Great Dane Posted April 3, 2010 Posted April 3, 2010 I recently purchased a medal bar belonging to a Dane who participated in the rescue mission after the earthquake in Calabria/Sicily in 1908. According to the danish State- and Court Handbooks he was awarded the "Italian medal for the earthquake in Calabria/Sicily in 1908" in silver and in gold. Now, these handbooks normally got the orders right but were slightly inaccurate when it came to medals. On his medal bar he has two medals for the 1908 earthquake: One is 32mm in silver with this text on the reverse: "Medaglia Commemorativa - Terremoto Calabro-Siculo 28 Dicembre 1908" and this ribbon The other is 35mm in silver with this text on the reverse: "Terremoto 28 Dicembre 1908 in Calabria e in Sicilia" and this ribbon On photos of him wearing his medal bar, these two medals are definitely the ones he is wearing (although the photos are B/W so I can't tell if they're silver or gold, but the ribbons and the sizes are right). Can somebody shed a light on why there were two different medals for this earthquake? Then I might be able to deduct what he really was awarded... /Michael
tjnier Posted April 3, 2010 Posted April 3, 2010 Franco Scandaluzzi's book (1962) describes the medal with 2 white side stripes as the "merit" medal for those rendering relief to the victims of 1908. The other medal with 3 white stripes was given to British Royal Navy personnel who actually landed at Messina to give immediate aid to the survivors. It often appears named along its rim in RN medal groups. See "Angels in Blue Jackets - The (Royal) Navy at Messina, 1908", by J.W. Wilson & R. Perkins (1985). Perhaps the merit medal was intended for those who donated funds or relief materiel without visiting Messina?? Maybe your Dane did both?
Great Dane Posted April 3, 2010 Author Posted April 3, 2010 OK, that's quite interesting... First of all, I'm sure the State- and Court Handbook got it wrong, since these two medals were the ones he was actually wearing. He was an officer on board the danish cruiser 'Hejmdal' which just happened to be visiting while the earthquake took place, so I think he (they) was directly involved in the rescue operations. He may have been involved in raising funds too since he was a danish prince, so maybe he could pull some financial strings... Thanks for the info /Michael
Great Dane Posted April 17, 2010 Author Posted April 17, 2010 Finally managed to get a picture of the bar It belonged to Prince Axel of Denmark (King Christian X's cousin) and consists of: - Denmark, Order of Dannebrog, Silver Merit Cross 1906 - Denmark, Decoration for the Golden Ann. of King Christian IX and Queen Louise 1892 (in gold) - Denmark, King Christian IX's Centenary Medal 1918 - Denmark, King Frederik VIII's Centenary Medal 1943 - Denmark, Good service in the Navy - Denmark, Galathea Medal (scientific expedition) 1953 - Sweden, King Gustav V's 90th birthday Decoration 1948 - Sweden, King Gustav V's 70th birthday Decoration 1928 - UK, Queen Elisabeth II's Coronation Medal 1953 - Netherlands, Queen Juliana's Inauguration Medal 1948 - Luxembourg, Wedding Medal 1953 - Italy, Comm. Medal for the Calabria/Sicily earthquake 1908 - Italy, Merit Medal for the Calabria/Sicily earthquake 1908 (silver) - Thailand, The Royal Cypher Medal for King Rama IX - Thailand, The Royal Cypher Medal for King Rama VII - Thailand, Coronation Medal for King Rama VI 1911 The two missing medals are - as listed above - the Royal Cypher Medals for King Rama VII and King Rama IX. Both were 1. class (all set with diamonds) and are probably sold off separately. The two swedish medals and the Dannebrog Silver Cross were remounted by me. Apart from these medals, he was also awarded numerous Grand Crosses and 3 single-class orders (Danish Order of the Elephant, Swedish Order of the Seraphim and Prussian Order of the Black Eagle). /Michael
Great Dane Posted April 17, 2010 Author Posted April 17, 2010 The photo is dated approx. 1947 and on the bar Prince Axel is wearing the medals awarded to him at that time. They are: - Denmark, Order of Dannebrog, Silver Merit Cross - Denmark, Decoration for the Golden Ann. of King Christian IX and Queen Louise (in gold) - Denmark, King Christian IX's Centenary Medal - Denmark, King Frederik VIII's Centenary Medal - Denmark, Good service in the Navy - Sweden, King Gustav V's 70th birthday Decoration 1928 - Sweden, Centenary Medal for the Royal Swedish Sailing Society - Italy, Comm. Medal for the Calabria/Sicily earthquake 1908 - Italy, Merit Medal for the Calabria/Sicily earthquake 1908 (silver) - Thailand, The Royal Cypher Medal for King Rama VII - Thailand, Coronation Medal for King Rama VI 1911 Later he unmounted the Swedish Sailing Society Medal (and kept it as a single) and mounted the medals awarded to him after this. Around the neck, he is wearing the Grand Commander class (a special class above Grand Cross, reserved for royalty) of the Order of Dannebrog and on the breast the accompanying (Grand Cross) breast star. He is also wearing the Grand Cross breast stars for the Danish Order of the Elephant and the swedish Order of the Seraphim. The sash is probably for the swedish Order of the Seraphim. /Michael
Great Dane Posted April 17, 2010 Author Posted April 17, 2010 Here is the accompanying miniature bar. The Luxemburg Wedding Medal is missing. The 2 Thai decoration (with diamonds) were probably never made as miniatures. /Michael
Herr General Posted April 18, 2010 Posted April 18, 2010 Here is the accompanying miniature bar. The Luxemburg Wedding Medal is missing. The 2 Thai decoration (with diamonds) were probably never made as miniatures. /Michael A beautiful set!
Great Dane Posted April 18, 2010 Author Posted April 18, 2010 Thanks Herr General Here is a picture of one of the missing Thai Royal Cypher medals (from a recent Thies auction) This one actually belonged to Prince Axel's wife. Not mine, unfortunately... /Michael
kimj Posted April 19, 2010 Posted April 19, 2010 A nice bar Michael! Do you think you'll find the Thai awards to complete it? Must be easier to find a nice pic of him wearing his bar than some odd Swede... /Kim
Great Dane Posted April 19, 2010 Author Posted April 19, 2010 Probably not... the medal above (from swedish Princess Margaretha) got a hammer price of 4000 Euros, so... ahem... /Michael
claudio2574 Posted June 24, 2013 Posted June 24, 2013 May be there is something more to say about these medals. There are THREE medals: - merit medal for individuals - merit medal for organisations - commemorative medal The merit medal for individuals was given to any people who actually had great merit during the disaster. There were four degrees: - gold - silver - bronze - mention of merit (no medal). The full list of the people is included in the text of the law (see it here http://www.faleristica.it/gallery/RG1910_06_05_131_PM.pdf). More or less there were some 8800 names, having about 1% gold, 3% silver, 16% bronze and all the others a simple mention. This is only a statistical evaluation based on some pages of the document. The medal was 35 mm diameter, made by the Royal mint and other private producers. Here is the medal (private production, silver) and the diploma:
claudio2574 Posted June 24, 2013 Posted June 24, 2013 In the same year (1910) a second medal was created for the organisations who gave help. This medal also was in gold, silver and bronze. It is larger than the previous one (40mm instead of 35mm) and is REALLY scarce; same ribbon than the first. Here is a bronze one from the Royal mint (as far as I know there were no private productions of it): I suppose that there were some sort of diplomas also, but I've never seen them.
claudio2574 Posted June 24, 2013 Posted June 24, 2013 (edited) Third medal, 1910 again: commemorative medal. Given to anybody who was present at the event, it had for a short time a strange ribbon (33mm dark blue with a white line in the middle), but quite soon it had the "usual" 36mm white-green-white-green-white ribbon. Silver only, made from the Royal mint and other producers. Far more common than the first. Whoever received the merit medal could also receive the commemorative medal. Here is the official medal and its diploma: For some strange reason, the order of the medals in the medal bar is the opposite than expected: first the commemorative, then the merit. Nobody knows why... Edited June 24, 2013 by claudio2574
Great Dane Posted June 24, 2013 Author Posted June 24, 2013 Fantastic! That list is great! I see that the whole crew of Hejmdal/Heymdal received the silver version of the first medal. Thanks a lot /Michael
peron Posted September 20, 2013 Posted September 20, 2013 Hi Here is one from my collection atribued to a portuguese navy officer on board of the ship Vasco da Gama with the caracteristique portuguese belt on ribbon... a photo of the portuguese navy ship Cruzador Vasco da Gama and of a portuguese navy officer whering it... 2º lieutenant (tenente) Crispim Rodrigues Pereira (sargent at the time of the event) Best regards Peron
Chris Boonzaier Posted September 20, 2013 Posted September 20, 2013 How comman are these to Germans? I recently saw a Militärpass for sale with it entered...
claudio2574 Posted September 20, 2013 Posted September 20, 2013 I can answer for the merit medal only. Bavaria : 4 silver medals, 14 mentions Germany : 4 gold medals (the Emperor, his wife, the Navy and the city of Berlin), 12 silver medals, 14 bronze medals, 13 mentions. The PDF document gives the names. Hope I did not make mistakes.
claudio2574 Posted September 20, 2013 Posted September 20, 2013 The Vasco de Gama cruiser and his captain Dom Josè D'Almeida got the silver merit medal
Chris Boonzaier Posted September 20, 2013 Posted September 20, 2013 I knew I had seen this rare Militärpass.... http://www.ebay.de/itm/Kaiserliche-Marine-Militarpas-ITALIEN-Medaille-Erdbeben-Messina-/121121178413
claudio2574 Posted September 20, 2013 Posted September 20, 2013 Neither that name nor his ship are in the list of the merit medal. Unfortunately I've no infos about the commemorative medal.
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