serbia Medal for Service to the Princely Household!

[paja]

I was just going through the finished ebay auctions when I stumbled upon miniature of one of the rarest if not the rarest Serbian medal!
SERBIA MEDAL SERVICE PRINCELY HOUSEHOLD 1878-1882 MINIATURE
Winning bid: US $735.00
Medal in silver-gilt or bronze gilt (no hallmark).
Diameter : 15,5 millimeters
Incorrect ribbon.

Edited June 28, 2016 by paja

[larsb001]

Hello Paja.

Yes, a nice miniature. For comparison I can show you a silver and gold (gilt) example from my collection. When you say it may be the rarest Serbian medal, could you tell us how rare, ie number of awards etc? I'm just curious and wasn't really aware of this, I have allways assumed it was quite common!

Lars

 

 

[paja]

Those medals/miniatures are far from common! Exact date of the institution is not know, at least I wasn't able to determine it, probably after 1876-78 Wars for Liberation and Independence. Serbia once again became kingdom in 1882 and after that the name and the appearance of the medal were changed. To conclude it was awarded during a short period, 4 years at best, in an impoverished country which just came out of 2 hard wars, so the total number of the awarded medals can't be that big. Unfortunately numbers are not available for the most of the Serbian decorations so I can't help you there. I've seen only 2-3 medals so far in the literature and that's it. As for the miniatures before that one appeared on ebay I knew of only one example which is kept in the Military Museum in Belgrade. It's amazing that you have 2 miniatures in your collection, thank you very much for being so kind to share photos of them with us!

[paja]

SERBIA MEDAL SERVICE PRINCELY HOUSEHOLD 1878-1882 MINIATURE

Unbelievable, until recently I knew only of one example, not this is the fourth miniature I see in less than a month.

[paul wood]

Radmilo,

I hope somebody is not is not recreating them.

Paul

[paja]

That idea did cross my mind so I took a closer look. So far everything seems fine, the details look very good, especially when we have in mind that this is a miniature. Some other genuine ones I've seen are nowhere near that quality.

[Trooper_D]

On 18/07/2016 at 22:04, paja said:

SERBIA MEDAL SERVICE PRINCELY HOUSEHOLD 1878-1882 MINIATURE

Unbelievable, until recently I knew only of one example, not this is the fourth miniature I see in less than a month.

Is this the correct ribbon, Paja? If not, what should it look like, please?

[paul wood]

According to Car the ribbon is central horizontal blue stripes with a blue horizontal stripe either side and a white border, similar to the Austrian Far Eastern Cruise medal of 1893, the full-sized pieces were manufactured by Rothe

Paul

[paja]

Illustration of what Paul said, quickly made in photoshop.

[Trooper_D]

9 hours ago, paul wood said:

According to Car the ribbon is central horizontal blue stripes with a blue horizontal stripe either side and a white border, similar to the Austrian Far Eastern Cruise medal of 1893, the full-sized pieces were manufactured by Rothe

Paul

Thank you, Paul ...

7 hours ago, paja said:

Illustration of what Paul said, quickly made in photoshop.

... and thank you, Paja, for the visualisation.

[paja]

Don't mention it, it took only couple of minutes.