paja

I do not claim that Shah of Persia was one of the recipients (especially not this set) but in my (Croatian language) copy of the book the above mentioned authors wrote the following: "Records about the awards given to foreign citizens are not preserved but their number had to be substantial. For example, Shah of Persia is being mentioned as one of the recipients of the highest class." - original: "Podaci o dodjelama Ordena Miloša Velikog strancima nisu sačuvani, no njihov je broj morao biti znatan. Primjerice, kao jedan od nositelja najvišeg stupnja pominje se perzijski šah." My opinion is that they think Shah received Miloš and they use that claim to support their theory about the "substantial number of foreign recipients". Perhaps they mention Shah because Mila Piletić wrote about him being one of the recipients in her book. The following sentence is also interesting: "If we take all this into consideration, it is quite certain that the number of made decorations exceeds the number of 255 orders, often speculated about in collecting circles." - original: "Ako sve ovo uzmemo u obzir, sasvim je sigurno da broj izrađenih odlikovanja premašuje broj od 255 ordena, kojim se često spekulira u sakupljačkim krugovima."

Ko radi taj i greši Here's a photo of prototype 1 of the 2nd class from H.D. Rauch's "Medal Auction 2014". It was wrongly attributed as the prototype of the War Banner Order (Orden der Kriegsflagge (D) Erste Probe) Starting price: 3.000 EUR, unsold. LINK

Mila Piletić and Car&Muhić mention Shah of Persia among recipients.

Good eye, I didn't pay attention to that detail. Above mentioned Bertrand's order awarded to Korošec in 1919 is placed in box with two locks. On the page 295 of the same book we can see Huguenin's first class order in very similar box with one lock. I might be wrong but the first class set from live auctions looks more like Bertrand's product, at least to me. I've been going through photos of GC Huguenin boxes and all of them I came across in the last 15 minutes had one lock.

It could be authentic but then again practice of wearing "kleine decoration" didn't exist within Kingdom of Serbia/SCS/Yugoslavia, at least for domestic decorations, and rules and regulations don't mention it. There's one more important aspect, decorations were worn that way in Austria-Hungary, a former enemy state.

I don't know what's the story behind those cockades but I doubt there's some connection. They had Aleksandar Karađorđević's monogram and they were made by different producers or at least packed in their boxes. There was one more strange detail, both of them had Serbian color pattern and AI monogram which was officially introduced in January 1922. Unfortunately Franz Joseph's Miloš is not exhibited in the Museum of Military History in Vienna next to his other decorations, Takovo among them. Is it's fate perhaps known? How could we exclude queen Natalija based on the sash alone?

I agree, looks like Bertrand's set.

That's prototype (2) of the 2nd class order, to my understanding there were three prototypes of the People's Army Order. First class prototype (2) is pretty much the same but it has a laurel wreath around the central ring.

Knowing that I'd say it's actually more likely it didn't belong to king Aleksandar Obrenović, perhaps a foreign recipient? Provenance of a piece is always important, especially when we're dealing with something almost no one in the world knew existed. I really wonder to whom it might have been awarded and how did it end up on emedals today.

I forgot to mention, photos were found on German ebay, LINK. It got sold in May, price was 893 EUR.

I think I saw these photos before, Cetinje?

Comparison with miniature from ebay, obvious similarity...

Did anyone see something like this before? Serbian GC "kleine decoration"? As far as I know something like that never existed, at least regulations don't mention it. The order was made by Huguenin Brothers.

Badge

We discussed other Serbian orders with brilliants before, I think this one deserves a separate topic! It's not my intent to advertise the seller but to show something most of us never saw before. LINK A Unique Serbian Order of Miloš the Great in Gold and Diamonds (1899-1903) Special Class of the Order of Miloš the Great, consisting of the badge, in solid 18Kt Gold (unmarked, but tested) and enamels; Badge is set throughout with Genuine Diamonds (approx. 86 diamonds, old European and rose cut, of average quality, total approximate weight 5.0 carats); and also set with 2 sapphires, 2 emeralds and one ruby; badge measures 35.75mm (x65.2mm including crown suspension), and weighs 36.6 grams; Star, in silver, with crown, eagle and "M" in solid 18Kt Gold (unmarked, but tested) and enamels; Star is set throughout with Genuine Diamonds (approx. 72 diamonds, old European and rose cut, of average quality, total approximate weight 3.5 carats); and also set with 2 sapphires, 4 emeralds and 3 rubies; star measures 67.8mm x 80.0mm, and weighs 71.2 grams; of exceptional quality manufacture, unmarked, but textbook example by official Imperial Austrian maker Karl Fleischhacker. Unique. Footnote: In my opinion (BT), this set most likely belonged to King Aleksandar Obrenović. Footnote: Badge was examined by Mr Tomislav Muhić (author of the book "Serbian and Yugoslavian Orders and Decorations") who concluded the badge "is a textbook example by official Imperial Austrian maker Karl Fleischhacker, except it is in Gold and Diamonds".

Plus extremely rare Montenegrin Order of St. Petar of Cetinje and Medal commemorating 50 years of Nikola's rule. Apart from rare Serbian Golden Bravery Medal from 1877 and Commemorative Medal of the Wars for Liberation and Independence 1876-78.

Just one more, better, scan of the same postcard found here.

"Gruss aus Metalka", scan found here. Perhaps the largest building above the village is the same one as on your photo.

And why not Bosnia and Herzegovina? Slavic people live there as well I read somewhere that Metaljka (Метаљка) became the border checkpoint in 1908 and it still is today. A few years ago I actually went through Pljevlja and Metaljka on my way to Foča and later Sarajevo during the winter blizzard and it was no joke. I can only imagine what was it like up there during the winter a century ago.

Thanks, here's one of the recipients, Serbian king Milan. Defenders of Independence Medal is on the last place of his medal bar, next to the Virtutea Militara.

Yes, all four documents are kept at the Archives of Yugoslavia.

Thanks! 98K sounded too high

Order of the White Eagle 5th class awarded in 1926 to Milo Pavlović, retired gymnasium professor. Order of St. Sava 1st class awarded in 1926 to Stevan Lovsević, retired headmaster of the II male gymnasium.

How exactly rare are they? Is the number of awarded pieces known? Wikipedia article about Russo-Turkish War states that Romania had 66.000 soldiers and 4300 KIA and missing. According to that at least 61700 medals were awarded, but certainly that number must have been larger.

Here's a photo of Nušić wearing both decorations plus Ottoman Order of the Medjidie & Order of Osmanieh, Takovo 4th class and if I'm not mistaken Commemorative Medal of the 40th Anniversary of the St. Andrew's Day Assembly 1858-1898.