I have a badge that interest me a lot as it might tell something about some persons' background in Russia before the year 1920. Could anybody say something about the heraldry probably involved with it? The owner of this badge carried it on the right side of his white and black uniform jacket and there are two family pictures where he carries it.
The badge is of the size for about 5 x 4 cm. I have no idea what it could mean, who has made it, from what 'institute' it comes from and who has given it to the person who owned it. I cannot tell what metal it is but probably there is some mark A6 and probably has been covered with some gold. However, I cannot look at the mark now as I have put these things into frames so that they don't disappear easily.
The badge consists of the following things:
1) A laurels that goes around the badge
2) Double-headed eagle with crowns on its head and a third crown on them
3) A hammer and maybe some scepter (some kind of a stick)
4) St. Georg in the middle of the whole thing and inside some tiny coat-of-arms form
5) Four tiny coat-of arms on both sides of the St. Georg and maybe with some text (initials???) on them
The person who owned this badge also own a St. Vladimir Cross. However, I have not found any suitable information about this cross as it seems to be of some more unusual kind as pictures of similar kind seems difficult to find.
This St. Vladimir Cross is in two parts - a bigger cross and a very tiny one. I don't know how the tiny one has been attached on some costume as it lacks some attachment system. There is no tape as normally seen in pictures, but just a tiny tape of some 3 cm like a brooch.
The person has never served in any army if it is not counted that he might have had something to do with Wrangel's army and destroying some bridges during some months. I also red somewhere that a St. Vladimir cross could be given to you due to your birth background and that some pension was involved with it. Somewhere I also red that some even more valuable St. Vladimir crosses were very moderate, but so unique there is no information to get about them anywhere. I have seen some pictures even here about uniforms and to me some of them look shabby to me. Even if this person don't have many marks on his clothing his uniforms and coats look very expensive in the photos that exist.
The person also had a golden personal monogram where there is some crown on his initials. Might it have been usual to have personal monograms with crowns?
The person was born in 1883 and had participated the Technical Highschool of his time in St. Petersburg. When he left Russia with id-papers from the Belgium Consulate in Sevastopol he was already at the age of 37 years as stands even on these documents. Even if he came from St. Petersburg his place of birth has been mentioned only as 'Russia'. What men participated the St. Petersburg Technical Highschool of those times and as well was in contact with some monastery and even served as some diacon in church ceremonies as the helper of the priest? His parents have never been mentioned and the line to them and his family background has so been cut off. However, he cannot have been some illegitime child, but not even the first names of his parents are know opposite to his wife, with 'foreign' background. He was very civilized and the question rises that could he have been something else than some nobleman. But in that case - who was he??? His surname on the Russian as well as some other id-documents differs with only one letter from the name of a Russian historical person... but I cannot even mention whom, because it is so crazy... However, if he was some distant offspring of such a person it had been impossible - as I understand it - to carry such a surname in Russia even in his time - or today. In the West the surname has then been altered more.
He was a top name on the list of the Bolsheviks to be killed. 'Nobody' seemed to know anything about these marks during his lifetime or at least they were never talked anything about but found after his death. It is strange that it has been mentioned that he used to visit the Swedish King of his time as well that he served as some interpreter in some war negotiations (what negotiations?). The identity of this kind of a person cannot have been completely hidden - as it seems to be to the family of his own... His wife feared during her whole lifetime that the Bolsheviks could 'come' again... as they had killed her whole family in St. Petersburg... He stayed often in Wien and in Riga but his real nationality seems to be unclear. His religion is mentioned on the documents to be Greece Orthodox and on some passport there stands he can travel anywhere but not in Russia. His wife with 'foreign' background and two children were escorted out of the country my some embassy. Her background was possible to trace in times of Hitler as this asked them who are you - are you some Jews... but today even that line seems to be impossible to trace and is so cut in Gross-Glogau, Lower-Schlesien, in 1764, when the Huguenot ancestor is mentioned to be born there. Funny coincidences are that the same year they had started to build an evangelical church, Schifflein Christie Church, there in Glogau, and that from there comes even the sail-airplane that carry the same family surname as theirs. Later the wife of the brother of the wife of this mystical man was killed in 1928 so that some airplane poured its fuels on her in Vyborg.
Thank you very much in advance for any kind of information you can give me. Probably you know some place where some more information could be received of these marks or a mystical figure and family of this kind.
