Kev in Deva

It was issued without any documentation to serving and time served members of the Irish military who have completed at least one UN Mission and received a UN Mission Medal.

Ex-member of the Irish Defence Force with service with UNIFIL.
 

With regards RUC's post

King Michael I (Romanian: Mihai I; born 25 October 1921) reigned as King of Romania from 20 July 1927 to 8 June 1930 and again from 6 September 1940 to 30 December 1947.

That either places the picture outside the two date suggested:

"I - During the occupation of Albania from Italy in April 1939; or

II - During the attack of Italy against the Greece in October 1940."

As King Michael was not King on either of those dates.

Hi Peter,

yes it magnetic, not mine a fellow collector here in Romania acquired it from a local family near him. Certainly worth some research, very well made, but at some point its been abused, pock marks gouged to the front of the item, might just have been the ignorant testing its silver content.

All the best, Kevin.

I was always sure they were only in silver, this one is a near perfect copy of a silver one in my collection only the weight is the difference. If made in Romania in that period or after WW1 its surprisingly good quality, something they were not able to manage when producing the unofficial but authorized Romanian Inter-Allied Victory medal.

This was among a set of Romanian medals offered to a guy here in Romania about six years ago by the family of the recipient, at the time he was not interested, this summer he bumped into a member of the family and asked by any chance did they still have the medals, they did and he bought them.

He PM me on FB to ask why there was no name on the medal, I told him that British MM - DSM to Romanians were unnamed, further discussion lead to the discovery its not made in silver.

On another medal group in Facebook its been stated the French, Belgians etc..etc.. were manufacturing British military awards in WW1 . . . . ``as the British could not cope with the demand.`` (which came as news to me) but seeing as Romania came late into WW1 and after intial wins, were pushed all the way back up into North-Eastern Romania, losing the capital city of Bucharest, by the combined forces of Prussia and Associated German States, Austro Hungary, Bulgaria and to some small degree Turkey, the Allied supply-line was via the Russian Port of Archangel, then shipped by train to them, this was the way the Silver MM and DSM came to Romania, and then awarded via the Romanian War Office-Ministry of War to those deemed worthy.

I am here 15 years now and its the first oddity I have come across with regards a British medal.

This British Military Medal piece was shown to me recently at a Collectors Fair in Romania,

it came from a Romanian family along with some other period piece Romanian Military Medals
such as - barbatie si credinta,(Manhood and Loyalty,) crucea comemorativa, Romanian Commemorative Cross of War for WW1,
ARPA medal, (Medal given for donation to help build up the Romanian air-force) serviciu credincios, (Credible Service Medal) such a group would be indicative of being to a low ranking Non-Commissioned Officer or Senior Private in the Romanian military.

I have found one other MM here in silver before, but, this version is apparently in steel or Iron and silver plated.

As common with British MM given to Romanians the edge of the medal is not stamped with any details.

Size:- 3.65 cm of the medal disc.
Size:- 5.6 cm with hanger - ribbon bar.
Weight:-
only notable difference between the Silver version and this is in the weight department,
I am trying to find the paper where I noted the difference down.
 

Any information would be appreciated
 

Kevin in Deva.

Giving this thread a bump, here are some K.V.K. items a friend of mine has just acquired here in Transylvania.

Never seen a K.V.K. II Class without swords in a box before is this correct?

Kevin in Deva.

Now ´m I looking for a 4th class non combat 1918 and the rarest of all 1918 crosses , the ones with Red Cross $$$$$$

Like this one

IMHO its a Polish Medal, the ribbon colours are those of Poland,

but I have nothing official to back it up, any details on the rear?

Kevin in Deva.

Hi Chris,

if my memory serves me corectly, a long time back, I seem to remember a comment in

R.L.'s book " A Collectors Guide to Third Reich Militaria."

saying that the Ehrenkreuz had not been faked but was still in production / official manufactured

for veterans who needed replacements,

Have you also checked on "BayoSwedes" Website with regards them?

Kevin in Deva.

Hi Chris, yes they do exsist, I believe any such with a blank rear were all made post W.W.2

for German W.W.1 veterans who needed replacement crosses for worn out or lost pieces.

Kevin in Deva.

I bought only exceptional pieces from Mr. Bogdan Stambuliu, and indeed he does have a very impressive collection. From the information above, I believe that the insignia of the Order of Michael the Brave is absolutely original. There is no doubt.

Perhaps you would care to quote which post and which Order of Michael the Brave you are refering too?

And yes, the doubt still remains.

This is the other one I'm concerned may be fake...in this case because I got it on eBay and because it seems very shiny, which I didn't think the Romanian ones were. This is the "Crecia" unofficial version.

I am awaiting the Romanian official, which I got for $200 on eBay...seems cheap, but since the seller is in Bucharest, that allays my fears of it being fake.

image.jpgimage.jpg

Take care, a few years ago, at a Collector's Fair in Romania, I found a Romanian medal dealer from Bucharest selling the chocolate brown type British made reproduction Romanian Inter-Allied Victory medal on modern made British Victory medal ribbon, when I quizzed him about he admitted to buying a few on British E-bay for resale to buyers outside of Romania.

I regularly attend the Collector's Fairs over here and can quite honestly say that, apart from the above example I have never found or come across any fake or modern repro made Romanian Inter-Allied Victory Medals at them

Kevin in Deva,

Kevin,

Sorry to sound a bit of an ignoramus but were these bars ever issued with the medal, I have seen many examples of the medal but never one with a bar, or are they like the British WWI naval bars, proposed but never issued.

Paul

The battle bars for this award do exists they come in two types a silver version and a bronze version,

they can be classed as scarce to rare, not because so few were issued, but, because so few were kept,

this medal was essentially awarded for killing communists on the Eastern Front,

not exactly a memento you want to keep around when the country (Romania) was under Soviet Occupation.

Kevin in Deva.

I came across this picture online, it depicts the Romanian Royal Period

"Crusade Against Communism 1941" medal with battle bars:-

BASARABIA

BUCOVINA

ODESSA

CRIMEEA

CHERCI

SEVASTOPOL

STALINGRAD

CAUCAZ

Kevin in Deva.

Do these bars look legitimate?

In my opinion the two bars look o.k. its possible the top one was polished up with sand-paper at some stage, possibly by a WW1 veteran, to make it stand out.

Kevin in Deva.

Kev,

In Resch "Die Munzen von Siebenburgen" it is rendered as Brasso, I accept that it is actually Brasov.

Paul

Well its been called worse, post 1947 it was actually renamed "STALIN"

Many thanks for the info Greg, must be on the look out for a correct ribbon in Brasov on the 23rd November 2013.

Errr . . . . thats Brasov in Romania Paul

Brasso strips away minute layers of brass as it cleans and after a while the fine detail gets worn away,

as any soldier who spent hours polishing brass buttons will tell you.

My advice stick with the washing as in the first post, dry thoroughly and then apply a coat of ladies clear hair lacquer.

Kevin in Deva.

Hallo Gents,

Picked this one up on Saturday 9th November 2013 in Deva,

at the Collectors Fair.

I hope the ribbon is the right one for this award?

Kevin in Deva.

This is scarce medal, only 5,000 awarded around 1878 and not that many survived.

Not so scarce, as it shows up frequently at Collectors Fairs in Romania, but it is hard to find with original ribbon and the original gilt color that all the medals had, there is even modern reproduction ribbon being offered for this one, here in Romania.

Kevin in Deva.

With regard the silver version of the Commemorative Medal for the 1913 Balkan Campaign,

I have seen one example with a hallmark strike on the bar that the ribbon wraps around,

unfortunately, I did not have the possibility to photograph the example.

Kevin in Deva.

Kevin

I shoulda thunk a that! Especially as I know how much 'in country' stuff the UN missions typically generate. And hadn't considered the ribbon supply problem either. Makes me feel better about the land of my forebears and its military standards!

Peter

Hi Peter,

one of the largest purveyors of U.N. connected mission insignias being the French military, some of it quite nice too in design.

Kevin.

Hallo Peter,

these are usually made "in country", they started to appear in the early 1980's in South Lebanon, and were worn while on U.N. Service, usually with the U.N. Khaki / Parade uniform, they were seldom if ever worn at home, quite cheap to buy via the Unit Canteen along with other souvenir insignia that would never be worn on the uniform back home, such as a name tag with Irish flag, and specific numbered IRISHBATT pocket hangers.

These painted ribbon bars were easier to maintain than the issue cloth ones, many of which, particularly the Irish Service medal ribbons could not be sourced while out on U.N.service.

Kevin in Deva

Very nice find Noor,

I have been after one of these type for a long time.

His service ribbons are for:

Top:- AN BONN SIRBHISE The military service medal, with ribbon colours for15 year's service.

Second row:- AN BONN CHOSANTOIRI SIOCHANA NA NAISIUN AONTAITHE / The United Nations Peacekeepers Medal.

United Nations UNIFIL Service Medal for service in South Lebanon.

United Nations MINURSO - 1991 Mission Medal (United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara, the acronym derives from the use of the French language, Mission des nations unies pour le referendum dans le Sahara Occidental).

Kevin in Deva.