Hungary Foreign Awards to a Deputy Minister

[Gordon Craig]

Gentlemen,

I have been looking at these, and so have a lot of other peolpe, two cased awards at the weekly Coin and Stamp Show for over a month. We were all scared off by the fact that someone had covered the names on the awards documents with "white-out". I'll bet, if there had been no award docs these medals would have sold instantly.

Anyway, after some thought I came to the conclusion that if the name was covered up in a similar manner on these two awards that it was haighly likely that they were to the same person. Also very likely that they were presented to a Hungarian whos name would be traceable. Having worked that out, at rather a slow pace, I decided to see if the vendor would bargain yesterday. I guess he was tired of carrying these awards abck and forth to the show because he was willing to bargain and eventually we settled on a mutually agreeable price. These two awards were presented to Istv?n Roska Deputy Minster for Foreign Affairs responsible for Bloc Relations IE Warsaw Pact. I have found a couple of references to him on the net. One in the ParallelHistory Project that lists an excerpt from a speech he made in the mid 1980s that considerably upset the Soviets and one in the WORLDSTATESMEN.ORG site where he is listed as the President of the Danube Commission. An organization of East Block countries. Without futher ado here are pictures of the two awards.

First up the PAMĚTNĪ MEDAILI K 30. VROČĪ. I appologize for the last word in the title. For some reason the characters look ok when I put them in the word but when I post the here they go somewhat squirrley.

The top of the case.

Edited May 13, 2009 by Gordon Craig

[Gordon Craig]

The medal in the case. The medal is plated and some of the plating has come off. That is the reason for the discolouration on the obverse.

Edited May 13, 2009 by Gordon Craig

[Gordon Craig]

The reverse. If anyone can translate the Czech into English for me I would appreciate it.

[Gordon Craig]

The award document for the Czech medal as it appeared when I bought it.

[Gordon Craig]

The award document after some carefull attempts to remove the white out with a sharp knife. The document paper is not very thick so I decided not to go any further with the knife in case I damaged the document.

[Gordon Craig]

Now the top of the case of the Polish KOMANDORIĄ ORDERU ZASŁUGI.

[Gordon Craig]

The obverse of the award in the case. The tapered ends of the ribbon have a small hook and eye on them for fastening purposes.

[Gordon Craig]

The reverse in the case.

Edited May 13, 2009 by Gordon Craig

[Gordon Craig]

A closer view of the obverse the way it would sit in the case.

[Gordon Craig]

The award document as it appeared when I bought the order.

[Gordon Craig]

The award document after some careful removal of the white-out.

[Ulsterman]

OUTSTANDING!!!!!!

you lucky dog! :jumping:

Who was he/she?

[Gordon Craig]

Ulsterman,

I've edited the first post to include what little I know about this man.

Regards,

Gordon

[hunyadi]

Absolutely amazing - I would also look in a Lexicon for his name - the bookstore across from the Junk Shop has many of them - I am sure that he would be in there and it may even list his awards. I wonder where the rest of the lot is - though it may be a widow or family member trying to make ends meet so the lot will appear slowly...

:jumping:

[Gordon Craig]

Charles,

Thanks for the tip re the Lexicon. I'll check out the book shop across the road from Arszenal tomorrow afternoon. If not there surely somewhere on Muzeum Korut. I hope you are correct about it listing his awards.

I would like to know the where abouts of the other awards as well. Be nice to keep as many together as is possible. And

The same vendor has a presentation set of a large plaque and a small plaque from Czechoslovakia, with silver hallmarks on it that he has been trying to sell me for some time. Perhaps it came with the other two medals. There is no award document with it. Perhaps it would show up in the Lexicon if the awards are listed.

Regards,

Gordon

[Gordon Craig]

Gents,

I looked in several different Lexicons today and did not find this persons name listed. However, these Lexicons were of a very general nature. I think I will need something much more Hungarian specific before I will find his name listed. More second hand book stores tomorrow.

Regards,

Gordon

[Gordon Craig]

Gents,

I posted this set of medals on the WAF International Forum and received this reply on the Czech award.

"Well the first one is quite nice and original

The 30th anniversary of the Czechoslovakia uprising and Russian Liberation.

This one is nice as it is signed by the last 'Communist' president of Czechoslovakia

Gustave Husak.

Most were stamped this one look like it was signed."

The medal is only a few $$ (very common my wife's Grand Mother got one, same document but smaller and just a printed name) but with this document and who it was given to it makes it a little special.

Later the same person made a post and said that Gustave Husak was not the president when he signed the document but was the Party Secretary.

Regards,

Gordon

Edited May 20, 2009 by Gordon Craig