Medal - Red Cross ? St. George ?

[Igor Ostapenko]

Silver medal 1912 

 

i need information , help please  

Austian mint ? 

[paul wood]

Igor,

It is a Serbian Medal, commemorating the capture of Kosovo in 1912, by Hans Schaefer a noted Viennese producer of commemorative medals. My suspicion is that it was given for donations to the Serbian wounded during the campaign, I can find no mention of the medal in Carr, so my suspicion is that it is a privately made piece with no official standing.

Paul

 

[Igor Ostapenko]

Thank you, Poul ! 

It was very expencive to make silver medals in this quality ... 

If not gouverment , who pay for this ? :)

[paul wood]

The obverse with St George is not easy to translate (I'm sure Radmillo can help) it reads St George be Serbia's....Reputation.....Justice and Truth

The Reverse is much easier and roughly translated reads Help Wounded Warriors/Honour the Liberator's of Kosovo

The reverse makes it clear that it is a charitable organisation, possibly a soldiers benevolence fund medal and was presumably given to those who donated a certain amount. Given that it was Austrian made (and that there was no great love lost between Serbia and Austria following the Annexation of Bosnia and Herzogovina) It is possible that it was a charity formed by Serbian citizens within the Austrian Empire.

Certainly very interesting.

Paul

 

[Igor Ostapenko]

I'm sure Radmillo can help ! 

[paja]

It's a bit hard to translate but it goes something like this "Saint George be still for Serb example of defender of justice and truth" (Свети Ђорђе буди Србу и даље углед браниоца правде и истине).

About the medal itself, unfortunately I never managed to discover who made it and to whom it was awarded. It's obviously related to First Balkan War. Scene on the reverse is very similar to the one seen on the back side of Medal of the Red Cross. Maybe because of that I always suspected it had something to do with that organization.

[paul wood]

Radmillo,

Thanks for the translation of the obverse that had me a bit stumped. I am surprised however that it is not mentioned, even in passing, by Car.

All the best,

Paul

 

The medal is mentioned by Leonard Forrer, Biographical Dictionary of Medallists Volume 8, Spink, 1930 p. 190, where it is described as 'Servian Victory Medal 1912'

Paul

[paja]

Don't mention it Paul, I didn't know you can read Serbian.
There's also nothing on the medal in Decorations of the people of Yugoslavia in 19th and in first half of the 20th century (until 1941) from the Collection of the Military Museum in Belgrade by Mila Piletić nor Decorations of Serbia, Montenegro, Yugoslavia and Republic of Srpska by Dušanka Maričić.

[paul wood]

Just a thought, given that it was made by an Austrian medallist is it possible it was made for the Bosnian Serb population

Paul

[paja]

Certainly a possibility but in my opinion not likely. I think Austrian makers were still producing decorations for Kingdom of Serbia during Balkan wars. Take for example Karađorđe Star with Swords, it was first awarded during Balkan Wars and there are examples made by Scheid. Of course big question here is when were they ordered from the producer.

[Igor Ostapenko]

Thank you ! 

 

May be this medal - first specimen of Serbian Red Cross medal ? 

[paul wood]

Igor,

I think unlikely because all Red Cross medals have the symbol some where in the design. I suspect it is some sort of Serbian national war wounded society.

Paul

[Igor Ostapenko]

Thank you !