King Ferdinand I's decorations

[ilieff]

Hi all,

I am currently trying to assemble a full list of the decorations received by HM King Ferdinand I of Bulgaria. Unfortunately, my knowledge only covers Bulgarian decorations, so the majority of the 'foreign' ones are very blurry to me.

I'd appreciate your help with identifying more orders/medals which belonged to Him and/or improving the existent info by defining the particular class received.

Regards,

ilieff

 

PS:I've spotted a similar list on Wikipedia.org but I believe it's very inaccurate.

 

 

 

Bulgaria:
- Order of SS Cyril and Methodius
- Military Order "For Bravery"
- Royal Order of St. Alexander
- Order of Civil Metir
- Order of Military Merit

 

German Empire
- Order of the Black eagle
- Order of the Red Eagle
- Imperial Military order of the Iron cross
- Pour le Merite (Military division)
- Order of Saint John (Johanniter Order)
- Saxe-Ernestine House order
- Order of the Wendish Crown
- Military Merit cross (Mecklenburg)

Austro-Hungarian Empire
- Order of the Golden Fleece
- Order of St. Stephan

 

British Empire
- Order of the Bath
- Royal Victorian Order

 

Russian Empire
- Order of St. Andrew
- Order of the White Eagle
- Order of St. Vladimir
- Order of St. Anna
- Order of St. Stanislav

 

France
- Order of the Legion of Honour

 

Ottoman Empire
- Gallipoli star (Iron Crescent)

 

Kingdom of Italy
- Order of the Holy Annunciation
- Order of St Maurice and Lazarus
- Constantine Military order of St George

 

Kingdom of Belgium
- Order of Leopold

 

Kingdom of Portugal
- Order of the Tower and Sword
- Order of Aviz

 

Kingdom of Sweden
- Order of the Seraphim

 

Kingdom of Denmark
- Order of the White Elephant

 

Empire of Brazil
- Order of the Rose

 

Other
- Military order of St John of Jerusalem (Maltese order)

- Order of Pope Pius IX

 

 

 

An image scanned from Schalafoff's book:

King's early bar 

And a second scan from that very same album:

Second (later) bar which belonged to the King.

Edited November 19, 2016 by ilieff

[Igor Ostapenko]

Thank you for graet pictures ! 

Can you make big picture of Bravery order from first medalsbar ? 

 

 

The Order of St. Stephen Grand Cross Awarded to Ferdinand I, Tsar of Bulgaria 

https://www.emedals.com/europe/austria-imperial/orders/order-of-st-stephen/the-order-of-st-stephen-grand-cross-awarded-to-ferdinand-i-tsar-of-bulgaria

[Igor Ostapenko]

not order, but from King's hand  

King SCEPTRE http://bulgarianorders.com/i-1893-19c-bulgaria-royal-king-sceptre-regalia-xrare.html

 

 

 

 

[Igor Ostapenko]

and must to add - 

austrian MMThO

Hessen - Order of Philip the Magnanimous

[Graf]

Hi Ilieff,

 

Most of his decorations were sold few years ago in London by his Grandson -King Simeon,

Some of them come for sale from time to time

Here is his French legion of Honour - Grand Cross -the highest Class -It was awarded to him around WW1 period

during the Third French Republic 1870-1940 The Set was on Auction in Gerrnany last year.

 

Third French Republic (1870 - 1940) - National Order of the Legion of Honour (Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur) - a cased grand cross set
Large sash decoration fashioned in gold with Marianne bust and year cipher "1870" surmounted by a sculpted wreath of leaves. Eagle head punches in the ribbon bow and suspension ring, the latter with lozenge-shaped maker's mark (crowned "V.L" trefoil). Width 69 mm. Weight 70 g. Included is the five-armed breast star of maker "OUIZILLE LEMOINE ... JOAILLIE DE LA LÉGION D'HONNEUR" in Paris with the new address "RUE ST. HONORÉ 356" on the attachment pin (wild boar head punch mark) and the same maker's mark on the clasp as on the cross. Width 91 mm. Weight 86.2 g. Together with the customised rosette sash and velvet appliqué in an award case (privately labelled) with gold-embossed ("R.F.") leather cover. A beautiful, matching orders set in very good condition.

Worn by Tsar Ferdinand I of Bulgaria. Ex Müller Auction 34, Limburg, 23 September 1989, lot 46.

[Igor Ostapenko]

Russian Order of St. Alexander 

and 

Montenegrin Order Danilo

[paja]

Being a ruler of a neighbouring country he must have been awarded with the highest Serbian orders.
I'll try to dig up some information regarding this matter.
Anyway excellent topic, I did something similar for several Serbian rulers.

[paja]

Looking at the photo Igor posted above I noticed one more order we can add on the list - Ottoman High Order of Honor (Al-i İmtiyaz Nişanı).

[paja]

I just found his name in the list of recipients of Order of the Cross of Takovo 1st class and Order of the Star of Karađorđe 1st class published in Mr. Acović's book "Glory and Honor - Decorations Among Serbs, Serbs Among Decorations" (Слава и част, одликовања међу Србима, Срби међу одликовањима).

[paja]

One more thing caught my attention it seems that he's wearing the Golden Badge of the (Russian) Imperial Orthodox Palestine Society (Императорское православное палестинское общество) which means he must have been its honorary member. 
I do not know a lot about this orthodox society but it seems a bit unusual to see a person of catholic faith among its honorary members.

Edited November 21, 2016 by paja

[ilieff]

Thank you all for your contribution.

I will add the following to the list:

- Military Order of Maria Theresa

- Update the Legion of Honour with the particular class - am I correct to assume that the breast star from the pictures provided above was once gilded?)

- Order of Prince Danilo I and Russian Order of St. Alexander  - Can we have a proof of the second one, please? I assume one of the breast stars is St. Alexander

- Ottoman Order of Distinction (I assume a diamond set as it looks a bit different to the samples in the internet)

- Order of the Cross of Takovo and the Star of Karadzordze - Does 1st class equal Grand cross?

 

The Badge of the Orthodox society appears to be very rare but I will not include it in the general list. It's indeed interesting why he was given this in the first place. It might have to do with the agreement for the heir to the throne, future king Boris, to be converted to the Orthodox faith.

@Igor Ostapenko Regarding your request, I can make another scan if you want, but it will never be of a good quality due to the way the album was printed. I do admire your interest though - it is an interesting IV class badge.

 

Also, since you started posting pictures of the King himself, I will try to arrange and upload a few where his awards are more visible.

Thank you, once more.

 

PS: Can previous posts be edited somehow?

Edited November 21, 2016 by ilieff

[ilieff]

1 hour ago, paja said:

One more thing caught my attention it seems that he's wearing the Golden Badge of the (Russian) Imperial Orthodox Palestine Society (Императорское православное палестинское общество) which means he must have been its honorary member. 
I do not know a lot about this orthodox society but it seems a bit unusual to see a person of catholic faith among its honorary members.
 

@paja Looks like the Prince has received the Badge of the Orthodox Palestine society well before that. Below is a photograph of Prince Ferdinand taken in Moscow in 1883 during the coronation of Emperor Alexander III.

Does anyone recognise the two arrowed decorations? The star looks something between Hohenzollern order and Star of Karađorđe.

[paja]

Don't mention it, my pleasure.
I've marked the badge and the star of St. Alexander with red arrows. I think the person decorated with the Order of St. Andrew automatically received St. Alexander, White Eagle, St. Anna 1st Class and St. Stanislaus 1st Class.

Does anyone know from which period is the photo because it looks like he's also wearing Polish Order of the White Eagle (green arrow), of course 1921 variant. That order can also be seen of the 5th place of the 2nd medal bar on the red ribbon. Is this really the Polish White Eagle or some other amazingly similar decoration?

Being a head of state he must have been awarded with the 1st class of Montenegrin Danilo. 

Ottoman decorations are not my field but the High Order of Honor (Al-i İmtiyaz Nişanı) it's not to be confused with the Order of Honor/Order of Distinction (İmtiyaz Nişanı), you can see how they look like on Turkish Wikipedia:
https://tr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yüksek_İmtiyaz_Nişanı
https://tr.wikipedia.org/wiki/İmtiyaz_Nişanı

May I suggest using variation "Order of the Star of Karadjordje" instead of "Karadzordze" (other way of writing đ is dj - and dž is different letter in Serbian Latin alphabet). First Class does equal Grand Cross, it's the highest class.

You can use "Edit" button underneath your replies. This option is available for couple of days, I'm not sure how long exactly.

Edited November 21, 2016 by paja

[ilieff]

14 minutes ago, paja said:

Does anyone know from which period is the photo

It's an official portrait from 1896

[paja]

20 minutes ago, ilieff said:

@paja Looks like the Prince has received the Badge of the Orthodox Palestine society well before that. Below is a photograph of Prince Ferdinand taken in Moscow in 1883 during the coronation of Emperor Alexander III.

Does anyone recognise the two arrowed decorations? The star looks something between Hohenzollern order and Star of Karađorđe.

Speak of the devil - That's Montenegrin Order of Danilo 1st Class star.
Above it Austrian Marian Cross of the German Knight Order (Marianer-Kreuz des Deutschen Ritterordens).

If the portrait we used previously is from 1896 then that White Eagle can't be Polish, Russian perhaps. But still the order on the medal bar looks Polish... What do others think?

[Alpha Draconis]

Hello Gents

It is indeed Polish white eagle order, it's missing black two headed eagle to be Russian.

20 minutes ago, paja said:

Speak of the devil - That's Montenegrin Order of Danilo 1st Class star.
Above it Austrian Marian Cross of the German Knight Order (Marianer-Kreuz des Deutschen Ritterordens).

If the portrait we used previously is from 1896 then that White Eagle can't be Polish, Russian perhaps. But still the order on the medal bar looks Polish... What do others think?

Hello Gents

It is indeed Polish white eagle order, it is missing black two headed eagle to be Russian...

And Paja you are correct about Marianer kreuz!

[paja]

It certainly looks that way when it comes to medal bar, but still it doesn't seem very likely that the former Bulgarian head of state would be awarded by the Poles with their highest order... Apart from that there is a complete list of the recipients on Polish Wikipedia and I can't find his name there:
https://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kategoria:Odznaczeni_Orderem_Orła_Białego_(II_Rzeczpospolita)
And how about that portrait from 1896, the order looks more like the Polish than Russian White Eagle but that is impossible.

Decorations of the German States are something I don't know very much about but I think I've managed to identify a few more from the 2nd medal bar we didn't already mention in the previous posts :
6th place -  Saxon Military Order of St. Henry 
9th place - Oldenburg Friedrich August Cross 2nd Class Military Division
10th place - Lippe-Schaumburg Loyal Service Cross 2nd Class on Combatants Ribbon

Edited November 21, 2016 by paja

[Graf]

Hi Ilieff

The Star of Legion of Honour was Silver  made -not Gilded

The Gilded Stars were introduced late after WW2 during the Fifth Republic - the currant one

 

As many members of the Forum mentioned he was a Ruler and most of the Decorations were the highest Grades

Also being a member of one of the richest Family in Europe with relatives spread as Rulers over the EUrope he must be showered with the Best Decorations available - including many with Diamonds Last bot not least he liked luxury and Luxury decorations, which could be known fact .

Here is the list of his Orders sold by Sotherby's in London on 7th of July 1998

- The Premier Austria Order of the Golden Fleece by Rothe of Vienna -bestowed upon King Ferdinand  in 1911

- Austria -Grand Cross collar of the Royal Hungarian Order of St Stephen by Rothe of Vienna

- Austria - Grand Cross Set of the Hungarian Order of St Stephen with Diamonds

- France Order of St Espirit  -although this Order was seased in 1830 by the French it remained in possession of the House of Bourbon and i assume was given to Ferdinand as a  gift by the one of the current at the time Bourbon family.

- Grand Cross of the Bavaria Prime Order of St Hubert by Rothe of Vienna

- Germany , Prussia Prime Order of Black Eagle  Grand Cross Collar -J. Wagner & Son 0f Berlin

- Germany, Prussia Pour le.Merite in Gold with Gold Oak-leaves bestosed to King Ferdinand on 8th of September 1916 as Generalfeldmarschall  of the Prussian Army

- The Second higest Germany Prussia Order of the red Eagle - Grand Cross Collar

Germany, Saxe-Coburg -Gotha Order of Ernestine, Military Division Grand Cross Collar and Badge by Rothe of Vienna

-  Germany, Saxe-Coburg -Gotha Order of Ernestine, Military Division Grand Cross Set and Badge by Bury & Leonhart of Hanau

Germany, Saxe-Coburg -Gotha Order of Ernestine, Military Division Grand Officer Set and Badge by Bury & Leonhart of Hanau

Germany, Saxe-Coburg -Gotha Order of Ernestine, Military Division Gold Breast Knight Badge by Bury & Leonhart of Hanau

-Great Britain , The Most Honourable Order of the Bath, Civil Division  , Grand Cross Collar in Gold by the Jonhn James  Eddington

-Great Britain , The Most Honourable Order of the Bath, Civil Division  , Grand Cross Set by Garrard & Co

-Hungary Order of Vitez  Breast badge by Semmelwieis of Budapest - Note Thos Order comes only in one Class.

- Italy, Parma,  Order of Constantine of St George  Grand Cross Sash Badge in Gold and Diamonds and Rubies

-Italy Two Sicilies Order of St Janarius Breast Star in Gold and Diamonds and Rubies by Rothe of Vienna

King Ferdinand was nominated as Knight of the Order of St, Janarius in 1891

- Monaco Prime Order of St Charles -Grand Cross Set by Halley of Paris

- Montenegro, Order of DaniloI by Mayer's Sohne of Vienna Grand Cross Set

-Montenegro, Milosh Oblich Medal 1851 Type Montenegro Highest Decoration for Bravery on the field of battle.

Montenegro Golden Jubilee medal -1910  Gold Class

 

I will list the rest later on due to time restrictions

 

Here are more pictures of King Ferdinand

 

 

 

 

- 

 

Edited November 21, 2016 by Graf

[Graf]

Here are the rest of the Ferdinand Decorations

-Persia, Agdas decoration

-Persia -, Order of the Lion and the Sun Grand Cross Military Division

- Portugal , Military Order of the Tower and the Sword -Grand Cross

- Portugal Order of the Christ and St Benedict of Aviz - Grand Cross Set by da Costa of Lisbon

- Romania, Order of Carol I   - Collar of the Grand Cross by  Paul Telge of Berlin

- Russia,  Order of St. Andrew  Collar of Grand Cross Set  by Albert Keibel of St. Petersburg

- Russia - Order of St Andrew Grand Cross Set

- Russia - Order of St Catherine Grand Cross with Diamonds

-Russia - Order of St Alexander  Nevski  Grand Cross with Diamonds

- Russia - Order of St Alexander Nevski  -Grand Cross Set by Alexander Kleibel of St Petersburg

Russia - Order of the White Eagle - Grand Cross

Russia - Order of St Vladimir Civil Devision Grand Cross Set

Russia- Coronation of Nicholas II  -Moskow 1898  Oficial Silver medals

Russia ,Emirate of Bokhara - Order of the Crown of Bokhara  -Grand Cross Set

Turkey - Order of Nichan Al Imtiaz   Grand Cross Set cirka 1905

Turkey Order of Nichan Al Imtiaz - Pair of Gold and Siver medals named to King Ferdinand

On this Auction also were sold many Bulgarian Decorations owned by King Ferdinand Most of them very rare Luxury Models in Gold and Diamonds

 

Apart from the Above List  I can add:

- the Belgium Prime Order of Leopold I Military Division Grand Cordon (Cross) Set

 

Regards

 

Graf

 

 

[paul wood]

I know Ferdinand's sexuality was somewhat ambiguous but I somehow doubt if he received the Order of St Catherine as that was only awarded to females.

Paul

[Graf]

Hi Paul,

Thank you for the Note

You are correct  -only Ladies

I just listed the list of his Orders sold by Sotherby's in London on 7th of July 1998

Only the Royal Family will know how this Order happened to be among the other ones

 

Graf

[ilieff]

Great! Very nice!

I'm adding two more photographs. On the first one is visible the diamond set and collar of St. Stephan.

PS: I am still baffled by this Order of White eagle suspended from a Red ribbon. As far as I know, regardless of Russian or Polish, the ribbon is always blue (light or deep)

[Graf]

Hi Ilief,

 

All His Russian Orders on the Catalogue are with red ribbon.

If you are KING you decide the colour you likeh

 

Graf

[Igor Ostapenko]

We can add to the list - Austrian Military Merit cross 1st class with Kriegsdecoration 

[ilieff]

And a bit of colour - portrait of the King

The White eagle can be seen there along with (what it appears to be) its bright blue ribbon. Opinions?