MILITARY MERIT ORDER WITH ERROR

[Graf]

Hi ,

 I recently added to my collection a very unique Bulgarian Order fro Military merit with error

It is a 5th Class with crown

What is unique about this order ie

1,  The Text of the front central medallion is for Civil Merit

2, The enamel of central medallions is different from any standard models

3. the connection of the cross to the crown is very unusual

4, The crown is big and with hand crafted arms on the back

5 The Cross is smaller and slimmer then any standard cross -47 mm wide

In my opinion, after examining the cross, is that it is genuine item with genuine error

- The quality is very good

- The enamel is old hard type

-The patina is very genuine old one

- It is very likely to be French made, although i have not noticed any hallmarks ar makers marks (typical for French made Orders)

I would like to have your opinion.

 

Regards

 

Graf

-

 

[922F]

Good looking piece!  May well be French, or Swiss, manufacture.   Some officer and knight grade Civil Merit awards rest in Bertrand cases -- sometimes these have Bertrand punches on the ribbon ring, sometimes not.  Huguenin of Le Locle certainly supplied these same grades; cases with both the name of the Order and Huguenin Freres name exist.  Without present access to actual pieces, cannot offer a more specific  opinion, sorry. 

Edited September 24, 2015 by 922F

[Graf]

Thanks for the comment.

Some collectors will keep away from such Orders, since they are different from the well known Standard  pieces.

I do not have this problem as long as i feel that it is not assembled with different parts.

Simply because such pieces are not mentioned in any of the existing literature about Bulgarian Orders it does not mean that they do not have their place in the collecting world.

The reason is why I listed this Order is because i have not seen before such a piece with error.

The Text on the central medallion is correct for the Civil merit Order, however during the making it was wrongly enamelled with the colours of Military merit Order and then was atached to the Military Merit Order.

I am not sure whether it was ever awarded, and if so perhaps was given to non Bulgarian..or perhaps was made by order by non Bulgarian

The reoson i speculated  the Order is French is simply the fact that i recently cmae across of French made Order for Civil Order wich has similar features (Crown form, the specific connetion of the crown to the cross and the shapeof the lion on the back medalllion)

Graf

[Graf]

Hi,

I just discovered that one of my Military merit Miniatures by Godet Berlin also has an error in the text It is for Civil Merit

Also the swords are for a German Order

 

Graf

[paul wood]

Obviously Cyrillic was not the strongest skill of the Godet workmen.

Paul

 

[Graf]

Hi Paul,

It is not only Godet,

 

I have  come across of several Original  Bulgarian Orders with errors...not only in the text, however with "wrong "

parts, that are not typical for the particular Bulgarian Orders.

Either they are privately made for the recipients, very likely not-Bulgarian, or those mistakes are due to luck of the correct parts and substituted with part from other Order

here are few examples

- Military merit Order with wrong text and also wrong swords

-  Grand Cross of Order of St Alexander by Godet with swords from a German Order

- French made Order of St Alexander with a Crown which usually is made by French makers for Belgium Orders

 

 

Graf

 

[922F]

Interesting variants--Colonel Guayadier of Paris had a group of awards to a French officer with a St. Alexander first type officer badge with a [Hessian type] suspension crown added similar to yours.  I do not know whether it was an Austrian or French manufactured cross.   Perhaps an attempt to customize the award?

The star motto ring looks like it may have been patterned on a Russian made piece with separately applied inscription and wreath.  Does this have a rectangular Godet back plate?

[Graf]

Hi 922F,

Yes I agree that those variants are interesting.

The history of the St Alexander Officer is that it came from France with the Officer  Ribbon for the French Order of Legion of Honour ( as it on the pictures)  I left it as it is. .It might have belonged to a French recipient

The cross looks like the Princely Model with added crown to it

The connection between the crown and the cross is very nice and broad and does not appear that the crown iwas added later on..

 

The Grand Cross or 1st Class Star came from Germany It is not marked.

It looks like it was borrowed from a French made Princely( Ferdinand) Model with German Type swords

The German dealer stated that it is very likely Godet made, although it is not marked

I managed to trace couple of Sets of Godet made German Orders with the same swords

According to Todor Petrov during Prince Ferdinand period only 5 Foreigners were awarded with the 1st Class with swords in the middle. One of them with Diamonds.

No Bulgarian was awarded this Model during that period

One can speculate that if the recipient of this was German , he could have asked the Firm Godet to make one of those Stars or Sets.

I have evidence that the German makers did not stick very strictly to the design of the Bulgarian Orders

 

Pictures provided

- the back of the First Class Star

- the Godet made German Order Set

-Miniature of the Order for Bravery by Godet with  German Style swords

 

Regards

 

Graf

 

 

 

Edited January 16, 2016 by Graf

[Graf]

Hi,

 

I just got this lovely early periods miniature of the Order of St Alexander

I noticed that the date on the reverse has an error  it is 18 February instead of being 19 February.

One can write a chapter in a new book about  Bulgarian Orders with errors

In the current literature only the King Boris Medal of Merit is well documented to have a variant with error, where the

the word Bulgaria is miss spelled as Bulgria -it has missing "a"

I suspect that  there could be more awards with genuine errors. It is not surprising because most of them are made by non Bulgarian makers

.I do not consider any fakes that appear from time to tome on the market

[Graf]

Hi,

 

It looks like that there are more awards with errors made then we know

 

Here is my latest addition French made miniature of the Order for Military merit

The front text is entirely wrong The reverse text is not as bad  However it is extremely nice cross