Herman

In the Dutch Officers list of 1880 the Prince is mentioned with all his awards. The first person mentioned in the picture is the king William III and the second person is our guy. I checked all mentioned awards. Most of them are Grand Crosses of German States like Hanover, Baden, Nassau, Hessen-Kassel, Oldenburg, Wurtemberg and countries like Spain, Russia, Portugal, Sweden and Norway and Austria. Of the identified awards of his bar I recognize the following: The small 4 arms cross in position 3 is the Dutch Metal Cross 1830-31, Number four (65) is the Dutch Officers Cross with yearsign 65. The small 5 arms cross on number 5 is the Dutch Silver Cross 1813-15, SG4 on position 10 is the Russian Knight 4th class of the Order of St. George, On position 29 (of 31), Ykr.2.kl, is the Prussian Iron Cross 2nd class of 1813. The first award mentioned is the Grand Cross in the Dutch Military Williams Order, also visible in the picture under his medal bar. The medals in position 6 to 9 in his above mentioned and shown medal bar are not in the list unfortunately. Medal number 7 to 9 are 100% identified with the help of some experts on this forum. So what could the unidentified medal in position 6 be? A Russian medal of St. George perhaps? Were they awarded for the wars in 1813-15? I saw one hanging from an yellow-orange ribbon. Could this be the one? Happy sofar with the developments in this topic. Thanks very much, Regards Herman

Johan, Alex and Leonard, thanks for your replies. This painting of the Prince was as an old man. He died in 1881. Thanks to your medal asessment I think number 5 is the Dutch Officers Cross. In this form it was awarded from 6 december 1866 onwards (till today). The painting is therefore made between 1866 and 1881. It is exhibited in Palace Het Loo, in Apeldoorn, the Netherlands. The Russian awards make sense as well as the Dutch Royalty was close to the Russian royalty with some in between marriages and all in those days. That leaves medal nr 6 unattributed as a Dutch long service medal was only awarded to all military personell lower than the rank of 2nd Lieutenant. Furthermore Thanks a lot. This is very helpfull. PS: The old Prince is also my avatar. 😊 Regards Herman

Good evening, I enclose a picture of the uniform of Dutch Field Marshall Prince Frederick of the Netherlands. As a very young man he was an officer in the Prussian Army. In 1813 he became a Dutch Colonel. Later he was promoted to General and ultimately in 1840 to Field Marshall. He appreciated the medals he was awarded in the war of 1813-1815 and wore them when he was in uniform. In later life he was pictured on a painting in his Field Marshall uniform with his early medals. The Iron Cross 1813 2nd class is obvious. The third medal is the Dutch Metal Cross 1830-31, the fourth medal is the Dutch Silver Cross 1813-15. The rest is unknown to me sofar. The colours of the ribbons are hopefully correct and will help a bit. The medals are all painted without details which is unfortunate. All help is welcome. Herman

He had enough to open his own medal store. 😊

It is the Oranje Nassau medal in bronze. In old Black and white pictures the ribbon shades are reversed. It has something to do with the development of the picture I read somewhere. Please check the left person (Major General de Veer) in the below picture taken in 1913. His first award is a Knight in the Order of the Dutch Lion. The colors are reversed. What should be dark is light and vice versa. Regards Herman

Simius Rex, I, and many other forumites, read your writing and learn from it. Thanks for your input my friend. Cheers Herman

Another Dutch medal set with a Vasa order. Unfortunately I forgot to write down his name.

I found some newspaper articles about a J.W. Buitendijk. In the sixties he was a police officer and a judge. No connection with Africa unfortunately. The clippings are in Dutch. ☺

Laurentius, the cross will probably be marked with a silver mark (a sword) and a makers mark. In the seventies Koninklijke Begeer is a likely candidate. Regards Herman

Sadly no information about mr. Buitendijk. This set belongs to an Infantry officer who fought in May 1940 with 8th Infantry Regiment at the Grebbeberg, was a prisoner in Germany in WW2, and received an Officer in the Order of Orange Nassau with the swords a few months prior to his retirement.

I found this one with a Swedish Vasa order. This one is identified to Johan Willem Buitendijk.

Yes, seems to be the one. Thanks Herman

Again with a Royal connection? Unfortunately not identified.

The new owner of the Colonel Jan Sar medal bar nicely restored it to it's original state.