Great Dane

And Simius, correct me if I'm wrong... Most people think that if they buy an old photo on ebay, they also own the photos the seller uploaded to ebay to show and sell the old photo, but they don't. Those new photos still belong to the seller (or maybe to ebay... I haven't studied the fine print to see if the copyright is transferred to ebay in this case...).

We have some experts in here that should be able to pin it down. To me it looks like a second type, third class, third grade (the center stone might have been replaced and it obviously misses the top stone). I can not speak for the authenticity - I'm not knowledgeable enough when it comes to that...

I'm not familiar with the classes of this order, but something that corresponds to a Commander grade (with or without a breast star - he may have chosen not to wear one even if he was awarded one).

Second neck order (on the top photo) looks like the Turkish Order of Osmanieh.

Here is my b/w filter applied (as you can see, the uniform is not significantly 'dis-colored' by the filter): As you can see, there are some differences - the cuffs are not as dark and the black parts of the medal ribbons are more pronounced. So my b/w filter is not perfect (I'm OK with that ?), but I still think it proves - or at least makes it possible - that your guy is wearing the ON medal on its correct ribbon.

Thank you, but the point I'm trying to make is this: In the thread I linked to, we have a multicolored bar, a modern color photo and (with 99.99% certainty) an old b/w photo of that same bar. I then tweaked a b/w conversion filter in Photoshop and applied it to the WHOLE color photo and got a pretty good match to the old b/w photo (all colors on that multicolored bar!). So I'm pretty convinced that my b/w filter accurately mimics the old photo/development process. Then I applied the SAME b/w filter to your ON medal color photo and got the result on the right in my comparison. This convinced me that the medal your guy is wearing is in fact the ON medal on its correct ribbon. Point is, I did not create a NEW b/w filter for this test. That would not have proven anything, for with only 2 distinct colors, you can get pretty much any result you want. I also did not just apply a filter to some part of the photo and another filter to other parts. Again, that would not have proven anything. In theory, if you could find the identical uniform and medals that your guy is wearing and take a color photo, I should be able to apply my b/w filter and get the exact same b/w photo as you have.

Just for the fun of it, I took your ON image and applied some b/w conversions to it. The middle is a standard b/w conversion. The right one is applying (crudely) the filter I applied to the color image in the other thread (less G, C and M and more B). I didn't fine tune the conversion.

You make some good points, Jef. So maybe it is a different medal... or the wrong ribbon... or...? As you say... question marks indeed...

I'm not an expert in the photographic process (I mentioned emulsion, but it could also be a step in the developing - I don't know). But I do know, that it is not 'general' in the sense that bright colors appear dark and vice versa. If you look at the photo I manipulated in the thread I linked to, I would not have been able to predict the result just by evaluating light/dark. You really have to play around with the individual channels and the results are sometimes quite unexpected (like yellow becoming really dark, almost black, while other bright colors stay the same). Now, for your specific medal, I can't say which one it is. I just wanted to add some information about comparing old and new b/w photos.

You cannot compare old b/w photos to modern ones converted from color photos. How colors came out in old photos were determined by the photographic process (the emulsion?). Modern conversions to b/w can be done in a variety of ways. The most common one is just to desaturate the photo, which gives a b/w result that is very different from the old photos. More capable apps like Photoshop can do the conversion from color to b/w in a variety of way, by individually adjusting the amount of R, G, B, C. M, Y and K (plus some pre-defined conversions) . Look at old b&w photos of people wearing the Prussian Wilhelm Centenar medal, which is on a yellow ribbon, but appears dark gray in photos. Herman is not talking about negatives. Take a look in this thread Officer to identify please ! - Page 2 - Germany: Imperial: The Orders, Decorations and Medals of The Imperial German States - Gentleman's Military Interest Club (gmic.co.uk)

It does seem, however, that the 1914 Star is normally mounted with a red-white-blue ribbon, not a blue-white-red... A mystery... ?

If you flip it upside down, could it be the second row with 2 foreign ribbons at the end (and the Victory medal in the first row)?

I assume you mean "legion of Honour"? If so (and provided he is French), you might find him in the Base Léonore. Most of them will have papers in there that list their decorations. And I also assume that those brilliants were a 'vanity choice' and not special classes of those decorations.

My vote is for Norwegian Red Cross ("Norsk Røde Kors"). "J.T." is the hallmark of Norwegian jeweler Tostrup.

Awarded in WWII to mainly (I believe) Mercantile Marine personnel.

Pacific War Zone Bar Atlantic War Zone Bar Mediterranean Middle East War Zone Bar They were awarded as bars only. In 1992 a corresponding medal was created for them.

23. May 1900

This is the photo from "Royal Service - vol.II". Not a very good quality (I even lightened it a lot).

A small correction: According to "Royal Service - vol. II", the "King Edward VII’s Medal for Science, Art and Music" only existed for 4 years (1902-1906) and was only awarded 12 times. Queen Alexandra awarded 3 during her visit to Copenhagen (in her native country Denmark) in 1903. One of the recipients was Glæsel. So Glæsel got that medal in 1903, but it wasn't listed in the State- and Court Calendar until 1913. Given its short lifespan, maybe no miniatures were ever made of it.

Based on the Danish State- & Court Handbooks, these are the approximate dates for his awards (bear in mind, those sources may contain inaccuracies etc.): <1890: France. Legion of Honour (Knight) ~1890: Russia, St. Stanislaus (2. class) Prussia, Crown Order (4. class) ~1897: Siam, Crown Order (Officer) 1898: Denmark, Dannebrog (Knight) ~1899: Mecklenburg, Wendish Crown (Knight) ~1902: France. Legion of Honour (Officer) ~1903: Greece, Redeemer (Officer) 1912: Denmark, Dannebrog Merit Cross ~1912: Great Britain: King Edward VII's and Queen Alexandra's Medal for Arts & Science ~1914: Italy, Order of the Crown (Commander 1. class) The British medal for arts and science is identified as such in one of the biographical tomes, although it should have been abbreviated "Stb.M.of.a.& sc." in the calendar to be correct instead of "Stb.Ed.VII & A.M."... Also notice, that although he seems to progress through the classes of the Mecklenburg Wendish Crown order in the calendars (MVKr.5 -> MVKr.4 -> MVKr.3), this is just an adjustment of the class descriptions - he remains Knight of this order. Also note, that the Italian order was awarded late in his life (he dies 7 years later), so he may not have that one added to his chain. Now the big question for me is how Johan found him so quickly??? ?

Definitely the best fit so far ?

Could also be a (higher ranking) court employee. The Dannebrog order and the Dannebrog Merit Cross look to be Christian IX versions and The Royal House had family connections with Greece and Mecklenburg as well as diplomatic relations in Siam/Thailand. My homemade tool that searches for Danish Dannebrog recipients in 9 biographical tomes, 3 State- & Court calendars and 1 Who's Who couldn't flush him out though, but court employees often fly under the radar in these 'self-promotional' sources.

Great find! It looks like she wore it around the neck (or maybe from a bow that has now become untied)? I assume this was not a multi-class award?

I doubt such analysis has been done since awarding the medal did not distinguish between military and non-military recipients. At this time (late 19th century and onwards) the medal was mainly used as a medal for lifesaving, so naval personnel would probably be heavily represented since drowning was one of the main perils. So unless the full list of recipients shows up, we will probably never know.

Saxe-Meiningen. Can't say exactly which one...