Albania The Decorations of Socialist Albania by Eric Schena

[Eric Schena]

Hi all:

As some of you know, I've been working on an introductory guide on Albanian decorations from the communist era. Well, thanks to some fantastic comments and contributions from some folks here, it is finally complete. The Chairman has very graciously offered to post a thread with the article for folks to download

I am not asking for any money for this article. Once it's posted, download to your heart's content. The only thing I ask of anyone who does is that you do not sell it at all and if they "borrow" chunks from it that the source is properly credited. Otherwise, enjoy in good health!

Please feel free to send me any changes or comments or additions you migt find. The whole goal of this project is to spur at least some sort of methodical study of these inored decorations.

Cheers,

Eric

[Ed_Haynes]

Congratulations, Eric. Well done!!

And thanks to you and The Boss for so kindly making it available for the edification of all!! I hope everyone appreciates your kindness enough to respect your wishes regarding appropriate use of this first-class work.

Edited January 20, 2006 by Ed_Haynes

[Nick]

Here is a copy of The Decorations of Socialist Albania which Eric Schena has kindly made available free of charge for all Members to download and make use of.

Please pay strict attention to the Copyright terms of this article/book which Erich has stipulated.

The book is free and must NOT BE SOLD in any form and if parts of this work are used or borrowed full reference and credit is given to Eric Schena who owns the copyright.

Cheers Eric

[Danny]

Superb work. Thanks alot.

[kimj]

Thank you for you for the reference book! A very generous gift to the rest of us collectors.

/Kim

[Guest Rick Research]

This is a superb, groundbreaking work! Much appreciated!

[Alfred]

Unique work !

Thanks for sharing this

regards

Andreas

[Christophe]

Eric,

Nice and superb!!!! A great job!!!! Thanks for sharing it!!!

Cheers.

Ch.

[Hendrik]

A marvellous result of many long hours of in-depth research ! Many thanks indeed for letting us enjoy the fruit of your labours !!!

[Bob Hunter]

Eric, thanks for your generous contribution to the forum and a salute to your scholarly efforts. Well done!

[Eric Schena]

Thanks everyone for your positive feedback! I just hope this work will help folks appreciate these interesting decorations. Of course, now that I put it out there, I'm sure I'll get outbid on anything I go after from now on

Cheers,

Eric

[Gerd Becker]

I got a hardcopy of this reference last week and its great!!!

Thanks a lot, Eric. Great work!

Gerd

[Eric Schena]

All:

Thanks to a friend in Illinois, I got in contact with a True Gentleman in Germany who has what must be the single largest and best collection of Albanian medals outside of Albania. Not only does he have some splendid items in his collection (try TWO examples of the Hero of Socialist Labor ) but he also has reference materials from Albania about the medals. Thanks to him, I now have a partial copy/translation of a small book from Tiran? from 1968 which gives institution dates, but also a copy of the handbook the Albanian government used to determine who gets what award and why and even order of precedence

Getting a treasure trove of information (not even necessarily the medals themselves) like this is what gets me really excited.

Needless to say, I will be working on a rather substantial update on my book. It will probably take me several months to digest and synthesize this new information (he also sent me pictures of medals in his collection, plus some collected notes he has gathered over the years collecting). In the meantime, if anyone runs across something in their forays into Albanian medals that they would like to ask me about please send me a PM or put a post here and I'll dig through all of what I have.

Eric

Edited March 29, 2006 by Eric Schena

[Ed_Haynes]

There is a powerful lesson here:

1. Publish what you have, even if incomplete. It will be better than anything else out there.

2. Once you've published it, sit back and wait for more information and more helpful people to come to light.

3. Then do a new edition.

4. Return to step "2".

Thank you Eric. We anxiously await the second edition!

[Guest Rick Research]

GREAT news, Eric!!!! I think maybe this here internet thingum IS a good idea, after all!

As one who has gone in my lifetime-so-far from PRE copy machine hand drawing ribbons in colored pencil, mailing said drawings to a WW1 Australian naval officer, and getting back snips for "does this match" by mail, the contacts we can all make online are a dream come true, and a way for all of us to get together and pool our resources for the General Advancement in ways that I, for one, never even fantasized about 20 years ago.

Hip hip hooray for the Good Guys Online!!!!!!

[Eric Schena]

To whet your appetite, here are some of the key addenda and corrigenda to my book:

7. If you have an Order of Freedom 1st class, you have the highest Albanian order.

10. The official name of this decoration is the Medal of Remembrance (this is my avatar, BTW). While labeled a medal, this is actually the 5th highest decoration in the order of precedence, coming after the Order of the Flag and before the Partisan Star 1st class.

21. The correct name is Order & Medal "For Distinguished Service in the State Defence".

27. This is the Order & Medal "For Distinguished Labor in Agriculture".

28. This is the Order & Medal "For Distinguished Labor in Mining & Geology".

33. This is the Medal "For Long Service in the Armed Forces" and not an anniversary medal.

34. This medal is indeed attached to the Order of the Red Star.

35. This is the Medal of Arts and not an education medal.

36. This is the medal for the Honorary Title "Exemplary Oil Worker and Exemplary Miner" and apparently was obsolete by 1980.

37. This is the medal for the Honorary Title "Distinguished Master of Profession".

38. This is actually the Medal for Patriotic Achievements and is a division of the Order of Patriotic Achievments, and not an education medal.

There are a few other decorations that were not in my book that I will add. Some of the more interesting (just to tease y'all):

1. There was a first version of the Hero of the People (hint: it was a round neck badge modeled after the Yugoslav version). This appears to have been replaced around the time of the split with Yugoslavia in 1948 by the Soviet style Hero star.

2. There was briefly an Order of Labor Glory that was rendered obsolete sometime in the 1950's.

3. There were also two Motherhood Medals, a silver and bronze, which were obsolete by 1980.

Edited March 31, 2006 by Eric Schena

[Bob]

Eric - on one of the first pages of your excellent guide you mention a silver medal of the order of the black eagle. Is there only a silver version or are there different classes?

[Eric Schena]

Hi Bob:

The Order of the Black Eagle was created by Wilhelm of Wied in March 1914 in 5 classes (Grand Cross, Grand Officer, Commander, Officer, and Knight) and three classes of an adjunct medal in gold, silver, and bronze. The order was made by the German jeweller Paul Telge (if I recall correctly), while the medal was struck by Arthus Bertrand et Cie in Paris. I was talking to someone about this order and the original purchase orders still exist for the medal. 250 of the silver class were prepared, however only some 14 are believed to have been awarded. It should be noted that Wilhelm continued to assert his claim to the Albanian throne up until Ahmed Bej Zogu became president (and later king), and, in the capacity of a monarch in exile, Wilhelm may have continued to hand out the order and medal. Interestingly, the silver class is the more common of the three classes - bronze medals show up from time to time, but I've not seen a gold medal.

Oh, to bring this a litle more on topic , the second edition is complete, so look for it here sometime real soon! I will add this comment: in the short time since I wrapped up the 2nd edition, I did get a few more pictures and some additional info that I'll include for the next version which I may actually submit for publishing. More on that later...

Cheers,

Eric

Edited June 25, 2006 by Eric Schena

[Igor Ostapenko]

Only picture ...

[Igor Ostapenko]

And ...

[Igor Ostapenko]

with box

[Eric Schena]

Hi Igor!

That is a great example of an Italian Annexation era (1939-1944) Order of Skanderbeg, grand officer class. Judging by the case, my guess it was made by Cravanzola in Rome. All of the Zogist and Italian Annexation era awards were made in Italy (mostly in Rome, but S. Johnson operated out of Milan). I still have yet to get a pre-Communist Skanderbeg.

-----------------

In other (on-topic) news, I have sent the Chairman my 2nd edition so look for it real soon!

[Igor Ostapenko]

2nd side of badges

[Igor Ostapenko]

And 2nd side of star

[Bryan]

Is the Downloadable PDF File still there? I don't see it.