Rare variations of the cross "For the proclamation of Bulgarian independence in 1908"

[Petar Keserdzhiev]

Hello,
after many years of searching, I managed to get the test version of the medal "For the proclamation of Bulgarian independence in 1908".
There is no information about this option, except for one picture in Prince Romanoff's book.
We assume this is a tried version of P. Télge.
Interestingly, the medal has a ribbon. That means it has been handed to someone.
The ribbon is also different - it is narrower than the standard one.
The dimensions of the cross are the same as the standard medal.

[Graf]

Hi Petar,

 

Very interesting facts

Can you consider that this could be a rare Model with the name of the maker stamped on it

Many of the books for Bulgarian Orders, although some of them are very good,, are not covering 100% of what was made. Like many Bulgarian and non Bulgarian awards, this particular one can come in two models marked and not marked and the first one being much rarer then the second one Why experimental or prototype model We can assume that this is a official marked model and as i mentioned rarer then the not marked one..

Like you say, this rare model came with a ribbon, although it is different from the well known one ( not only the size) suggests that it was awarded The smaller size ribbon  indicate that  it might have been awarded to a lady.

Graf

 

[ilieff]

This is a great find, Petar. 

As far as I know, apart from the position of the crowns, there are also visible differences in the centre of the cross. These are especially clear on the reverse.

Looking at the ribbon - it looks as if someone has manually drawn the green stripe by hand (being quite wavy, washed away at the edges and not centrally aligned). Is this the case? If yes, this can suggest a later alteration.

Also, I don't think this has been given to a lady (if given at all), Graf. Firstly, the 'straight' ribbons are strictly for males and secondly, as far as I know, the lady ribbons for this particular medal did not differ in width (like other Bulgarian decorations do).

Have you noticed the clearly larger ring? There certainly must be a reason for it. 

 

Ilieff

 

[Graf]

Hi,

Here is the information from  Prince Romanoff book

As I suggested he considers that this is second model of the cross, which was awarded.It is obvious that this model is by far much rarer then the first model

The large ring could be another feature of this rare model apart from the other different features

Hi Ilieff you have good eyes I did not notice that the line was drawn. That explains the difference This ribbon was modified to match the design of the original ribbon

 

Bear in mind that Prince Romanoff had an exclusive access to very rare items at the time of writing his book including some rare ones. This was not the case fro the Bulgarian authors. This can explain why some of those models did not appear in their books. They rely on their own collections and the ones of fellow collectors.

 

Graf

[ilieff]

I've just came across this interesting example, sold at ebay.at.

At first, it appears to be a generic cross with missing ribbon. However, when I looked closer, it is a bit different.

The obverse is generic - the usual horizontally positioned crowns and central medallion. However, the reverse is identical to the 'rare' model shown in Prince Romanoff's book.

If my assumption is correct, then we have an example of a third type of this cross or at least a sub-type of either of the known ones. @Petar Keserdzhiev , could you please post an image of the reverse so we can compare?

Thanks,

 

Edited July 25, 2017 by ilieff

[new world]

Similarly designed cross was issued in 2008 to commemorate 100 years of Bulgarian independence.

 

[Petar Keserdzhiev]

On 25.07.2017 г. at 23:04, ilieff said:

I've just came across this interesting example, sold at ebay.at.

At first, it appears to be a generic cross with missing ribbon. However, when I looked closer, it is a bit different.

The obverse is generic - the usual horizontally positioned crowns and central medallion. However, the reverse is identical to the 'rare' model shown in Prince Romanoff's book.

If my assumption is correct, then we have an example of a third type of this cross or at least a sub-type of either of the known ones. @Petar Keserdzhiev , could you please post an image of the reverse so we can compare?

Thanks,

 

 

[Petar Keserdzhiev]

Hello,
There is a third version of the medal.
The one that ilieff shows is with two faces of the two medals - the avers of the standard medal and the revers of the medal with the inverted crowns.
There is a difference in the writing of "Царство България"/"Kingdom Bulgaria"/, and the positioning of the lion.
The medallion of both medals is the same - a diameter of 19 millimeters
The ribbon is original but has a different size - 25mm, and is folded in German style.