Unidentified Egypt Medal of the Khedive ?

[JBFloyd]

Can anyone identify this one? The arms appear to be those of the Khedive of Egypt, but a serious lack of knowledge then sets in.

Edited February 8, 2013 by JBFloyd

[Dave Danner]

It says "Medal of Merit" (نوط الجدارة) on the back. That's all I got.

[paul wood]

Jeff,

They come in gold? silver and bronze. They were merit awards used throughout the KIngdom of Egypt, I have seen a silver one with an engraved name to a British RAF other rank.

Paul

[peter monahan]

Jeff

I have my doubts. The arms on the reverse of the Khedive's Sudan Medal include 3 stars ['etoile' in heraldry speak] OVER crescent moons, while these arms seem to have only the stars. Ten minutes searching among 10+ sites on Egyptian medals and decorations didn't turn up anything like this, nor anything with a solid red/wine ribbon. The Egyptian Medal of Merit, founded in 1953 has a red ribbon with multiple black stripes.

Other opinions, Gentlemen?

Peter

[ChrisW]

It appears to be the Medal for Distinguished Services (at least that's what my copy of the 1947 Office of the Grand Chamberlain protocols calls it in English). To quote further:

Established by Royal Decree 8/1923, modified by Royal Decree 71/1928. This medal rewards persons who have distinguished themselves either by long and meritorious service to the Nation or by a single outstanding act of benefit either to the Nation or to society. It is awarded without consideration of sex or nationality. The three classes of medal are: Gold (Class I); Silver (Class II); Bronze (Class III). The recipient's name is engraved upon his medal. The medal is worn on the left breast and is attached by means of a violet ribbon to a bar in the same metal as the medal itself. The date of the award is engraved upon this bar. A new bar is added whenever the holder earns [an additional?] one.

Regards,

Chris

[peter monahan]

Chris

Still not having any luck finding this medal on the admittedly slim selection of sites on Egyptian medals. The pre-1953 period seems to be a largely closed book as far as on-line info. is concerned. However, a number of later medals and decorations which feature the word 'Merit" in their titles have single colour ribbons - perhaps coincidence, perhaps a pattern - and I suppose that the ribbon on this example could be very broadly related to the colour 'violet', whatever that may have looked like originally!

Thanks for sleuthing out that information!

Peter

[922F]

Peter,

The correct ribbon color for The Royal Egyptian Medal for Distinguished Service is indeed violet usually a shade slightly darker than the standard French Academic Palmes ribbon color. Jeff's example may have a replacement ribbon. Source: "Protocol".

Chris refers to a book published on behalf of the royal Egyptian Office of the Grand Chamberlain in 1947 entitled "Protocol"-- likely the most authoritative and comprehensive reference on the subject. This book appeared in Arabic, English and French editions, all with colored illustrations of each degree of each award. A similar volume, "Uniform" describes royal Egyptian military and civil ranks and insigniae. Both are very rare books, Fahmy Bichay owned the only copies of "Uniform" [Arabic & English versions] I've ever seen. A few copies of "Protocol" exist in national libraries [usually in the legal section since catalogers appear to default to listing based on decrees and laws relating to awards]. A few collectors have copies as well, usually in French or English. A hardbound publication, all editions originally had red hardboard covers with the title [in the appropriate language] embossed in gilt.

The Republic of Egypt distributed a similar lavishly illustrated soft cover book [printed in the UK] in the late 1970s. This book had Arabic and English editions. Some English copies include a French précis. Editions originally had glossy blue paper covers with the title [in the appropriate language] embossed in gilt. Unfortunately, this work does not include or cite all applicable laws & regulations in any language and the English & French versions suffer from clumsy and incomplete translation.

To my understanding, these two references form the bedrock for Egyptian award study.

As to why they do not appear on-line..........

[ChrisW]

Many thanks for your extremely informative reply, 922F!

My copy of the Protocol is actually a reprint. Around 1990, a militaria dealer (David V. Olson of Regimental Quartermaster Militaria in Tucson, Arizona) self-published a series of books on military badges and insignia of various Middle Eastern and Asian (and other?) countries, which were listed in the Books In Print reference. One of the books he did was a re-formatted/photocopied edition of the Protocols. He was still in business as of 1994, when I stumbled across the listings, and got a copy.

For what it's worth, the ISBN numbers of Olson's reprints of the Protocol are: 0-929757-29-7 (English, color); 0-929757-03-3 (English, black and white); 0-929757-02-5 (French, black and white), and 0-929757-28-9 (Arabic, black and white).

[922F]

Chris,

Thank you for your information--was totally unaware Protocol had been reprinted in any edition/language! That should make it somewhat easier to find copies. Do you know if Olson reprinted "Uniform"? I do not find it in Books in Print or bookfinder.com or alibris.

[ChrisW]

As far as I know, Olson didn't reprint the Uniform book. If I had seen it in Books in Print back in the early 1990s I absolutely would have tracked it down. Olson's books look like they were "published" by the copy shop around the corner -- basically photocopied pages velobound or stapled together, with a clear plastic cover. I can't imagine he made more than a few dozen copies of each book.

[peter monahan]

922F

Yes, thank you for that extremely useful and complete answer. Do you perchance read Arabic yourself, should a similar question come up in the future? I am assuming that Dave [post #2] may do, or has a translation programme, but he hasn't chimed in again since his very helpful initial post.

Peter

[922F]

30 years ago, 1+ [very basic] reading & 2+ [minimal communication] speaking, today: 0 reading & 1- speaking. Owain, among others, probably has much better translation abilities/connections.

Edited February 13, 2013 by 922F

[peter monahan]

Good to know if I ever need to get an inscription translated. Translation programs just bug the heck out of this former English teacher!