Award Medals in Dukach Adornments

The main element in any dukach is a medallion which was used to create the classical dukach we know today. The medallion was mainly of a round shape with a certain image on it – it was either carved, molded, engraved or decorated with designs, depending upon the technique used by the goldsmith. It was a common practice when the customer gave an already made medallion to the goldsmith and the master only had to add it to the composition and finish the brooch or certain elements on it. Sometimes in such cases men’s award medals served as the basis for a dukach and this fact is a bit not completely understood by the people nowadays.

Examples of the traditional Ukrainian adornments
from the exhibits of Yurii Kovalenko
in Cherkasy Regional Museum of Local Lore (2017-2018)*

* Example А – Prylutskii Dukach, ХІХ century, silver, glass. The medallion is a medal “As a Keepsake about the Patriotic War of 1812.” (“As a Keepsake about the Patriotic War of 1812.”), silver.

The medal called “As a Keepsake about the Patriotic War of 1812” (“As a Keepsake about the Patriotic War of 1812.”) was introduced during the reign of the Russian Emperor Oleksandr I. It happened on February 5, 1813 during a foreign crusade of the Russian army between 1813 – 1914. This medal was awarded to the line and militia troops which fought against the enemies during 1812. Doctors and priests were also awarded this medal. The medal was given out on the ribbon of the Order of St. Andrew the Protoclete and it was worn by all the war veterans, from private soldiers to field marshals. The awarding procedure was held till 1819. In 1813 100 000 of such medals were carved, in 1814. - 25 000, in 1816. - 90 000, in 1818. - 445 000. The medal was of several kinds according to the metal and the shape, but it had common images and inscriptions. It was made of such metals as gold, silver, dark and light bronze, brass.

Prylutskii dukach with the medal

“As a Keepsake about the Patriotic War of 1812” **

The back side of the Prylutskii dukach
with the medal “As a Keepsake
about the Patriotic War of 1812” 3*

**Prylutskii dukach of the ХІХ century, Chernihiv region. The second copy of the dukach with the medal “As a Keepsake about the Patriotic War of 1812” from the collection of Yurii Kovalenko. The bow is the reconstruction of the original, the medallion is the medal “As a Keepsake about the Patriotic War of 1812” (the original). The eye of the Omni scene is depicted on the medal. The eye is surrounded by the radiant light. At the bottom you can see the inscription “1812 годъ” which has been written in a circular motion;

3* The back side of the second copy of the Prylutskii dukach of the ХІХ century from the collection of Yurii Kovalenko. The bow is the reconstruction of the original, the medallion is the medal “As a Keepsake about the Patriotic War of 1812” (the original). The medal has the inscription on it which says “Не намъ, не намъ, а имени твоему”. This is a shortened quote of poem 9, psalm 113 of Tsar David.

A number of modern researchers, Valerii Fisun in particular, assume that it was the military Hetman regalia that the classical dukach with the bow has been made of. This point of view is based on the fact that the awards according to the western-European baroque style were worn on the pompous bows. This tradition came to Ukraine from Poland. During the reign of Petr I a number of military awards were introduced in the Russian empire. These awards were generously given to Ukrainian Cossack leaders by the Tsar. These military Hetman regalia were also worn on the bows. The awards were produced out of precious metals and made by highly-skilled jewelers. That is why they were of a great moral and material value for their owners and their families. As time went by, the award was attached not to the bow, but to the metal jewel brooch. It happened under the influence of local traditions. According to this, it is quite logical to assume that at first the dukach with a bow (a brooch) was a men’s adornment. In high circles of the Ukrainian noblemen the tradition of wearing dukaches disappeared quite quickly. However, lower middle class and just ordinary people kept to this tradition for a while alongside with the “new” traditions introduced by those noblemen. The practice of using men’s military awards as a medallion for a dukach existed at the beginning of the ХХ century when dukach was perceived as an adornment particularly for women. For example, not very few examples of dukaches in which the medal “For Bravery” was used as a medallion have been kept till nowadays. During WWI the Ukrainian lands were the largest shooting ground for battles Thus, the warring parties mobilized the men to their armies exactly from these territories. (You can read about the beginnings and the reasons for having this tradition in the article called “The Medallions in Dukaches: Spiritual and Material”).

4* Veremiivskii dukach

with the medal “For Bravery”

5* The back side of the Veremiivskii dukach
with the medal “For Bravery”

4*, 5* Veremiivskii dukach, the beginning of the ХІХ century, Cherkasy region, from the collection of Yurii Kovalenko. The bow is made of silver and glass. The medallion – the medal “For Bravery”, the IV century.

This medal was introduced by the Russian emperor Oleksandr II on August 3, 1878. Officers of the frontier guards, lower army and fleet ranks were awarded this medal for battle honors during the performance of their duties of the frontier service. The medals were of 4 classes:

І class – made of gold with a bow;
ІІ class – made of gold without a bow;
ІІІ class – made of silver with a bow;
ІV class – made of silver without a bow.

The medals of all classes were of the same size in diametre - 28 mm.

Each medal had its number. However, there were the ones without any number on them. On the face front they had the image of a ruling Russian emperor in profile, on the back side there was an inscription that said “For Bravery”. Medals without any number on them were both of a neck and chest-type and they were awarded to the military officers from the people of the Caucasian area and Middle Asia “For the Acts of Bravery at War” and to the people who had no military rank, including women. Since 1910 the medal was awarded to the lower police ranks and other persons “for the acts of bravery while fighting against the armed breakers of the peace”. According to the statute of 1913 the medal “For the Bravery” was renamed into the Georgiev medal and the lower ranks were awarded with it for the bravery shown during the war and peaceful time. People who didn’t have any military rank and even didn’t belong to the members of the army or the fleet, but who showed courage bravery at war time were also awarded this medal.

The Veremiivskii dukach with the medal “For the suppression of the Polish rebellion” has been preserved till nowadays. 6*. Now it is kept in one of the private collections. The bow is made out of nickel bronze and it’s decorated with glass. The medal is made out of light bronze.

* The award introduced by the act of the Russian emperor Oleksandr II on January 1, 1865

The medal which is made out of light bronze was awarded to all the military ranks, from a private soldier to a general, both combat soldiers and noncombat ones, Cossack regiments, ranks of the frontier guards, civil servants of the war department, doctors and priests who were in the field, basically everyone who took part in military operations against Polish rebels between 1863 – 1864. More than 368 000 copies were carved out of light bronze. 

The medal that was made out of the dark bronze was awarded to those who were in service both in the civil and war departments on the territory of the kingdom of Poland and Western land, those who didn’t take part in military operations, although they were responsible for carrying out administrative orders of the government. Priests of all the confessions, who helped to suppress the rebellion and the locals who were the members of the village guard, retired ranks who received the awards for their loyalty to the Russian government during the suppression of the rebellion, were awarded this medal. More than 230 000 copies were made out of the dark bronze.

Dukaches that have award medals on them prove that the Ukrainian nation is a nation with a difficult history and a great military experience. This is not the nation of peasant landowners, despite the fact that the historians of some countries and historical schools try to persuade the world that we are.

7* Veremiivskii Dukach with the medal
“300 Years to the House of Romanovs”

8* The back side of the Veremiivskii dukach
with the medal
“300 Years to the House of Romanovs”

7*, 8* Veremiivskii dukach of the beginning of the ХХ century, Cherkasy region, the collection of Yurii Kovalenko. The bow is made of silver and glass. The medallion is the medal “300 Years to the House of Romanovs”, silver.

The medal was founded according to the act of the Russian emperor Nickolas II on March 12, 1913. This medal is made of the light bronze and was 28 mm in diameter. On the front face there are chest, in profile, turned left images that go one by one. These are the images of the Moscow tsar, the founder of the Romanov dynasty Mikhailo Fedorovych, and the Russian emperor Nickolas II. On the back side of the medal medallion there is an inscription that says “In memory of the 300-year reign of the House of Romanovs 1613 – 1913”. Private workshops were allowed to produce such kind of a medal. Such medals sometimes greatly differed from the ones that were made by the state workshops and could be made out of silver, or sometimes even gold. 

This medal was awarded to:

- persons who on February 21, 1913, were in places at court and on civil service, members of the State Duma, clergy, public servants in the elective office of the noble, territorial and city government, civilians and part-time servants in the public office, retired ranks of the military, marine and civil community, public servants of educational institutions, actors of the imperial theatres, sisters of charity of the Red Cross Society, representatives of volost and rural authorities, and the ones who were awarded a military medal;

- cadets and page boys of special classes: lower military and fleet ranks, separate independents corps of the frontier guards, independent gendarme corps, police, security escort team and prison guards, who were on active duty on February 21, 1913, as well as the representatives from the rural population who were involved in jubilee celebrations;

- all the people who took an active part in dealing with the arrangements connected with the celebration of 300 year-reign of the House of Romanovs.

Dukaches with the distinction marks that have been mentioned by the author refer to the Russian imperial award system and belong to a much later period. We can only talk about the copies from the earlier period as the Ukrainian history was developing in such a way that the question of survival was always very crucial for the Ukrainians. That is why the jewels, especially with the ideological tinge, couldn’t exist for a long time. Being very precious jewels, in difficult times they were exchanged “for life”, hidden or destroyed by their own owners as ideologically dangerous or old-fashioned. For example, there are quite a few documentations of the seized property of the Cossack leaders during the times of the reign of Petr I, that state about the seizure of the precious jewels, dukaches in particular. Precious stones were taken out of these jewels and were given to the good of the treasury. The precious metal was melted down. 

Phalerists and numismatics barbarously destroyed such kind of a dukach. They coined the medallion for the sake of having an interesting copy of it and thus they destroyed the adornment. The collector and renovator called Yurii Kovalenko says that “One woman in Irkliiv put a pile of such coined dukaches in front of him on the table” (the direct speech in the publication “Video: The Speech of Yurii Kovalenko in the National Academy of Culture and Arts Management (Kyiv – May 11, 2018)”, 1:58), whereas the collector named Vladyslav Pecherskyi remembers that as he was keen on numismatics, he decided to buy his first dukach, “but he couldn’t destroy it” (the direct speech in the publication “Video: the Speech of Vladyslav Pecherskyi about the symbolic meaning of dukaches in the history of Ukraine and the people who “brought them back from the non-existence”, 5:25).

Thus, quite a number of medallion signs without a bow have been preserved till nowadays. You can assume that at the time the medallions were separated from the bow because of their value from the point of few of phaleristics. We know about such military awards that once were a part of a dukach:

- Medal “For the Capture of Paris” 9*. This copy was seen by Yurii Kovalenko in Kyiv at the beginning of the 2000s. It was regarded not as a part of a dukach, but as an entirely rare medal. This medallion had a damaged frame, a spring and three eyelet holes to which the chains to the bow were attached.

9* This medal was founded during the times of the reign of the Russian emperor Oleksandr I on August 30, 1814. This award is made of silver. This medal was awarded to the officers and lower ranks who took part in the campaign of 1814, but the actual awards presentation started on March 19, 1826 and lasted till May 1, 1832. It is known that this award was presented to the hussars of the Akhtyrsk regiment. Hussar regiments were created on the territory of Ukraine by the Tsar government on the basis of the former Cossack military regiments. In such a way the Russian government “infused” the Cossack troops into the Russian troops and brought them directly into the order of the Russian tsar. This medal was awarded to approximately 160 000 people;

- Medal “For the Unification of Hungary and Transylvania” 10*. Yurii Kovalenko saw such a medallion at the beginning of the 2000s in Kyiv. It was being sold as a rare medal. The medallion has three eyelet holes to which the chains to the bow were attached.

10* The medal was introduced by the act of the Russian emperor Nikolas I on January 22, 1850 . It was awarded to the people who took part in the suppression of the Hungarian Revolution of 1848-1849 despite the rank or the title. 210 000 people were awarded for taking part in this campaign.

- Prussian Medal in Memory of the Seven Years’ War

11* Dukach with a bronze medal of Friedrich II
in memory of the Seven Years’ War
from the collection of Serhii Kozlov

12* The back side of the dukach medal of Friedrich II
in memory of the Seven Years’ War
from the collection of Serhii Kozlov

The medal was introduced by the Prussian king Friedrich II.

The Seven Years’ War (1756 - 1763) is one of the biggest war conflicts of the XVIII century in which the unity of Prussia and Great Britain revolted against the unity of the Austrian Monarchy, the Kingdom of France and the Russian empire. During the reign of Pert III (the years of his reign are 1761 - 1762) the Russian empire signed a union treaty with the Prussian Kingdom. Russian troops defected to the side of Prussia and the Tsar announced the recruitment of volunteers in Ukraine. These volunteers were supposed to serve in a so-called Holstein Corps. When Katherine II took over (1762) the Russian empire retired from this conflict. In this war Slobidskii military units (Okhtyrskii, Chuhuiivskii, Sumskii, Iziumivskii, Ostrohoskii corps) and Don Cossacks especially distinguished n action. Most significantly they showed their worth during the Battle of Gross-Egersdorf, at Tsornstorf and during the capture of Berlin in 1760. The Cossacks of Kyiv, Prylutsk, Starodub, Chernihiv and Nizhyn corps also took part in this war. Phalerists point out that the Russian government also awarded this medal to the Cossacks, because there weren’t enough of his own medals.

Nowadays you can find quite a number of dukaches with such a medal. Probably they were quite spread because a lot of original dukaches that had a medallion which was the molded copy of the Friedrich II medal have been preserved till present days. One such exhibit can be found in the collection of Yurii Kovalenko. Spaskyi in his book shows the image of such a dukach with the Chernihiv bow, but he also mentions that in 1902 dukach with the medal of Friedrich II was found in the village of Tsarychanka in Kobeliatskii district of Poltava province (the present-day territory of Dnipropetrovsk region).

13* Chernihiv dukach with the medal of Friedrich II
in memory of the Seven Years’ War from the book
of Ivan Spaskyi called “Ducats and Dukaches of UKraine”.

- “For the Suppression of the Polish Rebellion” – the award introduced by the cat of the Russian emperor Oleksandr II on January 1, 1865

The medal made of light bronze was awarded to all the military ranks, from a private solider to a general, both combat and noncombat Cossack regiments, the ranks of the frontier guards, civil servants of the war department, doctors and priests who were in the army – to everyone who took part in military actions against the Polish rebels during the years of 1863-1864. More than 368 000 copies have been carved out of light bronze. 

The medal that was made out of the dark bronze was awarded to those who were in service both in the civil and war departments on the territory of the kingdom of Poland and Western land, those who didn’t take part in military operations, although they were responsible for carrying out administrative orders of the government.

Priests of all the confessions, who helped to suppress the rebellion and the locals who were the members of the village guard, retired ranks who received the awards for their loyalty to the Russian government during the suppression of the rebellion, were awarded this medal. More than 230 000 copies were made out of the dark bronze.

“For Diligence”

15* The back side of the medallion with a silver medal
“For Diligence” from the collection of Yurii Kovalenko

14*Dukach medallion with a silver medal “For Diligence”
from the collection of Yurii Kovalenko

17* The back side of the dukach medallion
with a silver medal “For Diligence”
from the funds of Cherkasy Regional Museum of Local Lore

16* Dukach medallion with a silver medal 
“For Diligence” from the funds of Cherkasy Regional Museum of Local Lore

The medal called “For Diligence” was founded on January 27, 1847 and was of two kinds – a silver and a golden one. The medal was awarded to the state peasants “for excellent public service”. The process of receiving a silver medal was gradual – first they were awarded with a pectoral medal, then with a neck medal on Hanna ribbon, and with a neck medal on Vladimir ribbon. The golden medal was given only to those people who already had all three kinds of silver medals. Since June 15, 1856 the silver pectoral medal on Hanna ribbon was awarded to the ranks that had the right to retire, but who voluntarily refused from getting it or renewed their service and had served not less than 5 years.

- lower ranks of the Ukrainian Cossacks, military cavalry settlers and dwellers of western provinces;

- lower ranks of the Black Sea and Caucasian Linear Cossack troops;

- the lower ranks of the maritime department, who had served in guards' crews for 22 years, or in naval crews and other teams of the maritime department - 25 years;

- combat and noncombat lower ranks of the military and terrestrial department who has served the necessary 22 years in the guards’ crew, and the obligatory 25 years for the army and the garrison.;

- lower ranks of the frontier guards, customs, the disabled and the fire squads; 

- lower ranks of the marginal corps.

Since 1896 the layout of the medal was slightly changed: the image of the Russian emperor Nikolas II was turned left on the front face of the medal. On the back side of the medal, on the left in the circular direction there were laurel and oak branches tied with a ribbon that replaced the ornament made out of concentric circles.

Thus, dukaches demonstrate a very difficult process of the development of the Ukrainian nation, its important contribution into the development of other countries and its great role (sometimes a crucial one) in contradictory historical processes. Ukrainian people are not only the nation of ploughmen, as somebody is trying to prove. This is the nation of warriors, the people who could hold a weapon in their hands since the times of their great-grandfathers. Unfortunately, dukaches with the distinction marks on them also demonstrate that Ukrainians have not always been as skillful on the fields of political battles as on the fields of military battles. Figuratively speaking, they often attributed their merits to somebody else. In such a way they dissolved themselves in the history and culture of other nations.

Yaroslava Kovalenko
PhD in History

Other publications:

• Dukach is a signet that symbolizes Ukrainian heritage
• The medallions among dukaches: the mental and the earthy
• Yahnusok - dukach with "a heart"
• Volyn Dukaches
• Earrings – Ukrainian folk adornments the second half of XIX-early XX century
• Biblical plots in dukaches
• Dukaches of South-Eastern Slobozhanshchina: Dnipropetrovsk Region