DutchBoy

Grand Cross breast star, manufactured by the Royal Mint in Utrecht (dated to the 1970s).

The reverse with the two different spelling variations mentioned above. The W monogram stands for Wilhelmina, the Queen who founded the order.

The GC sash badge and the neck badge are identical. Note the mint mark on the cross surmounting the crown.

Cool stuff Michael, thanks for posting! That's a nice pre 1970s one too.

Thanks guys! I don't have any of the other grades (yet), but I really want one from the military division, with swords. I'll try to make some close-ups of my pieces as well, especially showing the "zij" and "zy" variations. If anyone has a variation with swords please post it! Thanks, Matthijs.

closer

close up

Close up

Here are my Grand Cross and Grand Officer sets of this order. The Grand Cross was awarded to a Bulgarian ambassador in the 1970s, while the Grand Officer was awarded to an unknown person in around the 1930s. One way to date the insignia is by looking at the inscription on the reverse. It reads "God Zij Met Ons" ("May God be with us"). On earlier pieces, the word "Zij" is spelled "Zy." The switchover to the "zij" spelling occurred some time around the 1970s or so, I'm not sure of the exact year.

The Netherlands Order of Oranje-Nassau was instituted on 4 april 1892. After King William III died in 1890, Luxembourg was split from the Dutch crown because a woman now became Queen of the Netherlands. With Salic law applying in Luxembourg, a distant relative of Wilhelmina, the new Dutch Queen, became the new Grand Duke of Luxembourg. The Order of the Oaken Crown, instituted for Luxembourg by King William II in 1841, was now no longer available for use in the Netherlands, so a new lower order (after the Order of the Netherlands Lion) was needed. This led to the creation of the Order of Oranje-Nassau, named after the Netherlands Royal House. Today, it has 6 grades: Grand Cross, Grand Officer, Commander, Officer, Knight, and Member.

Barry, Thanks for posting this fine document! I've never seen a British award document before, but it's extremely well made and presented. As for the price...whoa!

William Congrats on the purchase, looking forward to hearing what you think! Matt.

I"ve only handled a very few Czech pieces, but they are very nice. And when you hold a Czech or Soviet piece and put it next to a "native" (possibly Chinese-made) piece, there is no comparison. Just like Yugo stuff, now that Soviet and Mongolian areas are getting very pricey I think DPRK stuff will go up and up (I hope!!)

Thanks William, I obviously got a good one! I'm keeping it real safe until its next owner!

Hi William, I think the interest is not (yet) great for DPRK stuff, but this order is definitely collectable. It is silver gilt, numbered, made in the Soviet Union, and great looking. Since supply outstrips demand at this point you can strike a great bargain for these pieces. And also, since the supply of perfect ones is quite big (comparatively speaking) most people would want that instead of a damaged/repaired piece. So I would think that damaged ones are significantly cheaper (as in my case). I think a fair price for an undamaged one should be around $1,500 - $2,000, although many are listed for more (I've seen $3,000, even $4,000). Whether they would sell for that price, and not be negotiated down, I don't know. The piece I have was professionally restored, and it is VERY hard to tell it's been repaired. For the rest it is in excellent condition for a 1950s piece. I would not be surprised if the demand for these goes up quickly, and also, the DPRK orders not made in the Soviet Union will never be really collectable. Matt.

Christian, That is an awesome coincidence!! It sounds like Dr. Kepnik was a great man and a great influence in your life. Thank you so much for the fascinating background info that I would never otherwise have learned about him. I will post a better scan of his document...it has a citation for the award (in Serbian of course) that may be interesting to you. Again, fascinating stuff!

Hi Christian, I see you live in Austria and are interested in Yugo awards. Check out my Yugo Order of the Flag 2nd class to the head of the Austrian Railways in the 1960s...I think you might appreciate the connection to your country. Matt.

Igor, PM sent.

Cool! Whatever it is, I'm sure it's great stuff. So you mailed the pieces you bought to yourself from UB instead of in your luggage...smart idea. I suppose the Mongol authorities are starting to not look too kindly on this sort of trade.

Ed, What did you in fact buy while you were in Mongolia?

Igor, Based on the description I gave above, I'd have to say that your cross in post #82 is a reproduction.

Hi Igor, The first section you posted is about the history of the Vliegerkruis and the other Dutch bravery awards. Time restraints won't let me translate that right now. The second section you posted is about fakes of this decoration. It reads: "The Flying Cross (725 awarded): The surface of the arms are covered with regular bumps or pebbling. On reproductions this pebbling is irregular and coarser than the original. Just like the originals first made in England, so these reproductions are also stamped "sterling" or "silver" on the reverse. Reproduction of the Dutch-produced ones has not been attempted yet. These Dutch ones have a Dutch silver hallmark on the side of the left cross arm (the hallmark is a sword). The first 500 crosses were manufactured in England, and the rest in the Netherlands. The above-mentioned reproduction has been on the market since 1992. It was manufactured in Poland and around 500 pieces were made. The company "van Wielik" has mounted several of these in a Dutch military mounting. The original flying crosses were always hung by the ribbon unless they were part of a bar of medals (spange), in which case only they were mounted miliary style." [so presumably this means that single crosses were never mounted in such a way, and this may be a give-away to its authenticity]

Emedals has a small collection of mostly common stuff for sale, but he has some interesting pilot badges etc too. www.emedals.ca

I agree. Pakenham's book is not only the best on the subject, it's also a riveting read.

Holy cr*p! My jaw just dropped, unfortunately while I was eating breakfast. I've never seen anything like it. Here are my reactions in order of appearance: