Bob

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

Hi Belaruski:

I am not 100% sure of the awards Hoxha received - the list may be published somewhere, but I have not yet seen it. That said, I do know he received the Title of "Hero i Popullit" twice, and also received the Bulgarian Order of 9 September 1944 first class with swords (the neck badge version, too!).

Cheers,

Eric

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?

Nice pictures Bob.

Thank you for sharing.

Do you have more ?

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:(

All of his orders and medals, with exception of the Austro-Hungarian Silver Bravery Medal, are presently in Belgrade, in Museum of History of Yugoslavia. Collar of St. Olav's Order was exhibited in 2009 within a temporary exhibition of twelve strange objects from Tito's treasury that had to do something with notion of death! That was a rather complicated theme, and I would not go into details, but among other items Stalin's gold-and-diamonds saber was also displayed.

Dragomir

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?

<!--quoteo(post=211521:date=Oct 10 2007, 17:04 :name=Drugo)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Drugo @ Oct 10 2007, 17:04 ) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=211521"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Does anybody know where is that sign now?<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->

Gentlemen,

at least one of the two items <i><b>should</b></i> be in Belgrade, in that museum: <a href="http://gmic.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=16820" target="_blank">http://gmic.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=16820</a> .

But who knows, maybe Tito's Soviet "Order of Victory", Suvorov 1cl, "Order of Freedom" + the 2 YU-Marshal-Stars are already at some flats our houses of Tito's children or grand-children in Zagreb - or a collector in Moscow is happy about having Tito's orders .... <img src="http://gmic.co.uk/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/rolleyes.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="" border="0" alt="rolleyes.gif" />

According to old YU-Law, Tito's order might be his private property - and the property of his heirs <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="" border="0" alt="biggrin.gif" /> .

It might be, that the museum in Belgrade shows only copies of Tito's awards <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/unsure.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="" border="0" alt="unsure.gif" /> .

Best regards <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/beer.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="" border="0" alt="beer.gif" />

Christian

I heard a rumor (for what it is worth) that during the NATO bombing Milosjevic moved into the former Tito residence (assuming it would not be bombed) and that his son (Marko) found the orders (and weapons) of Tito in the cellar and took them. Anybody who is friends with the Milosjevic family who can verify?

Updated

A MEDALS

1 1914 Accession Medal

2 Commemorative Medal of 24 December 1924

a Gold (not sure)

b Silver

c Bronze

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

a Gold

b Silver

c Bronze

B6 sighted both as Willibald Kluge and Arthus Bertrand produced.

C ORDER OF SCANDERBEG (1925)

1 Grand Cross (consisting of cross + breast star)

2 Grand Officer (consisting of neck badge + breast star)

3 Commander

4 Officer

5 Knight

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)

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 (1926)

1 Grand Cross (consisting of cross + breast star)

2 Grand Officer (consisting of neck badge + breast star)

3 Commander

4 Officer

5 Knight

F1-5 are found in two types:

- type 1 (1926-1940)

- type 2 (1940-1944) i.e. FERT

G ORDER OF BRAVERY (1928)

1 1st class neckbadge

2 1st class breast star

3 2nd class neckbadge

4 3rd class medal

Thanks Eric, when it becomes too detailed, I will let you know:)

Just trying to (long overdue) get a decent typology in one place.

How do you see the difference between Kluge and Bertrand if I may ask?

http://www.emedals.ca/catalog.asp?item=A967#bigPic

http://www.ormedec.com/

http://www.omsa.org/forums/showthread.php?t=3825

links to the catalogue i was referring to... have placed an order and hope to get it soon, a very handy couple of pages on pre-socialist Albanian awards

Hi Bob:

Been a while - hope you're doing well!

Here are two additional threads on Italian era badges:

Albanian Fascist Party badge:

http://gmic.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=38748

Albanian Badge for Operations in Yugoslavia and Greece:

http://gmic.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=16967

Cheers,

Eric

Hi Eric, thanks - will add badges to structure as well. Will also send you a PM on different topic.

OK, the reason i started this thread is because i want to dip further into pre-socialist albanian awards. The era's we are discussing then are:

- 1914 = Wied

- 1920-1928 = Republic

- 1928-1939 = King Zog I

- 1939-1943 = Italian occupation

- 1944-onwards = People's Republic

In order to start dipping deeper, I was really looking for a good typology... but couldn't make much sense out of the threads in place. So started (on paper) to create one overview... with more questions than i would have imagined. Then i spent today with a dealer/collector in Belgrade. Sharing anecdotes, him showing me his Albanian, Yugoslav, etc. collection, sipping some Rakija in between, and presto this gentleman starts digging into his ODM book collection... and after a while a local catalogue comes out with what appears to be an exhaustive typology (as well as many pics, price indications, etc.). So, I'll try to get a copy of this catalogue in coming weeks (e.g. it contained an Albanian Collor which is different than the one shown in threads here as well as other new items). I already am copying the typology here though. For the moment, leaving badges out... leaving that for later.

A MEDALS

1 1914 Accession Medal

2 1924 Commemorative Medal

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: gold / silver / bronze

C ORDER OF SCANDERBEG (1925)

1 Grand Cross (consisting of cross + breast star)

2 Grand Officer (consisting of neck badge + breast star)

3 Commander

4 Officer

5 Knight

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)

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 (1926)

1 Grand Cross (consisting of cross + breast star)

2 Grand Officer (consisting of neck badge + breast star)

3 Commander

4 Officer

5 Knight

F1-5 are found in two types:

- type 1 (1926-1940)

- type 2 (1940-1944) i.e. FERT

G ORDER OF BRAVERY (1928)

1 1st class neckbadge

2 1st class breast star

3 2nd class neckbadge

4 3rd class medal

=================================

I will try to obtain the catalogue with color pictures and post scans here to illustrate the above. From that moment, i think this should provide an interesting base for discussion. Appreciate any comments - please do not just indicate something is "wrong" but also indicate what you believe it should be and be very specific. I realize some of the above may raise questions, hence getting my hands on a copy of the catalogue will be very useful (especially related to the collars I guess... that'll raise some eyebrows:))

aha, i had not noticed or thought of that:) effect is the same:)

By the way, www.sangiorgioaste.com is auctioning off some interesting items... they are spread out across the online catalogue so you have to look around a bit.

Given there is no seperate Albania section (pre socialist) and not being entirely altruistic, i just find it useful to not have to search each time. Will be making a post after my return from Belgrade in here as well. Would like to get to a clear (?) comprehensive list of all pre-socialist awards. Reading the threads and other sites, it just is not clear for me.

Wied era medals

http://gmic.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=33865&st=80

Facist militia

http://gmic.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=41948

Collar of Albania

http://gmic.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=34967

Italy medals relating to Albania

http://gmic.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=35151

Italian army in Albania

http://gmic.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=34307

King Albert collier

http://gmic.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=34942

The Accession of Wilhelm of Weid medal

http://gmic.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=8404

Bust of King Zog

http://gmic.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=34453

Black Eagle Order

http://gmic.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=32035

Red Cross Medal

http://gmic.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=20563

Order of the Black Eagle

http://gmic.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=2724

Here's another Albanian King you may not be aware of yet: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otto_Witte

Just purchased my first Mongolian group It consists of a Soviet combat merit medal w/doc and 5 other Mongolian documents, although I'm not sure what they are. I believe it was awarded to Sharavyn Jamsranjav, who appears at the top of page 13 in the Ukaz (lieutenant colonel). I will post as soon as it arrives.

Alex

excellent, looking forward to see scans (especially the document!)