WW2 POLAND CROSS OF MERIT SILVER UNIFORM RIBBON MEDAL

39mm wide red enamel and silver Leopold cross with ball-tipped finials, with rays between the arms, with loop and laurel-decorated ring for ribbon suspension; the face with a circular central white enamel medallion bearing the letters ‘RP’ (Rzeczpospolita Polska = Republic of Poland) within red enamel and decorated silver rings; the reverse plain; on original ribbon.

The Cross was instituted on 23 June 1923 and awarded to both military and civilians for merit in a very wide range of fields. This example dates from the period of the Government in Exile in London, 1939-1945 and is the rare version with a space between the arms of the cross and the inter-arm rays.