Bulgaria - St. Alexander Order Commander cross

[hipnos]

Gentlement, This is a Beautiful commander cross w/ swords, from Bulgary. It?s very Nice IMHO, but...

This is a mistery that I can?t explain yet. In every book I?read on the matter, the green cross is a commander class, WITH royal crown, and the Prince crown goes always with White enameled crosses...?

Any Hints?

[ccj]

http://gmic.co.uk/uploads/monthly_02_2008/post-4281-1204195884.jpghttp://gmic.co.uk/uploads/monthly_02_2008/post-4281-1204195901.jpg

Gentlement, This is a Beautiful commander cross w/ swords, from Bulgary. It?s very Nice IMHO, but...

This is a mistery that I can?t explain yet. In every book I?read on the matter, the green cross is a commander class, WITH royal crown, and the Prince crown goes always with White enameled crosses...?

Any Hints?

WOW, Super decoration. I have a book on Bulgarian decorations. I'll look for it.

Send it to me when you are tired of it. I've been looking for one for about 5 years.

[922F]

Statutes do not authorize this insignia form. Petrov, Denkov and Paprikoff report the St. Alexander "Hessian duke or strawberry leaf" suspension crown changed to the Bulgarian czarist form in 1900 (or 1908 at the latest, this not clear whether due to use of stocks of old type insignia or statutory change) when the Civil Merit Order suspension crown took that form in 1900 and Military Merit Order insignia was created with a czarist crown. Ferdinand instituted green enamel commander crosses, these same 'authorities' state, in 1908 or more likely in 1912.

Several pieces of Bulgarian insignia exist with what are obviously switched crowns. Early St. Alex suspension crowns are seen on lst type Civil Merit commanders and the Prague castle collection has a Military Merit commander with an early St. Alex crown. Another Military Merit commander has a first type Civil Merit suspension crown held on with a bent steel sewing pin. These usually have botched or deformed links between the main badge and crown. Sometimes plain rings replace the link. In the 1970s, these were sold as "proto-types" but the idea that anything with less than a perfect finish would be shown to someone like Ferdinand is just plain crazy.

It appears that the illustrated example has a slightly deformed link between the crown and cross, the link's upper left obverse side seems rough. This would not be a normal place for such wear and, especially if tool marks are visible, suggests a crown switch. (This suspension crown appears to be Austrian made {1890s contemporary Rothe most likely} rather than French or Russian. The badge may be 1930s German or Bulgarian manufacture. The suspension is most probably silver-gilt---this badge looks to be silver-gilt as well but if it is bronze-gilt that would be another clear indication of a switch.)

These suspension-badge links on most Bulgarian insignia were simply bent together especially for the St. Alexander Order as it made selection of the 2 possible suspension varients at that precise point simple. This makes switching crown easier than if the links had been brazed together.

Also, some insignia was taken apart and used as jewellery. This was not like the purpose-made "CORO" type manufactured costume jewellery based on French colonial and Romanain order insignia but rather actual pieces turned to another use. Later someone may have wished to "restore" insignia without realizing the statutory requirements.

Besides this type switch, in the last 10 years or so Bulgarian St. Alex, Civil and Military Merit orders of late kingdom/czarist type, especially commander and officer grades, have appeared with republic suspension wreaths replacing their crowns. Besides sloppy or deformed links, the give-away is use of a cast suspension wreath rather than a struck one and sometimes failure to remove the crown on the lion (reverse of Civil & Military Merit and lst class St. Alex badges).

[hipnos]

Statutes do not authorize this insignia form. Petrov, Denkov and Paprikoff report the St. Alexander "Hessian duke or strawberry leaf" suspension crown changed to the Bulgarian czarist form in 1900 (or 1908 at the latest, this not clear whether due to use of stocks of old type insignia or statutory change) when the Civil Merit Order suspension crown took that form in 1900 and Military Merit Order insignia was created with a czarist crown. Ferdinand instituted green enamel commander crosses, these same 'authorities' state, in 1908 or more likely in 1912.

Several pieces of Bulgarian insignia exist with what are obviously switched crowns. Early St. Alex suspension crowns are seen on lst type Civil Merit commanders and the Prague castle collection has a Military Merit commander with an early St. Alex crown. Another Military Merit commander has a first type Civil Merit suspension crown held on with a bent steel sewing pin. These usually have botched or deformed links between the main badge and crown. Sometimes plain rings replace the link. In the 1970s, these were sold as "proto-types" but the idea that anything with less than a perfect finish would be shown to someone like Ferdinand is just plain crazy.

It appears that the illustrated example has a slightly deformed link between the crown and cross, the link's upper left obverse side seems rough. This would not be a normal place for such wear and, especially if tool marks are visible, suggests a crown switch. (This suspension crown appears to be Austrian made {1890s contemporary Rothe most likely} rather than French or Russian. The badge may be 1930s German or Bulgarian manufacture. The suspension is most probably silver-gilt---this badge looks to be silver-gilt as well but if it is bronze-gilt that would be another clear indication of a switch.)

These suspension-badge links on most Bulgarian insignia were simply bent together especially for the St. Alexander Order as it made selection of the 2 possible suspension varients at that precise point simple. This makes switching crown easier than if the links had been brazed together.

Also, some insignia was taken apart and used as jewellery. This was not like the purpose-made "CORO" type manufactured costume jewellery based on French colonial and Romanain order insignia but rather actual pieces turned to another use. Later someone may have wished to "restore" insignia without realizing the statutory requirements.

Besides this type switch, in the last 10 years or so Bulgarian St. Alex, Civil and Military Merit orders of late kingdom/czarist type, especially commander and officer grades, have appeared with republic suspension wreaths replacing their crowns. Besides sloppy or deformed links, the give-away is use of a cast suspension wreath rather than a struck one and sometimes failure to remove the crown on the lion (reverse of Civil & Military Merit and lst class St. Alex badges).

I?ve read the book of Todor Petrov, and, as you say, I?ve not find any badge like this...I?ve think about the crown switch as a possibility. Thanks fot your lecture

Miguel

PS/ In a close look, I?ve not detected any damage to the suspension, but I?ll retry with a magnifier....

[new world]

Crown and cross do not belong together.

Green crosses always go with Czar's crown.

William