Bob

Excellent - wish we could know more about him :cheers:

Sorry if my innocent post pulled things off track. I just thought it was an interesting piece of (fantasy) history. Understand your point though Artan, the real history of Albania is already rich enough for us not to have such fantasies Emanual, relax, Artan is a valued contributor here and I'm sure he used the word poor purely as a figure of speach, not literally. Back on topic now:)

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100218/ap_on_re_eu/eu_russia_us_wwii_vet Anybody know the medals he would be awarded?

Ignoring the pin, it appears to be a 3 piece award: - a circular "back" - the helmet part on top soldered onto it - a circular "front" incl. the enameled pieces It feels somewhat fragile so am amazed it is in one piece after more than 80 years! The case is custom fit with an opening in which it snuggly sits.

Here is a Zog era Officer grade badge. It comes cased, and used to belong to Bilal Nivica, Head of the Albanian Gendarme. Some googling to do on this. Sadly no documents:(

Honor Collor of Albania, from the same book. I suspect (also based on the other thread) that this should be moved under the (or rather, on top of) Order of Scanderbeg. Any other thoughts?

From Borna Barac's catalogue (he borrowed scans from auctions as I understand) - Albanian Knights of Malta Order.... a mystery. Has anybody gotten it confirmed by... the Knights of Malta?

http://gmic.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=14554&pid=391391&st=20&#entry391391 Enver Hoxha's Suvorov. Does anybody do research based purely on a name / award type?

http://www.onderscheidingenforum.nl/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=2 All Dutch recipients of awards during the Wied era and a nice picture of the set to the well known "Hero of Durres" Thomson.

Ouch - well, I guess he was a true socialist and did not care much about possessions :banger:

Thank you for another outstanding picture Artan! Is there any clarity on where Enver Hoxha's awards are now? Obviously that would be interesting to know (even if held in a vault) as it would potentially provide an opportunity to get some research on the Soviet Suvorov (?) which would be numbered! Thanks, Bob

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?profile=1&id=23324654747#!/photo.php?pid=1316178&id=23324654747 Guess: would that be what we see here? Are these old versions of the Hero?

Have pics of the mausoleum of course but there's not much to see there really. Also, besides the miniatures shown, no other militaria in the mausoleum. I can post some more pics later today anyway.

Thanks for this info Dragomir. I understand somebody in the Serbian government has been assigned to implement new orders/medals for the country. This person in a past life was an actor and during a movie was depicting Tito and was wearing his genuine awards and was continuously surrounded by 5 body guards during filming. I guess not displaying the awards may have to do with a lack of well secured display capabilities (at least, judging from the military museum that seems plausible). Or are there also local sensitivities? Back on Tito's awards. At the mausoleum complex I visited a few days ago the closest thing to his awards were 2 uniforms with miniatures.

Substantial update, liberally using Christopher Buyers website (http://www.royalark.net/) and expanding on it from other sources to create one overview of typology. Next focus will be on adding more manufacturers details and trying to figure out online / via mail what the validity is of this Malta Order as well as a first jab at the badges. A MEDALS 1 1914 Accession Medal 2 Commemorative Medal of 24 December 1924 (instituted to commemorate King Zog I's assumption of power on 24th December 1924, but later awarded as a decoration for distinguished and personal services to the sovereign) 2a Gold (not yet observed) 2b Silver 2c Bronze 3 Commemorative Medal for the Expedition to Albania (instituted on 7 March 1940 to be awarded to military and civilian participants in the Italian occupation of Albania; multiple types exist) B ORDER OF BLACK EAGLE (1914) 1 Grand Cross (consisting of cross + breast star) 2 Grand Officer (consisting of neck badge + breast star) 3 Commander 4 Officer 5 Knight 6 Medal 6a Gold 6b Silver 6c Bronze B6 sighted both as Willibald Kluge and Arthus Bertrand produced. C ORDER OF SCANDERBEG - Urdhëri i Skënderbeut (instituted 12th December 1925) 1 Grand Cross - Kordon i Madh me Yll (consisting of cross + breast star) 2 Grand Officer - Oficer i Madh (consisting of neck badge + breast star) 3 Commander - Kumandar 4 Officer - Oficer 5 Knight - Kalorës C1-5 are found in two types: - type 1 (1925-1940) i.e. left facing goat (?) - type 2 (1940-1944) i.e. right facing goat D HONOR COLLOR OF ALBANIA (1925) Is this simply a superior class of the Order of Scanderbeg (Grand Collar - Kular i Madh) with awarding restricted to Heads of State? As per Christopher Buyers website: "The only statutes for a collar are the Order of Scanderbeg, the actual insignia for which includes the Scanderbeg badge, differenced slightly by a shield shaped background in the centre rather than a circular disc." E ALBANIAN KNIGHTS OF MALTA ORDER (1926) 1 Collar 2 Grand Cross Badge 3 Commander 4 Officer (breast badge) 5 Knight F ORDER OF FIDELITY - Urdhëri Besa (instituded 22nd January 1926) 1 Grand Cross - Kordon i Madh me Yll (consisting of cross + breast star) 2 Grand Officer - Oficer i Madh(consisting of neck badge + breast star) 3 Commander - Kumandar 4 Officer 5 Knight - Kalorës F1-5 are found in two types: - type 1 (1926-1940); only 4 classes + medal in this type (i.e. excluding officer)? - type 2 (1940-1944) i.e. FERT; expanded to 5 classes G ORDER OF BRAVERY AND MILITARY MERIT - Urdhëri i Trimërisë me Meritë Ushtarak (instituted in 1928 as a military decoration to reward bravery and distinguished services during war or in defence of the fatherland) 1 1st class or Hero - Hero (consisting of neckbadge and breast star; supposedly ranked before all other decorations and medals) 2 2nd class or Martyr - Theror (consisting of neckbadge only?) 3 3rd class or Brave - Trim 4 Medal of Bravery - Medalja i Trimërisë (military medal for officers, non-commissioned officers and men of the Albanian military forces and gendarmerie to recognise and reward individual acts of bravery in the face of the enemy or in defence of the fatherland) 4a Gold Medal of Bravery - Medalja e Artë e Trimërisë – for acts of valour 4b Silver Medal of Bravery - Medalja e Argjend e Trimërisë – for acts of gallantry 4c Bronze Medal of Bravery - Medalja e Bronz e Trimërisë – for bravery conduct Potentially the G4 split into 3 classes actually refers to the B6 medal and in fact there are only the three classes (G1-3) with G3 being the bronze bravery medal seen on several occasions. H DECORATION FOR ARTS AND SCIENCES (instituted in 1928) To reward services to the arts and for achievements in scientific merit I BADGES 1 10th anniversary of the monarchy (1938; reverse: E. Gardino, Roma) 2 Albanian Badge for Operations in Yugoslavia and Greece (1941; different types exist i.e. 4 manufacturing variations - Boeri (Rome), Lorioli Fratelli (Milan), S. Johnson (Rome & Milan), unmarked - and the unmarked variation breaks down into both a painted and an enameled version) 3 Albanian Fascist Militia (1939-1943) 4 Albanian Fascist Party - Partia Fashiste e Shqipërisë - PFSh

Browsing through the (wonderful!) online catalogue of San Giorgio Aste's next auction. Sadly a HUGE group is being broken up with beautiful items (from pre-socialist Albanian to top of the bill italian, czech, third reich, french, etc.). It took me a while to see this as the group is broken down in many small lots. Sad, this group is of museum quality. Is there an index listing all items belonging to that group in the auction? Maybe somebody with a big wallet can save it:(

Thanks Dragomir. I was in this museum (the mausoleum branch) the day before yesterday, and saw no orders or medals aside from a Tito uniform with miniatures (pics to follow). This morning I went to the branch on Trg Nikole Pasica... but was turned back because the museum was closed (as in, closed down for renovations). Have you actually seen his medals?