Yugoslavia, Kingdom. A State Railways Transportation Pass Issued To Brigadier-General Vasilije V. Petković

Exterior cover in black leather with a pebbled texture, front cover illustrating the Order of the Star of Karageorge with Swords in gold-coloured ink, back cover stating the price of 20 dinars in Serbian and Croatian. Inside front cover housing the Yugoslav State Railways Transportation Pass, the text in Serbian and Croatian and is printed in red ink, number stamped "1232" in black ink, for use on "all state railways and ships", named to "Vasilije V. Petković" in blue ink, with the designations "First Class" and "Free Ticket" (Pass), the notation "valid until December 31, 1939", stating that the person with this pass is the "holder of the Order of the Star of Karageorge with Swords", bearing the Serbian text signature of Vasilihe Petković in black ink, along with the stamp of the General Director in faded blue ink. The facing panel has two renewal stamps glued in place to the areas dated 1940 and 1941, each with a value of 2 dinars, with signature and seal stamps, the reverse with instructions for the user and an overprinted stamp. The inside back cover contains a black and white photograph of Petković in uniform within an oval die-cut frame, the photograph bearing the Kingdom of Yugoslavia embossed stamp, along with a cancelling punch placed through it to the right of his head. The Pass measures 76 mm (w) x 108.5 mm (h), exhibiting light wear along the top edge on the exterior, near extremely fine. Accompanied by a two-page biography of Petković in Croatian that has a photograph of him in uniform and wearing the Order of the Star of Karageorge with Swords at the top of the first page.

Footnote: Brigadier-General Vasilije V. Petković was born on May 10, 1891 in Salaš, Negotin, Serbia. He was a veteran of the Serbo-Bulgarian War of 1912-1913 and the First World War. He would see a series of promotions in rank: to Lieutenant on June 15, 1915, to Captain on April 20, 1919, to Captain I Class on October 14, 1920, to Major on June 28, 1923, to Lieutenant-Colonel on October 17, 1927, to Colonel on October 17, 1932, and to Brigadier-General on September 6, 1940. Beginning in 1941, he was Chief of the Transport Section, Rear Area Command with the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. Petković later emigrated to Great Britain, where he died on July 28, 1960.