Poland Order Virtuti Militari. Any experts?

[sobel]

I have in my collection an example of the Polish order Virtuti Militari, 5th class; I have always considered this to be an authentic piece. Some basic research indicates that this award is in fact an extremely rare, if totally pre war original.

Explanation. When Poland was annexed by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union in 1939, each of the annexing powers treated Polish military veterans with both contempt and a high degree of severity. Because of this many recipients of Polish awards hid or buried their awards to hide the fact that they were awarded these, the premise being that at some stage they could recover them later. Unfortunately as shown by amongst other things, the Katyn massacre, for many, this was not to be the case, and a large number of original awards were never to be recovered. Added to this many veterans who fought on the allied side were never eventually able to, or preferred not to return to the mother country, their awards lying forgotten.

Because of this, original examples are rare. During and after WW11 the Polish government in exile in London and expats did continued to issue this award, made by Spink & Son. Albeit in a slightly different appearance to its pre war version.. After the war, Poland was subjected to a communist government which abolished pre-war decorations, replacing them with their own version, including the Virtuti Militari.

For those who could no longer find their original awards, several companies produced replacements, amongst these was Panasiuk, an approved court jeweller in Poland who made genuine awards for the Polish government, these I believe were “Official” replacements.

Simple question for the experts, is the attached an original pre-war example or a later Panasiuk replacement.? If so does it make it a fake or an official replacement for those who could prove entitlement to the medal, Parallels can be drawn to the wartime and the de-naziffied version of Third Reich iron crosses etc

Thank you for listening

Regards

Alex K

http://www.polishmilitaria.com/articles_detail.php?ID=1

[PolAntek]

I have in my collection an example of the Polish order Virtuti Militari, 5th class; I have always considered this to be an authentic piece. Some basic research indicates that this award is in fact an extremely rare, if totally pre war original.

… is the attached an original pre-war example or a later Panasiuk replacement.?

Hello Alex

You have a genuine pre-1939 Polish made 5th Class Virtuti Militari cross. It was part of the last official government order for this decoration that was placed with the Krupski & Matulewicz factory. Krupski & Matulewicz produced most of the Polish 2nd Republic government issue 5th Class Virtuti Militari crosses. These crosses are differentiated from the other more common Krupski & Matulewicz crosses by the absence of a machine stamped serial number, but rather a manually engraved one. The machine stamped crosses were numbered up to 9999. The manually engraved ones numbered 10000 +. The purpose of this small final order was to obtain some crosses that were supposedly to be awarded primarily to foreigners for acts of bravery in combat (i.e. such as French and US forces who took part in the Polish-Soviet war of 1920). The manually engraved ones are also of a higher quality than the other earlier produced ones, and this is consistent with the Polish practice of producing higher quality decorations for awarding to foreigners. It was well known that the Polish government was not satisfied with the quality of the initial runs of crosses.

Surplus unawarded Virtuti Militari crosses were removed from Poland in September 1939 ahead of the advancing Germans and Soviets. These ended up in Paris until forced to move again in 1940 to London when France fell to the Germans. For some reason the hand engraved ones ended up being awarded to soldiers of the Polish 2nd Corps fighting in the Mediterranean campaigns, and in particular the victory at Monte Cassino in May 1944. The machine stamped crosses were distributed to the 1st Polish Corps that was first assembled in France and ultimately based in Great Britain. The majority of these of these crosses ended up awarded to Polish pilots who played a pivotal role in the Battle of Britain in 1940.

So what it all boils down to is that you have a rare and valuable cross. It appears to be # 10024, which was awarded to Major Ludomir Tarkowski of the 3rd Carpathian Rifles Division of the Polish 2nd Corps. It is mounted to a period ribbon with the characteristic “wz.29” hook and eye fastening. Current market value is about $1000 (one recently sold for 2800zl = 508GBP)

Pictured below is the example of this type from my collection, #10076 awarded posthumously to Corporal Jozef Stankiewicz, who was killed in action during the battle for Monte Cassino. It is suspended from its original “2nd Corps” period ribbon.

Regards,
Tony

[sobel]

Hi polAntek, I've waited for quite a while for a response to my initial posting, and when one arrives, what a reply!, this is fantastic information for me, thanks a lot!

Not only do I have confirmation that it is an original, I get some great information as it's history, but the best part is that I have an actual recipient. (Whilst I didn't really enquire as to the value, the prices you have stated have really surprised Me).

For me it is something that I can now possibly research a little on Major Tarkowski

Thanks for showing your example to Corporal Stankiewicz nice example to a casualty to a very importanmt historical battle

best regards

Alex

[professor1792]

Dear Collectors
By chnace I just came upon this site and viewed a reply by TONY to a question asked by a collector. An author feels complemented when his research is used for good purpose, but credit should be given when such information is used almost word for word. This is a case with an EXPERT named TONY who obtained the information from my book.POLISH ORDER OF THE VIRTUTI MILITARI AND ITS CAVALIERS,1792-1992.without mentioning where he got the information.

If any one wishes to know anything about the Polish Order of the Virtuti Militari please feel free to contact me via [email protected]
Prof. Dr. Zdzislaw P. Wesolowski