Balkan War 1913 Pair. ***Red Cross of Serbia, Silver Cross, royal type, by Jacob Leser of Munich, in fitted embossed case of issue. Silver-edged Greek (Geneva) cross quatrate on swivel crown suspension; the face with the arms of Serbia in silver imposed centrally, the double-headed eagle with a white enamel escutcheon on its breast bearing a red enamel Greek (Geneva) cross; the reverse inscribed in silver with the date ‘1876’; on original trifold ribbon; in fitted embossed case of issue, slight surface marks and wear, an old ink stain to the right-hand side. The Decoration was instituted by the Serbian Red Cross and recognised by the Ministry of War on 7 (19) April 1877. The Decoration was amended in 1882 when Serbia became a kingdom, with the royal arms replacing the princely arms on the face. The Red Cross of Serbia was founded on 6 February 1876 in Belgrade on the initiative of Dr. Vladan Đorđjević. By 1885, the Society had over one hundred branches and during the war with Bulgaria it deployed in 45 hospitals, 37 field hospitals and a train. During World War I Serbia suffered grievously and the Red Cross was active both within Serbia and with the exiled Serbian forces, so that by 1918 it counted 30,000 active members. At the end of 1921, the Society was succeeded by the Red Cross Society of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (from 1929 Yugoslavia) and the Cross was no longer awarded. It was made by Rothe & Neffe in Vienna and Jacob Leser in Munich until the outbreak of World War I in 1914 when, with Serbia and Austria and Germany on opposing sides, manufacture was transferred to Arthus Bertrand of Paris and Huguenin Frères of Le Locle, Switzerland. This example is by Jacob Leser (see Serbian and Yugoslavian Orders and Decorations by Pavel Car and Tomislav Muhić, Vienna, 2009, page 536). ***Medal for Victory by Emilio Sacchini of Milan, in fitted cases of issue. Gilt medal of approximately rectangular shape, the shoulders sloping, the lower edges curved, with eyelet and ring for suspension; the face with the full-face head and shoulders portrait of Crown Prince Alexander (later King of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes and of Yugoslavia until his assassination in1934), a plaque below inscribed ‘МУДРОСТ ВЛАДАРА СНАГА НАРОДА ТВОРЦИ СУ ПОБЕДЕ’ (The wisdom of the ruler and the power of the people are the creators of victory) decorated with laurel leaves; the reverse with the full-length figure of a Serb soldier, a rifle in his right hand, the butt resting on the floor, the figure of Victory beyond to the left, a cherub with a garland of flowers below left, dated 1389-1913 below, signed ‘SACCHINI’ and ‘MILANO’ lower left and right respectively; in fitted case of issue, loose at the hinge, with maker’s mark of Emilio Sacchini of Milan in gilt on the inside of the lid. The Medal was awarded to mark the victory of an alliance of Serbia, Montenegro, Greece and Bulgaria over the Ottoman Empire that resulted in a major defeat for the Ottomans and the further territorial expansion of Serbia, including the highly symbolic incorporation into Serbia of the battlefield of Kosovo where, in 1389, Serbia had lost her independence to the Ottoman Turks. ***Dr. Max Bjørn Rosenthal was born at Copenhagen, Denmark in 1882, son of Esajas Emil Israel Rosenthal, Professor of Medicine at the Kommunehospital and a prominent member of the city’s Jewish community. He qualified as a doctor and worked in the Copenhagen Children's Hospital and Kommunehopitalet before travelling to Serbia as an officer in the Danish medical unit and serving there during the Balkan War of 1913. He subsequently served in the Royal Danish Navy as medical officer on the voyage of the Valkyrien in 1916-17 to St. Thomas in the West Indies when Denmark sold the Islands to United States of America (for US$25.000!). On his return to Copenhagen, he married Lily Ostenfeld, a noted international winter sportswoman, and continued to work at the Copenhagen Children's Hospital and Kommunehopitalet and in his own civilian practice until a fortnight before his death aged 84 years in 1972. ***The buyer will receive eleven related images from Serbia 1913 and two from the voyage of the Valkrien 1916-17 in electronic form.
