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  Question about the Order of Ismail/Nishan al-Ismail

  By Rusty Greaves · Posted 16 minutes ago

  Below is a miniature Order of Ismail offered in a Feb 25, 2024 auction by La Galerie Numismatique (Lot 0110), listed on the liveauctioneers website (https://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/170362583_order-of-ismail). This mini is identified as measuring  35 x 21 mm, and the suspension ring and ribbon are stated to be original. The description does claim this is in “mint” condition. However, it is clear from the photo that there is damage to the enamel of the central boss with the inscription “Ismail”. It is unclear whether the lighter blue on parts of the enamel on this boss is an effect of the original enamel or some form of repair. The description also calls this “a spectacular very large size badge”. The width is similar to that of the other Order of Ismail minis of comparable design. However, the height (presumably to the most superior portion of the star within the crescent) is about 4mm taller than the only 2 examples I have been able to accurately measure and the few height measurement provided for other Ismail minis.        Moderate-resolution image of the obverse of the La Galerie Numismatique miniature Orde of Ismail from the liveauctioneers website. This shows well the blue and red enamel on the crown suspension element. Both this image and that below of the reverse can be zoomed for additional detail.        Moderate-resolution photo of the reverse of the same miniature order of Ismail from the liveauctioneers website.   I cannot tell from the above photos whether all of this miniature is silver or if there are some gold/plated elements. However, it appears this example is all silver (the description does not mention any gold or gilt). On most examples, the crown suspension device is gold or plated, but that does not appear to be the case with the above badge. The “Ismail” inscription looks to be silver on this piece as well rather than gold. Additionally, the borders and floral elements on this mini look to be silver and not gold as on most other examples I have seen. A low-resolution image of the Dr. James Ferguson Lees’ mini (from a 22 June, 2021 auction by Woolley and Wallace, archived on the Drouot Digital website, shown in the 4th photo pf my post on this thread of 23 September, 2021) also appears to show an all silver miniature. Other similarities between the La Galerie Numismatique mini and the Dr. Ferguson Lees badge are described below).    Another significant difference from most other miniature badges is the very abbreviated form of the red bands on the wreath. On the above example, these bands are simple Xs that do not wrap completely around the wreath or have well-defined boundaries (gold on other minis but apparently silver on this badge). The Dr. Ferguson Lees example may have this same form, but the photo of that mini is not high-enough resolution to confirm that suspicion. The margins of the rayed embellishment on this La Galerie Numismatique mini exhibits “extra” silver outlining the rays (especially noticeable at the distal ends of the shortest rays and margins of the cutouts in the embellishment.           Above are 3 additional lower-resolution images of this same miniature (2 photos of the obverse and 1 of the reverse) from a part of the La Galerie Numismatique website that is no longer available. The obverse images do show that the floral elements on the star arms appear to be silver as is the inscription of "Ismail" on the central boss. They do not show well the red and blue enamel on the crown suspension device.    There are also several differences in the crown suspension device compared with other miniature examples (in addition to the potentially taller height of the crown element). A quite unusual aspect of this miniature is the enamel on the crown suspension. The red enamel is visible in two spaces between the arches (and possibly in each lateral portion although the photo does not make that clear) that may be intended to represent velvet. There also is blue enamel on two round ornamental features of the band around the head opening at the inferior portion. Almost all other examples I have seen photos of don’t have any enamel on the crown suspension. The only exceptions are, again, the miniature of Dr. Ferguson Lees from a 22 June, 2021 auction by Woolley and Wallace, shown in my post on this thread of 23 September, 2021 (4th photo) and the mini Owain illustrated here on GMIC in his post of 11 December, 2017 (1st phot 2nd from R on the upper row) in the thread “Miniature of the Middle East& Arab World that he started on 6 December, 2017. Also except for the Dr. Ferguson Lees mini and Owain’s, all the other crown suspensions shown in good-high resolution images have a different connection to the body of the miniature medal. They connect to the rayed embellishment, not the superior arm as on this example (and the Ferguson Lees mini and Owain’s). One possible explanation is that this mini may have been made by Tewfik Bichay. Although no images of the reverse of either the neck badge or breast star are provided in the listing of the Dr. Ferguson Lees awards, the wreath element in both the neck badge and breast star of the Dr. Ferguson Lee full0-sized awards exhibit the configuration of fruit dots, form and color of the green enamel, and form of the red bands around the wreath that appear distinctive of Tewfik Bichay’s design and execution on pieces with his maker’s hallmark. There are some wreaths of this form on pieces marked with the Lattes name on the reverse. They either represent recent “repairs” that incorporate a Bichay wreath on pieces that are otherwise the product of the Lattes design (there is one sash or neck badge I have documented on this thread that has the a “Bichay-style” wreath that appears oversized on an otherwise probable Lattes badge, see my pedantry about this ). Of course, as the chief artisan in the Lattes workshop, Bichay may have altered the wreath design slightly form it’s original form while still working for Lattes. The intact set of Dr. Ferguson Lees awards offered in the Woolley and Wallace 2021 auction (including award brevets) makes that miniature the only example of an Order of Ismail mini I have seen in my online research that is associated with its original owner. It is reasonable to infer that he may have obtained his complete set of miniature medals contemporaneously with the full-sized awards. Circumstantially, if his 3rd Class Commander award was made by Bichay, it makes the Bichay workshop a reasonable suspect to have slightly modified the more common forms of the miniature Order of Ismail (see the other examples illustrated on this thread in my posts of: 5 December 2017; 10 November, 2018 showing 2 minis in the 1st image; 1 November, 2019 showing 2 minis in the 4th photo; 12 February, 2020showing the obverse & reverse of a mini; 23 March, 2020, Owain’s post of 20 April 2020 showing 2 minis in obverse & reverse views; my post of 22 April 2020 in the 2nd image; Lars post of 23 April 2020 of 2 minis; and my post of 31 October 2020 showing Owain’s illustration from his article (Raw-Rees, Owain, 2018. Egypt, King Farouk and his dress miniatures. Miniature Medals World, No. 130, March) featuring 3 special mini designs of King Farouk, showing one similar Ismail mini in the 2nd-to-last photo).         
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  House Order of Hohenzollern - info needed

  By Deutschritter · Posted 24 minutes ago

  Thank you, Dave! Maybe you can identify the third ribbon from left and second ribbon from right? Here is what I have (ribbon bar), what else am I missing?    Iron Cross, 2nd Class Gold Military Merit Medal on 2 March 1917 (no longer entitled to display the medal after receiving the Military Merit Order?) Military Merit Order (Württemberg), Knight's Cross on 2 August 1917 House Order of Hohenzollern, Knight's Cross with Swords (1918?) Honour Cross of the World War 1914/1918 with Swords  
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  Question about the Order of Ismail/Nishan al-Ismail

  By Rusty Greaves · Posted 1 hour ago

  Below are moderate-resolution illustrations of a lovely 1st Class Order of Ismail set from a February 13, 2024 auction (Auction 61371) listing by Heritage Auctions, Lot 25616 (https://coins.ha.com/itm/egypt/egypt-kingdom-pair-of-uncertified-order-of-ismail-medals-nd-unc-total-2-/a/61371-25616.s?type=DA-DMC-SixBid-WorldCoins-61371-02122024). Owain alerted me to this auction that also included a very uncommon 50th anniversary commemorative medal of the Egyptian Indigenous Courts (Lot 25230) and a Froment-Meurice Mixed District Courts badge (Lot 25091) that probably belonged to Judge Frédéric Rauret y Sugastres (see my two posts of 26 March, 2024 regarding the 50th anniversary commemorative medal and the Mixed Courts badge on the “Egypt Khedivate Judges Badge question” thread here in the “Middle East & Arab States” section of GMIC). This set includes the sash, sash badge, breast star, case, brevet, and an image of an individual wearing the Order of Ismail breast star (the unnamed awardee?). The auction listing has no photo of the case for this set.     Obverse of the 1st Class Order of Ismail sash badge. Both the sash badge and breast star have been well polished. This shows the normal Lattes form of the wreath. The engraving of the golden floral elements on the five star arms have a single distal mark in the central longest petal of the distal flower and 3 marks on each lateral side of this element. The 2 central flowers each show 3 lateral marks and a longer medial mark oriented to the longest medial petal or the space between that petal and the central petal. The mark in the joint of the 2 middle flowers and the lowermost “bud” element are simple straight vertical engravings, and the flowing marks within the stems and leaves are well-centered and elegantly executed. The Cairo office gold assay mark for 18 k cold and the ibis mark for Egyptian made gold are visible on the right side connection between the superior star arm and the crown element. The weight of the sash badge is given as 40.20 g, no measurement is provided.      Reverse of the sash badge showing the “LATTES” mark above the 3 Egyptian gold hallmarks. The date hallmark is “B” = 1927-1928. Although the resolution is not good enough to clearly see the hallmarks on the reverse of the crown element, the Cairo office gold assay mark for 18 k gold is visible on the reverse of the crown (to the viewer’s left of the suspension loop) and the loop is marked with the same Cairo office gold assay mark and the date hallmark “B”.      Obverse of the breast star of this same 1st Class set. The enameled wreath also represents the usual Lattes configuration. The engraved makrks on the gold floral elements of the blue enameled star arms show the central mark of the central petal and the three lateral marks on each side. The 2 middle flowers have the most distal mark oriented with the longer medial petal and 3 lateral marks. The marks of the joining point of these middle flowers is a wide horizontal mark and the lowermost bud and is a wider vertical mark than on the sash badge (probably just because the breast star is larger than the sash badge). The flowing marks on the stems and leaves are well-executed with similarly wide flourishes in the curved portions as seen on the sash badge. The weight of the breast star is given as 115.18 g, no measurement of the star’s diameter is provided.      Reverse of the breast star showing the ”LATTES”  mark underneath the tunic pin. The 3 Egyptian silver hallmarks are visible oriented to the long central ray of the embellishment on the portion in the ~4:00 position (the Cairo assay office mark for 900 silver, the cat hallmark for pre-1946 Egyptian-made silver, and the date hallmark “C”). The 3 Egyptian gold hallmarks are visible on the reverse of the gold star arm in the ~7:00 position in this reverse view (showing the Cairo assay office mark for 18 k gold, the ibis mark for Egyptian made gold pieces, and the date hallmark “C”). The “C” date hallmark indicates an assay date of 1928-1929.      Sash offered with this 1st class set of the Order of Ismail. No pinking (zig-zag cuts that diminish unravelling of the ends of the cloth) is present on the ends of the sash nor on the decorative bow (although the loose ends are not visible).      Award brevet offered with this Order of Ismail set. This example lacks the paper embossed design of the breast star of the Order of Ismail that is present on some examples. Perhaps someone could volunteer the name of the awardee on this brevet?     Low-resolution image of an individual (European?) wearing the Order of Ismail breast star visible above another award on the right side of his chest. This image is included in the Heritage Auctions listing for this Order of Ismail set. Some medals on ribbons can be seen, but not distinguished, on the left side of his jacket. He is not wearing a sash and the poor resolution makes it impossible to make out the neck badge he appears to be wearing. This seems to be a photocopy of an image, possible a previously folded newspaper or magazine image. No information is provided about this individual or whether he is the awardee of this Order of Ismail. I am unsure whether the short jacket this man is wearing is part of an Egyptian rank uniform. Does anyone have a suggestion for good references on uniforms for various Egyptian civil or military ranks (i.e., Bey second class, Bey first class, Pasha, Ri'asset, and Imitiaz)? There is a mention of an unspecified book with illustrations of pre-WWII Egyptian civil court uniforms in a post 19 June, 2009 post by TS Allen in the GMIC thread "FLY WHISK-EGYPTIAN BADGE OF OFFICE" started by Mervyn Minton on 12 June, 2009 in the "Great Britain: Militaria: Badges, Uniforms & Equipment" section of the "Great Britain & Commonwealth realms" listings. ChrisW expressed an interest in such a book in his post of 20 June, 2009 on that thread, but no one ever identified the reference. 
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  Help identify please

  By SillyOldGrandad · Posted 3 hours ago

  Nice one No one.        Pete.
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  House Order of Hohenzollern - info needed

  By Dave Danner · Posted 4 hours ago

  Württemberg Militärverdienstorden.   No idea about WW2 decorations. His Luftwaffe personnel file might have more, but who knows. Luftwaffe files are terribly organized and rarely have information on wartime awards.