Italy Italy - Question on Ribbon bar.

[army historian]

Is this ribbon bar even possible? Libya 1911 - No WW1, Spanish Civil War, Ethiopia 1936-1942, No WW2, served in the Colonies? Thank George

[Aurora]

George,

It could be possible (strange but possible). Their disposition is wrong. Red-white-green ribbon is for "The Colonial Order of the Star of Italy ( knight ) and it should be the first from left to right.Hope this helps.

[claudio2574]

Hello. I agree that it could be strange but possible.

But much too strange! Whoever received an order should know exactly how to place its ribbon.

The all-red ribbon should be for volunteers. Basically the same medal (and ribbon) was used for WW1, Ethiopia, Spain and WW2. The all red was used for WW1 and WW2, but there are no other ribbons for these wars, which looks VERY strange.

The AOI (Africa Orientale Italiana) and Spain volunteers medal/ribbons are as follows:

[922F]

Check ebay lot 120944755905 for this ribbon bar & a full size but unmounted group!! Cannot determine whether full size pieces are an unique original awarded group based on ribbon or metal condition and lack of mounting evidence. On the other hand, reverse of ribbon bar seems to indicate it has been assembled for some time.

Orders, other than the Military Order of Savoy and its present iteration as the Military Order of Italy, do not necessarily precede medals [even campaign medals!] in the Italian award mounting system. Auction catalogs & Internet images [e.g. EBAY 230852776509] of many Italian mounted groups offer evidence of this practice.

Italy's Libya campaign medal, instituted in 1913 by Royal Decree 1144, continued to be awarded through 1938-42? for military, police, some civil & related services in suppressing Libyan Senussi and other anti-colonial forces. Typical Italian style date bars [specific dates and award authority unclear to me] could be affixed to the ribbon indicating exact time of award. Most examples lack these bars however. Bear in mind that the Italian Turkish War medal ribbon is the same as the Libya medal. However, if ebay lot 120944755905 is 'correct', this ribbon bar represents a Libyan campaign medal.

[claudio2574]

Italy-Turkey war had three bars: 1911, 1911-1912, 1912

For the Libya campaign there are as many as 35 possible official bars: 1912, 1912-13, 1913, Fezzan/913, 1913-14, Fezzan/913-914, 1914, Fezzan/914, 1914-15, 1915, Tripolitania/1915, 1915-16, 1916, 1916-17, 1917, 1917-18, 1918, 1918-19, 1919, 1919-20, 1920, 1920-21, 1921, 1922, 1923, 1924, 1925, 1926, 1927, Tripolitania 1927-1928, 1928, 1929, Tripolitania 1929-1930, 1930, 1931

In the 1932-1940 other bars were used, but they are unofficial.

About the ribbon bars: if it is quite common to see pictures of people wearing unofficial medals or badly exposed medals, special for African soldiers, to see a wrong ribbon bar is not so common.