paja

6 hours ago, Eric Gaumann said:

 1961-1991

Perhaps up to 1961, definitely not correct period.

6 hours ago, Eric Gaumann said:

Still in cellophane bag as was delivered by the manufacturer, with two related ribbon bars.

Delivered in cellophane bag? To whom? Two ribbon bars? 

I've read that a certain number of Czechs and Slovaks joined the First Serbian Volunteer Division. The subject of foreign recipients of Serbian decorations has always been interesting to me, I have photos of around a dozen Czechoslovakian officers and generals wearing them. The person in question should be Bednář František, where did I stumble upon his photo before god only knows. 
Many Czechoslovakian citizens were also awarded in the interwar period because of the Little Entente and generally good and friendly relations between the states.

On 1/13/2018 at 19:47, nickstrenk said:

The book Czechoslovak Legions in Russia.

A lot of photos and reading.

Very interesting to see this person is wearing Serbian "Miloš Obilić" Bravery Medal.

Don't mention it, Eric. 
It took me a few years to collect all those variants, I'm in the process of doing the same for the 2nd class. I just need to find a couple more and then I'll start a separate topic about it.
I'm pretty sure your order is made out of silver even though it's not hallmarked. When I described that type on the previous page I even wrote: "Some examples were not hallmarked." I don't know why is that the case, perhaps the simply forgot 

nickstrenk, you have a beautiful collection of Serbian bravery medals, thanks for excellent photos!

Daffy Duck, that's a nice idea, putting all of them on one place would great. Unfortunately I can't contribute that much as I only have a few of them in my collection.

Voycey 72, thank you very much for sharing that story and photos with us! The main reason why I started this topic was to provide some information to the people researching their ancestors, that's why I was very pleased to read your post.

It looks like the Karađorđe star you presented was made by Arthus-Bertrand. I think Igor's right about the year, looks like 1916 to me as well.

As you can see from the numbers above it was not that often awarded, less than 300 of them (all classes) were given to the British recipients. It was the highest bravery order a soldier could receive and for that reason the most appreciated one.

What do you think about this badge? It belongs to a fellow collector from Slovenia.
All comments are more than welcome.

On 12/16/2017 at 19:36, Veljko said:

Very interesting and actual topic Paja. I can add an opinion / gossip that majority of cockades of Kingdom of Serbia and Yugoslavia/SHS are newly produced in Zagreb, that some well known names and even bookwriters  on military topics are involved. I am pretty much sure that you heard this story too. All those newly made cockades are excellently produced so it is allmost imposible to notice the difference between them and the old ones. 

I also saw same question and discussion on one other serbian militaria forum about this same cockade. I can add that one of the discutants there is a person involved in production  and distribution of those  new ones, as i heard.

I've heard those rumors as well, sadly they seem to be true. In the beginning I wasn't really suspicious because, as you said, most of them look pretty good. The huge number of various cockades including some extremely rare ones being offered by the same small circle of sellers made me think something's wrong.

On 12/20/2017 at 19:45, new world said:

is enamel hard or soft?

I'll ask the owner and let you know.

Yugo logo on the dial would be a nice detail. Do you happen to know did any other national air force use that model?
Thanks for the photo.

Seeing examples like that really sickens me, someone practically destroyed a perfectly good decoration. What a pity!

Igor, amazing catch, that silver medal is really perfect  Thanks for excellent photos!

Looks like they are scarce, the only one I remember seeing was for the 1st class order awarded in the sixties.

Apologies for not replying sooner. Unfortunately I wasn't able to find Franasović's photo with longer medal bar, if I stumble upon it I will let you know.
Good luck finding Takovo IV with swords, that medal bar is really amazing!

And again 23XX...

It's definitely a copy even though the seller wrote: "Sale item from the pictures, I guarantee that it is genuine."
Officers who completed the Higher School of Military Academy (Виша школа Војне академије) received the badge and diploma. According to the Law on Military Academy (Закон о устројству Војне Академије) they had to pay some tax, but I doubt its amount had anything to do with the production material so I'm not buying the "poor students" story. 

The rest of the photos for future reference.

One more got sold couple of weeks ago for 444$! 
LINK




 

On the contrary, thank you for posting it. Frankly speaking I forgot about this topic, this came as a reminder to continue the research.

I think the edges of the red star were smaller on the earliest orders. I'm not completely sure but it seems like most of those are usually coming inside boxes with inscription "Orden za vojničke zasluge".

Monogram under magnifying glass.

I've seen only a few orders with those pre-WW2 type of screw nuts, one of our forum members has a piece like that in his collection. 
Others have so-called "butterfly" screw nuts and there's a certain number of remade ones with needles.
That piece from shopbulgaria also has 23XX number and it's was the first one I saw with butterfly screw nuts, perhaps someone replaced them.

Sadly the original owner of the watch I presented in this topic passed away so I can't ask him. If I remember well the story was they couldn't be replaced because of the breakup of SFRY and everything else that followed.

Taken apart.

I forgot to add those to the list, thanks for pointing it out, Drugo.
They also caught my eye. It's interesting that all of those shinny ones have 23XX number and their quantity on the market certainly raises some suspicions, I've seen at least of them 15 so far. And like you said it's not just the screw nuts, they also have that "shinny" look and couple of other details are different compared to orders with lower numbers.

A fellow collector asked me to open this topic, what do you think? Original piece or not?
All comments are more than welcome.

11 hours ago, BalkanCollector said:

5 torches, 2nd class awarded in 1971 to an infantry Major.

IKOM, rooster in hexagon and 900 silver hallmarks. This puzzles me since rooster in hexagon is a hallmark for 800 silver.

Very nice photos, thanks for sharing them with us 
Five torches order awarded in 1971