09-03-2011, 09:59 PM (This post was last modified: 09-03-2011, 10:02 PM by Tretov.)
CtahhR Wrote:WARNING FLAG UP! The crown on the Bulgarian Order "For Military Merit" 4th Class looks as out of place in the grouping as much as if his "Victory Over Germany" Medal had a picture of Mao on it. The Crown is not in any of the pictures and for some reason the Order has inherited an Order "For Civil Merit" ribbon too.... Something rather fishy going on there... It is possible that some of the unnumbered items in the group may not be the pieces originally handed out. It doesn't seem very likely to me that People's Republic Of Bulgaria would be handing him out an Order with the "forbidden" insignia. A Wreath I could imagine but not the crown.........
The Peoples Republic of Bulgaria handed out "royal" awards until mid-1946 if I recall right.
Also, the crown is visible in the photo that is in the background in the pic of the entire group. In the more recent photos, I believe the crown is covered by the medal coin of some other award.
The Bulgarians handed out "imperial" awards until 1948 but after the death of Tsar Boris III the crown was replaced with a wreath. By the time of the PRB the crown was completely removed from all documents/stamps/awards. The document for the award definitely states PRB. As a "well travelled" collector of Imperial and PRB items I would have to see a photograph or video of the actual award ceremony to believe that not only was this award handed out with a crown but also with the wrong ribbon, Otherwise the grouping can not be "Original". I also do not see a Soviet Commander being awarded any awards by the pre-9/9/44 regime. $175,000 you certainly have to have some deep thoughts.........
09-03-2011, 11:25 PM (This post was last modified: 09-03-2011, 11:32 PM by Tretov.)
Well it is interesting as I can see the award WITH the crown in the photo that comes with the group. As for the ribbon, I can't make out anything. In the pics posted earlier, the crown seems to be missing. Seems like something is indeed fishy and I agree that at $175000 USD I would check the documents. Twice.
The crown is there on the later picture but not on the earlier ones... as for why I could never guess... possibly some part of this Commander's own agenda?? It seems that he was awarded the Order "For Bravery" 4th Class first so if any of the Orders were to have a crown (which they shouldn't) it would have been that. The Awardee himself may have lost and replaced items within his own group but the wrong ribbon and crown is the major tell. This grouping may have been "original" enough for the man himself but I'm sure some other folks would not be as happy. I'm sure for $175,000 you could find more things that are a little out of place or missing......
Superb image of the first Estonian national to be awarded the HSU title - A. K. Meri. He passed away in 2009. Note the great mix of military/civil decorations in his ribbon rack.
Very fascinating back story here. He was awarded his HSU (s/n 513) on August 15th, 1941 for action against the Germans. Although he was set to participate in the June 24th, 1945 Victory Parade in Moscow as a member of the Leningrad Front's honorary regiment, he was demob'ed just before the parade and sent to Estonia to help build the party structure there. After the war, he was a functionary in the Estonian Communist Party serving as a member of its Central Committee. In 1952 while studying at a party school in Moscow, he was accused of slander, expelled from the Communist Party and stripped of all his Soviet decorations effective August 5th, 1952. In 1956, he was reinstated in the party and his decorations restored.
Very nice and interesting. It could be noted that although he was a HSU and war hero, he has no campaign awards whatsoever. Also, it looks as if he has some Umalatova awards there, possibly including the Victory over Germany on Labor front.
