset at times, yours - IMHO - falls well within the limits of acceptability and is a quite nice example of a very good quality one ! If memory serves me right, it appears to have been made by the firm of Wolfers in Brussels. Cheers, Hendrik

Hello Ed, Gorgeous !!!! A truly "noble" group ! Cheers, Hendrik

... and, finally, Visit to Ireland Medal 1900, complete with top bar : Cheers, Hendrik

Detail of the naming on the rim :

... and the 1887 Jubilee Medal with 1897 clasp, also to a Metropolitan Police officer :

Hello Darrell, Very nice addition !!! Here's its Metropolitan Police counterpart : ...

... Oops, I forgot : "VRIJWILLIG" is the normal legend but the "VRYWILLIG" variation is known to exist. Cheers, Hendrik

... mmm, I wonder : as Fackerman pointed out this is an old miniature, not the standard full size award. Don't know much about these things but couldn't it be a period privately manufactured one ? Compared to the full size medal, it does look too different to be called a fake or replica, in my most humble view. The inverted "NE" at the bottom does not stand for the Netherlands. In fact when one turns the medal around while reading the legend, it becomes "TROUW AAN KONING EN VADERLAND" (Loyalty to king and fatherland). Also, this medal exists in two types : one for volunteers, one for other participants. In case of volunteers, the correct ribbon is believed to be orange with green stripes instead of orange with blue stripes. The full size crosses were made from two Belgian cannon captured during the Hasselt battle. This miniature obviously isn't ! P.S. : shouldn't this thread be moved to the Northern Europe section ? Cheers, Hendrik

Visit to Ireland 1903 Medal Cheers, Hendrik

... neatly named on the rim.

Visit to Scotland 1903 Medal :

Hello Darrell, I beg to differ : notice the letter "E" on the reverse suspension ? That points to the firm of Eekelers-Centini near Antwerp, Belgium. Cheers, Hendrik

Hello Doc, The best book I've come across is in French language only ... "Les Distinctions Honorifiques de la Belgique" by the late Andr? Born?. I used it as the basis for my website :-) Cheers, Hendrik

3. Gold crown & 4. small gold crown : to my knowledge there's only one gold crown device (6 mm wide) 5. Gold & silver bars indicate the time spent in the frontline : 1st bar indicates 1 year of frontline duty, each subsequent 6 months are indicated by further bars. 6. Silver crown indicates an award to intelligence agents that have also received a Belgian order for their wartime work Further to these devices, there's also : - black enamelled bar, indicating a posthumous award - the bar for the Belgian expeditionary corps in Russia - black painted bar(s) indicating the period spent as a POW and - crossed anchors for the Belgian Navy members. Cheers, Hendrik

Hello Doc, Is your information coming out of the Byrne book you mentioned earlier in this thread ? If so, that book isn't quite correct. The 10 classes of the Crown Order are : 1. Grand Cross 2. Grand Officer 3. Commander 4. Officer 5. Knight 6. Gold Palms 7. Silver Palms 8. Gold Medal 9. Silver Medal 10. Bronze Medal Cheers, Hendrik

Two classes indeed and there's always been a difference in the colour of the wreath indicating whether awarded for long service in industry or agriculture. A couple of agricultural types with their specific green enameled wreath, one on the normal ribbon, the other on a neck ribbon as worn by women : Cheers, Hendrik

Hello Doc, Actually there are 5 classes : 2 crosses and the above 3 medals ... Here's a couple, 1st class cross on the ribbon for fireman and "civil guard" personnel, 2nd class cross on the usual ribbon for civil servants. Cheers, Hendrik

Hello Bear, 10 April 1809 ... Austrian invasion of Bavaria ? I fully agree with Mike : keep them coming ! Cheers, Hendrik

Hi, Well now, I'm afraid I don't recognize the Bey's cypher ! The nearest I can get to it would be the Mohammed Al Habib cypher (1922-1929) but I'd very much like a second opinion ! Perhaps V?t?ran or Bison can shed some light ? At first glance, I see no maker's marks and so am assuming it's a local, Tunisian, manufactured piece. Cheers, Hendrik

Hello Kvart, The one but last seems to be the 2nd (and present) type of the Italian Order of Merit of the Republic. Here's a picture of a full size one : Cheers, Hendrik

Thanks for the information, Kevin ! Very nice medal too ... it's good to see Denmark still values such awards and opted for a nicely designed one of good quality. Some other countries seem to award "modern" medals of far less quality. Cheers, Hendrik

Hello Chris, Very nice indeed ! Never seen one like it before but my gut feeling says "regimental" : I doubt a higher level citation would have mentioned the company the recipient was in. I hope Veteran will chip in with his wisdom - Bison, that other very knowledgeable fellow, is on holiday right now and without internet connection :-) Cheers, Hendrik

Hi Alex, Not quite : recipients entitled to the official medal would go off to a jeweller's to either have their medal enhanced or buy a top class executed medal for wearing. It does show the high esteem in which some of these veterans held the award and the importance they felt it had. Sadly, I don't have any examples of these to show here. Perhaps Bison or Veteran can help in that respect ? Cheers, Hendrik

Hello Bison, I stand corrected ! With an Officer of the L?gion d'Honneur and a Ouissam Alaouite Commander, the "Chevalier" class is indeed more likely ! Cheers, Hendrik