Unknown Arab medal

[Von Thronstahl]

Medal is part of probably one persons lot of medals and badges I found recently. Owner was probably ex Yugoslavian navy NCO or officer.  I don˙t know the name or any other information cause lot was found in a garbage container by local drunk who sold it to me.  

I assume owner was navy cause I found some USSR navy badges.  Yugoslav navy ships also  visited ports of Arab countries quite often.   I can´t find any similair medal and I think it might be Egyptian cause eagle reminds me of Egyptian coat of arms.  

Any suggestions?

Edited September 8, 2020 by Von Thronstahl

[paul wood]

looks as if it could be Egyptian dates are AH 1373-AD 1954 Egyptian coins tend to have Hejira/Christian dates. I suspect Owain will have an idea.

p

[paul wood]

I have just realised that Gamal Abdul Nasser became presideny of Egypt in February 1954 could it be related to that?

p

[oamotme]

Hi, This is the Medal of Merit - it appears to be silver and thus a 2nd Class - also a silver mark. The Arabic on the suspension reads 'Republic of Egypt' - the suspension 'bird' was later changed when the nation became the 'Egyptian Arab Republic'  - see image below. The revers Arabic is the word 'merit'. Regards, Owain 

[Von Thronstahl]

11 hours ago, oamotme said:

Hi, This is the Medal of Merit - it appears to be silver and thus a 2nd Class - also a silver mark. The Arabic on the suspension reads 'Republic of Egypt' - the suspension 'bird' was later changed when the nation became the 'Egyptian Arab Republic'  - see image below. The revers Arabic is the word 'merit'. Regards, Owain 

 

Thank you very much Owain.  Do you think that Yugoslavian navy NCO or officer could be awarded this medal? 

[oamotme]

Yes I do - Nasser and Tito were very friendly and visited each other on numerous occasions. I think it would have gone to a junior rank not an officer as and officer would have received an Order of Merit (not the Medals of Merit which was a separate series of medals) or Order of the Republic. Owain

[Von Thronstahl]

1 hour ago, oamotme said:

Yes I do - Nasser and Tito were very friendly and visited each other on numerous occasions. I think it would have gone to a junior rank not an officer as and officer would have received an Order of Merit (not the Medals of Merit which was a separate series of medals) or Order of the Republic. Owain

Thank you once again for your help Owain. 

[ChrisW]

That is a very nice example of an early Medal of Merit — and also an amusing story of how you came to acquire it! Thanks for sharing, Von Thronstahl!

Edited September 9, 2020 by ChrisW
Typo

[paul wood]

interesting the medals are considerably harder to find than the orders.

p

[ChrisW]

On 10/09/2020 at 10:28, paul wood said:

interesting the medals are considerably harder to find than the orders.

p

That’s a good question and one I’ve pondered about Arab orders/medals in general. One partial reason may be that orders are more likely to be awarded to foreigners than medals, and therefore more of them end up In Western countries and more likely to end up on the auction block? Whereas medals in Arab countries generally stay in those countries and perhaps wind up in a local bazaar but otherwise are not as widely available to international collectors. 

Just a theory. 

[paul wood]

quite likely with many countries such as pre communist China  zanzibar and arab and african staes the lowest grades.of orders are often as rare as rocking horse manure.

p