Belgium Croix de Guerre

[Darrell]

Hi all,

Just got this one today. Whatcha think?

[Darrell]

Sorry for the dark pictures ...

ob

[Darrell]

rv

[coastie]

Originally Posted by h009291

Hi all,

Just got this one today. Whatcha think?

Nice Darrell looks nicer than mine

[Darrell]

Originally Posted by coastie

Nice Darrell I've never seen an invisible medal before.

Wow .. coastie's so fast on the draw he beat me to the pics

It is quite interesting .. there is a hinge inside the crown which swivels. Never seen anything like that before

[Marcus Hatton]

The Order of Leopold has this hinged crown too, out of interest...

[Darrell]

Originally Posted by Marcus. H

The Order of Leopold has this hinged crown too, out of interest...

Nice couple of medals Marcus

[Christian L]

what does the letter "A" means on the leaves? or are my eyes bad?
christian

[oli4vercammen]

Hello Christian L,

The A means that the palm was awarded during the reign of King Albert I (1909-1934) You can also see the A on the back of the WWI War Crosses.

The palms are awarded when the person was mantioned in the order of the day of the Army. when he or she was mentioned once = one bronze palm, 5 bronze palms = one silver palm and 5 silver palms = one Gold palm (= 25 bronze palms!).

I hope this helps.

Olivier Vercammen

[junior]

Oliver,

My great-grand uncle is a "Ridder in de Leopoldsorde" What does this ext. means?
Cheers,
Junior

Originally Posted by oli4vercammen

Hello Christian L,

The A means that the palm was awarded during the reign of King Albert I (1909-1934) You can also see the A on the back of the WWI War Crosses.

The palms are awarded when the person was mantioned in the order of the day of the Army. when he or she was mentioned once = one bronze palm, 5 bronze palms = one silver palm and 5 silver palms = one Gold palm (= 25 bronze palms!).

I hope this helps.

Olivier Vercammen

[IMPERIAL QUEST]

Very nice. When I handled one for the first time, I was surprised at the complexity and craftsmanship shown in a somewhat "common" award.

[Christian L]

thanks much oliver for your help!

i would say that he is a member of those who get the leopold order.
hope thats what you expect as an answer.

christian

[Peter Moelans]

Originally Posted by Marcus H

The Order of Leopold has this hinged crown too, out of interest...

Just like the 'Decoratie voor Arbeid' (Labour decoration).

[oli4vercammen]

Hi Junior, It means he has the lowest rank of the Order of Leopold, wich is the highest of the three Belgian Orders left.

Order of Leopold: #1
(Order of the African Star: former #2)
(Royal Order of the Lion: former #3)
Order of the Crown: former #4, but after Belgian Congo went independant #2
Order of Leopold II: former #5, but after Belgian Congo went independant #3

the order of Leopold has 5 classes:

Grand Ribbon: #1 (Groot Lint of Grand Cordon) only this name with this order, by the other orders is the first class named the Grand Cross!
Grand Officer: #2
Commander: #3
Officer: #4
Knight: #5 (this is your uncle, Junior)

And to make it complete The Order of Leopold has a civil, a military and a maritime division. This means that you have the order in it's pure form (given to judges or other civilians), with swords (given to soldiers of all fields: thus also Naval personnel) and with anchors (given to harbour pilots and other harbour personnel)

I hope this can help you Junior and if you have other Questions: just ask!

Olivier Vercammen
Flanders

[junior]

Thanks for the info Oli! What should a Groot Lint cost? (just curious)

Junior