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Today I added the East German Civil Defence Medal of Merit and the Decoration of the German Police – which spent most of its life as a breast badge, only becoming a medal in 1964. This award was known as the Grim Reaper as its design was reminiscent of Death bearing a large sickle!
More East German medals of merit – for the Ministry of the Interior, the Fighting Groups of the Working Class, and the Customs Administration. Life made easy as many of these medals had alreay been contributed (chiefly by David Devine, also by Lukasz Gaszewski) so all I needed to do was tidy them up a bit!
Back to East Germany, and added the Medal for Exemplary Border Service and the Brotherhood in Arms Medal, both quite significant to East Germany’s distinctive history. The Medal for Exemplary Border Service was predominently awarded for those acting to keep people from leaving East Germany (and indeed some recipients were, after the reunification of Germany, prosecuted for the very acts that earned them their medal), while the Brotherhood in Arms Medal was awarded to those who participated in Warsaw Pact exercises.
Three more East German medals this afternoon. All three are sort of ‘lifetime achievement’ awards, being the Medal for Merit in Fire Protection, the Medal for Excellent Service in the Militarised Organisations of the Ministry of the Interior, and the Medal for Excellent Service in the Fighting Groups of the Working Class.
Images have come from Greg Collins, David Devine, and Lukasz Gaszewski – thanks, guys!
From East Germany today: the Fire Protection Distinguished Service Medal, the Decoration for Merit in Reservist Work, and the Commemorative Medal for the 20th Anniversary of Democratic Land Reform.
The Decoration for Merit in Reservist Work was intended for those who organised and administered the reservists rather than being part of the reserves, whilts the Commemorative Medal for the 20th Anniversary of Democratic Land Reform celebrates the redistribution of land to peasant farmers.
The sun is shining, I have some time off… so, some more East German medals, a bunch of anniversary ones this time. They mark the 20th Anniversary of the Foundation of Fighting Groups of the Working Class, the 20th Anniversary of Foundation of GDR Medal, the 30th Anniversary of the Foundation of the GDR Medal, and the 30th Anniversary of the National People’s Army. Enjoy!
Told you I had some time off! Greg Harris kindly sent some glorious images of items in his collection so I scampered over here to add them to our Database.
They are: A Collar of the Order of the Iron Crown (Imperial Austria); a Chapter cross of St Denis (France); a CB Group to Col A. A. LeMesurier (Great Britain); and a Commander of the Order of Malta (Austria) dating to 1930.
Thanks, Greg. Go enjoy the images, folks, and if you would like to share images from YOUR collection, please get in contact via the Contact Us form.
Back to East Germany, with the Medal of Honour for the 40th Anniversary of the German Democratic Republic – being in 1989, one of the last medals they awarded – and the Medals for Faithful Service in the National People’s Army and in the Border Troops. These long service medals were awarded for 20, 15, 10, and 5 years of service and are almost identical apart from the name of the service on the front!
Some more medals for faithful service, for Civil Defence and for the “Barracked Police” who are the precursors of the East German Army.
Might have been more but I got distracted by the medals of Somalia… an undocumented muddle.
Today the Medal for Faithful Service in the Militarised Organisations of the Ministry of Interior of the GDR – which has 6 classes – to reward service from 5 to 30 years – as well as a minor but significant design change. Found all but one of them, though!
I got distracted this weekend by Somalia – a vastly undocumented nation as far as her medals are concerned – so have started to share the unimpressively rudimentary information that I have.
As some of you might have noticed, we had a Coronation over here in the UK this weekend. We have been speculating for ages about a coronation medal and it finally got announced the day before! Sorry about the quaity of the images – which you will find in the Royal Commemoratives section of the United Kingdom part of the Images Database – I’ll replace them when better ones become available.
The whole affair was a feast for those who like ceremonial (even if the commentators were woefully ignorant on what medals people were wearing!). Of note were the robes associated with the Order of the Garter (Prince William), the Thistle (Princess Anne), and the Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order (rarely seen, worn by Princess Catherine & Sophie – Prince Edward’s wife). I also spotted Knight’s Bachelor badges, the Order of Merit, lots of earlier royal commemoratives, and loads of the Order of the British Empire of various classes.
King Charles III himself wore the Collar of the Order of the Garter when he arrived at Westminster Abbey but on his return he was wearing a strange diamond-encrusted fantasy badge on a Garter Collar. I’ve been peering at images, I think it has St.George slaying a dragon in the middle (like a regular Garter Collar badge) but with a lot of decoration around it. Needless to say nobody mentioned it!
Update: Apparently this fantasy badge was a Lesser George (Garter sash badge) thought to have been originally made for King George II in the mid-18th century. It’s made with diamonds, sapphires, and rubies – and was a favourite of Queen Victoria as well as having been worn by King George V and King George VI at their coronations.
Further update: found some decent images of the beast on the Royal Collection website: https://www.rct.uk/collection/441145/lesser-george
It’s that time of the year when academics vanish under a mountain of student papers to grade… but I crawled out for long enough to return to East Germany and add the Medal for Faithful Service in the Fighting Groups of the Working Class and the Medal for Faithful Service in the Customs Administration of the GDR.
Next we’ll be launching off into a fascinating sequence of Honour Titles and Medals for Distinguished Service in a vast array of professions and trades. A worker’s paradise where no matter what you did for a living, there was a medal for it! More as I have time to put them up.
Still battling the Marking Monster, but added the Reserve Badge of the National People’s Army (which barely counts as a medal, it originally was a stick-pin!), and the Honour Title of Meritorious Technician of the Nation.
Couple more Honour Titles for you today: Meritorious Inventor and Meritorious Miner… this last has the year of award in the suspension, and as it was awarded 1950-1989, that makes for a lot! Otherwise the design didn’t change so I have been a bit lazy (blame the Marking Monster!) and just put up one example for you.
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