Romania SCANS OF THE PROPOSED ROMANIAN POST COMMUNIST MEDALS

[Kev in Deva]

Modelul desenant al "Ordinului Meritul Sanitar".

Modern version of the Medal, "Order of Medical Merit".

Clasa I / First Class.

Kevin in Deva.

[Kev in Deva]

Modelul desenant al "Ordinului Meritul Sanitar".

Modern version of the Medal, "Order of Medical Merit".

Clasa a II-a / Second Class.

Kevin in Deva.

[Carol I]

I was told that they are to be made available as well, to veterans whose original awards were dis-allowed under the Communists, do you have any information on this?

Some time ago it was mentioned that veterans were to receive replacements of their lost/confiscated medals, but as far as I remember it was about (poor quality) replicas of the original awards, not awards with the new design.

I think I had at some point images of the replacements for the Order of the Crown of Romania. I will check if I can find them.

[Kev in Deva]

Modelul desenant al "Ordinului Meritul Sanitar".

Modern version of the Medal, "Order of Medical Merit".

Clasa a III-a / Third Class.

Kevin in Deva

[Carol I]

Modelul desenat al "Medaliei Meritul Sanitar".

Modern version of the "Medal of Medical Merit".

Clasa a III-a / Third Class.

Kevin in Deva

The real thing: Obverse / Reverse

[Carol I]

Modelul desenat al "Medaliei Barbatie si Credintia" cu insemn de pace.

Modern version of the Medal, "Manhood & Loyalty" in Peacetime.

Clasa a III-a / Class Three in Bronze.

The real thing

[Kev in Deva]

Modelul desenant al "Ordinului Meritul Sanitar".

Modern version of the Medal, "Order of Medical Merit".

Panglica - Bareta - Panglica de razboi - Bareta de razboi.

Funda pentru persoanele de sex feminin. / Ribbon for Ladies.

Kevin in Deva

[Carol I]

Modelul desenat al "Medaliel Barbatie si Credintia" cu insemn de razboi.

Modern version of the Medal, "Manhood & Loyalty" in Wartime.

Clasa a III-a / Third Class in bronze.

The real thing: Obverse / Reverse

[Kev in Deva]

Hallo Carol,

many thanks for the links to the real items any your comments always welcome as usual.

Kevin in Deva.

[Carol I]

The "Manhood & Loyalty" is a Military Merit Medal instituted I believe for the 1913 Balkan War Conflict it came in two classes, with Swords for Combatant and without Swords for Non-Combatant.

Please see: http://gmic.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=18781

The Manhood and Loyalty has no connection with the Red Cross.

In 2004 an Order for Valour and Faith (I think this is the official translation of the name Bărbăţie şi Credinţă) was established. Images of the Commander's and Knight's badge are available on the the site of the Chancellery of Orders.

[Carol I]

Some time ago it was mentioned that veterans were to receive replacements of their lost/confiscated medals, but as far as I remember it was about (poor quality) replicas of the original awards, not awards with the new design.

I think I had at some point images of the replacements for the Order of the Crown of Romania. I will check if I can find them.

Replacement Order of the Crown of Romania

Original Order of the Crown of Romania

[Jacky]

It looks really cheapish and crappy!!

Really something which shouts "10 minutes of work and let's hand them out!!"

[Carol I]

It looks really cheapish and crappy!!

Really something which shouts "10 minutes of work and let's hand them out!!"

I agree completely, Jacky. Too bad that even the current orders have a similar appearance. There are some people that say that the mint workers are too busy doing "unofficial reproductions" to pay enough attention to the real things, but I have no idea whether this is true or only gossip.

[Blitz]

Thanks for the scans Carol. It's a sad fact that the quality of awards has diminished everywhere. Craftmanship and quality prolly reached it's peak at the turn of the last century and it's been downhill ever since.

[Carol I]

Thanks for the scans Carol.

You're welcome, Blitz.

It's a sad fact that the quality of awards has diminished everywhere. Craftmanship and quality prolly reached it's peak at the turn of the last century and it's been downhill ever since.

Well, all is not lost. It is rumoured that there are some jewellers out there who can still make high quality badges and they mark them with original punches, making it rather difficult to tell them apart from the originals. Too bad that the State Mint does not use them for making the new awards.

[Blitz]

Yes. Reproductions are getting better and the originals are getting worse. A sad state of affairs. Tillander in Helsinki used to manufacture finnish awards and orders with high quality standards, but most of the production was moved to the state mint years ago. The quality diminished noticeably. Today Tillander only makes the collars for our main orders. I suppose that's better than nothing, since those are precisely the awards where you should see quality.

[Carol I]

Tillander in Helsinki used to manufacture finnish awards and orders with high quality standards, but most of the production was moved to the state mint years ago. The quality diminished noticeably.

Many of the Romanian WWII orders were made at the National Mint with rather good quality. So I guess it is not the place by iteself, but rather the people working the medals.

[Blitz]

Yeah, the people and the restraints of time and money they have to follow. In the modern world, quality takes second place to those two elements.

[Carol I]

Tillander in Helsinki used to manufacture finnish awards and orders with high quality standards, but most of the production was moved to the state mint years ago. The quality diminished noticeably. Today Tillander only makes the collars for our main orders. I suppose that's better than nothing, since those are precisely the awards where you should see quality.

The State Mint in Romania also manufactures the collars and this means that they have the same quality as the other grades.

(The thumbnail above has a link to a high resolution image from the Chancellery of Orders.)

[Blitz]

And I didn't even know that the order was alive! Was it re-established after the fall of communism? I did know that Michael Vitezu was alive and well, but this bit of news has escaped me..

[Carol I]

And I didn't even know that the order was alive! Was it re-established after the fall of communism? I did know that Michael Vitezu was alive and well, but this bit of news has escaped me..

Yes, it was, in 1998 (see Order of the Star of Romania). In fact several of the old orders were revived between 1998 and 2003, but unfortunately the manufacturing quality is gone...

[Blitz]

Yeah, thats the modern times for you.. They didn't revive the romanian crown order did they?

[Carol I]

They didn't revive the romanian crown order did they?

No, they did not. They revived however several orders of the complex system of awards existing during Carol II's reign (the Order for Loyal Service, the Order for Merit, several other orders of merit etc.). See the file describing the new system of awards from the Chancellery of Orders.