Unknown Arabian Order

[oamotme]

Megan.

Great - many thanks,

Breats stars:

Noble Saee'eedee Order (sash - red with green central stripe?).

Brillliant Star of Zanzibar & neck badge (sash is red with white edge stripes and not worn ).

Miniatures

Um... No 2 Saee'eedee Order?

Owain

[Ed_Haynes]

Yes, the miniatures are quite a puzzle!

[James Hoard]

Miniatures

Um... No 2 Saee'eedee Order?

Owain

The orders he mentions receiving are as mentioned in one of my previous posts:the Orders of Al-Saidi of Oman 1^st class (10.10.1928), Brilliant star of Zanzibar 2^nd class (2.7.1929), Lion and Sun of Persia 3^rd class (1913), the Osmans (Nishan-i-Osmanieh) 3^rd class (1903), and Nobility (Nishan-i-Mejidieh) 4^th class (1895) of Turkey, and the Red Eagle of Prussia 4^th class (1912).

Presumably the first of the miniatures is the Red Eagle. The second is the miniature of the Saidi Order. The third from the left looks like the French Black Star of Benin but is probably the miniature of the Star of Zanzibar. The third from the right is the Lion & Sun, which looks as if it is between the Mejidieh and Osmanieh. The last on the right is a medal, probably the Sultan of Zanzibar's Jubilee Medal. What the fourth order is, I cannot even hazard a guess.

Cheers,

James

[Megan]

Yep - you are right about the usefulness of the caption, James - I intended to type it in then forgot!

When I have some time (not tonight, it's a parents' evening at college!) I will see how many of the medals mentioned I can find a picture of, and post them for comparison.

[IVB]

This picture I found in the Web some time ago. Description says: "Order of Sultan Hussein Kathiri". What's this?

http://www.semon.fr/Decorations_yemen.htm

Regards, IVB.

Edited November 6, 2008 by IVB

[James Hoard]

This picture I found in the Web some time ago. Description says: "Order of Sultan Hussein Kathiri". What's this?

Hello IVB,

Sultan Hussein bin Ali al-Kathir was the last ruler of the Kathiri State of Saiun, one of the sultanates and sheikhdoms in the Hadramaut of South Yemen. While they were British protectorates, from about the 1940's to the early 1960's several of them instituted orders and decorations of their own, but they all fell into abeyance at the revolution in 1967.

Where did you find the decoration?

Cheers,

James

[oamotme]

Dear Megan & Gentlemen,

A long story but for full details see my article on this award in JOMSA. In short this badge was used as a model for a propoosed Kathiri order but never got much beyond the initial design stage - the 1967 communist take over thwarted the formal institution of the order. The badge illustrated, missing its owl suspension, is in fact a Schlaraffia badge (made in Vienna) from Sarajevo and the inscription reads "This is the medal of our great Imam". Schlaraffia were a fraternal society extant in Austro-Hungarian society and each "club" had its own badge. A number of such badges were sold at a Dorotheum Vienna auction a couple of years ago.

Kind regards,

Owain

Edited November 6, 2008 by oamotme

[IVB]

Thanks James and Owain :beer:

[IVB]

Another one from Najafcoins. "Egypt Medal Order of Jumhuriye Star" - is it true?

[oamotme]

A number of similar but unrecorded Egyptian pieces have appeared on the market over the past couple of years. and appear to be a combination of pre-1952 and post-1952 coup designs. The central inscription in this instance is "The Republic" and is on a gilt star similar the the Order of Mohammed Ali. A charitable view would be that they are post-1952 trial pieces which were never approved. Less charitably they may have been made up and sold on a let's see what we can get. I had the good fortune to meet Mr. Bichay a couple of times, and in the 1950s & 1960 he was the principal manufacturer of Egyptian awards and he never referred to any such pieces - although to be fair I didn't ask him specifically about trial pieces. At best I would regard this and similar others as peripheral curiosities and their price should reflect this status. I have a "specimen" Republican Deputies Badge (ex-E-Bay)on a Lattes backing star - Lattes ceased production in about 1930!

Regards,

Owain

[Ed_Haynes]

I am never surprised at how little research dealers bother to do. It is, in fact, Egyptian, but the Order of Merit. Breast star for the 1st (80 mm) -- or 2nd? (70 mm) -- class. It is a strange piece though.

[oamotme]

Ed,

I disagree - it is not the Order of Merit as illustrated in the Arab Republic of Egypt protocol book - this backing star has more acute points than the official order, there is no uppermost falcon or hawk device, and the central inscription should be "Al Istahqaq" (Merit) not "Al Jumhouriya" (Republic). I do though whole heartedly agree with your comments concerning the lack of research done by dealers - however this does sometimes, not often, present collectors with golden opportunities!

Kind regards,

Owain

[Ed_Haynes]

Right, Owain. As you pointed out, it seems to be a "mule", with pieces of various things. Perhaps it is what some of our late friends in Cairo would have liked to call a "prototype" piece (and maybe some of them were?). But maybe these are just mebegotten products of an overfilled box of miscellaneous parts subjected to inventive reassembly?

[oamotme]

Ed et al.

My "mule" came out of Turkey and a fellow collector purchased a couple of mules in Amman some two years ago. I don't think that there are many about - indeed the collectors market for legitimate Arab awards is small enough - although prices are going up - I look forward to seeing the UBS Gustav Tammann auction results from yesterday and the day before. I can understand imperial Greman and Russian fakes but suspect that these "mules" are miscellaneous spares.

Owain

Edited November 6, 2008 by oamotme