Montenegro Montenegro - Comemmorative medal on the 1. Balkan war 1912/13

[Iver]

One very rare Montenegro medal...

[IrishGunner]

Very interesting.

Do you have any idea how many issued? What does the ribbon look like?

[Iver]

Hi.

There should be 35.000 issued, but they were made in Austria-Hungary in the time of beginn of WWI, so all of them should be destroyed, but some pieces were "rescued"... in the article I have seen are mentioned 23 pieces, but I have heard that there are some more cca 200, but don´t know for sure, as i am not collecting Montenegro...

My medal is on a white trifold ribbon with red stripes (see photo)... But I have seen also photo with this medal on an "tricolora" (red-bleu-white) ribbon...

[Rogi]

Fantastic piece Iver as Unique as you can get with Montenegro pieces

Aye the couple mags I have list it at 20 to 200 pieces around those marks, it is a very rare piece indeed and my congratulations on the addition :D

[IrishGunner]

Excellent.

Who "rescued" the pieces? Were these ever issued to individuals or did these somehow end up for "sale"?

Sorry for all the questions, but I've found no other "sources" of information.

Edited September 7, 2014 by IrishGunner

[Iver]

..I think those pieces were rescued by slavic workers in the mint, as most of the medals were "found" in former czechoslovakia. The medal (when ordered from Montenegrian state) was ment to be awarded the soldiers in this war, but the oreder was abolished when the war breaked out and Montenegro became an enemy. But there was a strong "panslavic" feeling, most by the czech peaople of Austria-Hungary - and I think they took those medals... But thats only my opinion...

[paja]

Extremely rare medal, many thanks for sharing those photos with us!

Unfortunately I don't have a proper literature when it comes to Montenegro, the only book I have that partially deals with Montenegro is "Decorations of the Yugoslav People (until 1941) from the Collection of the Military Museum" (Одликовања југословенских народа XIX и прве половине XX века (до1941) из збирке Војног музеја у Београду) by Mila Piletić (Мила Пилетић). According to the author Montenegrin Ministry of Army announced a competition for that medal on the 15th of March 1914. It's author, Ilija Šobajić (Илија Шобајић) took the portrait on the front side from the medal commemorating 50 years of Nikola's rule originally designed by S. Scwartz. This book also mentions white ribbon with red stripes and that's about it.

Edited September 7, 2014 by paja

[paja]

Here's one more example, recently sold over ebay.

[paja]

I forgot to post the link to the auction, here it is: http://www.ebay.de/itm/KuK-Kappenabzeichen-russisches-Abzeichen-Medaille-Kosovo-1389-1912-Orden-badge-/231918507489?nma=true&si=AH1yQ2Ln0dJ5chKglnweqxthuAs%3D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

Item location: Österreich
Achieved price: EUR 1.122

[paja]

Last year I finally visited Museum of Military History in Vienna, one more medal is exhibited there. 

[paja]

Jovićević mentions in his book that the only example of the medal kept in Cetinje museum has JC hallmark on it. J. Christlbauer perhaps?

Edited June 3, 2016 by paja