Help needed on this Italian Proxima Soli Order set

[farthingbowl]

Hello All,

I have this set in my collection for a while now and a German seller (Andre Huesken) says it's the "Ordine dell’Aquila Estense" however when searching on this name I find lots of pictures and descriptions different then my set, so if anybody has more information I'd be happy to know, It might even not be Italian at all, I think it might be Polish, there ar eno Hallmarks, so no help there.

Regards,

Tim

Edited March 7, 2012 by farthingbowl

[922F]

Insignia of an ephemeral Eagle of Este 'based/derived' Order.....

This Order may be known by various name styles such as Eagle of Este and Saint Pablo, Eagle of Este and Saint Vitus, and Aigle d'Este. Guy Stair Sainty's 'self-styled orders' websites may have info regarding this and similar related orders. Don't remember if it's on the Vatican or Italian lists of non-recognized/proscribed Orders but seem to recall it appeared just before WW I then in the 1920's-30s and again in the late '40s-early '60s.

Likely post-WWII made insignia probably by Alberti [Milano] or Johnson [Roma]. Bob McNamara had a Grand Cross set of similar manufacture perhaps bought by G. Tammann in the 1980s--the sash on that was like a St. Sava sash [white with blue stripes near edge].

Burke [World Orders of Knighthood & Merit] pp. 661-3 details the former Modena [italian State] Order upon which these are based.

Edited March 7, 2012 by 922F

[farthingbowl]

wow.. Iam impressed, I have spend a lot of time trying to find out about it's origin but no result, many thanks, any idea about size of this order, were there many people involved in this order ?

Tim

Edited March 7, 2012 by farthingbowl

[922F]

Happy to assist. Forgot to mention that the firm Arturo Pozzi of Roma may be another of the possible insignia makers. The Order it was based on has a Habsburg-Este connection, perhaps further antagonising legitimists. This Eagle of Este quasi Order, as Aigle d'Este, must have drawn the ire of Papal & Italian authorities too as it is included in both proscribed lists..... see http://www.heraldica...ers/itbgord.htm for the Italian iteration.

It's generally hard to discover details about these sorts of organizations because 1) Many no longer exist or have very convuluted schisms c.f. Russian St. John Order 'priories' 2) While they generally have/had a specific organization complete with statutes, membership lists, Grand Master bios and so on, documents are usually impossible to locate 3) persons who feel 'taken-in' by such entities are reluctant to reveal information about them 4) many 'sailed close' to various personalities, actual titled families' awards, or 'questionable charitable activities' leading to legal actions against them thus those involved want to maintain their distances & 5) few people study them.

It's also difficult to assess such Orders' actual size/activity. The quality of the insignia really does not seem to indicate the 'heft' of these organizations. Some really do have hundreds of members, get involved in actual charity work, and serve more than just a social function. They may get well-known but perhaps 'uninformed' people to endorse them. Others exist mainly as ego-bosters or sources of income for fantasy prince grand masters, involving relatively few long-term members. An introduction to the general subject may be located at http://www.chivalric...asy/fantasy.htm.

Books on this topic include:

• Ordres et contre-ordres de chevalerie by Arnaud Chaffanjon, Mercure de France Paris 1982.
  
• Faux Chevaliers vrais gogos by Patrice Chairoff, Jean Cyrile Godefroy Paris 1985.
  
• The knightly twilight by Robert Gayre of Gayre, Lochore Enterprises Valletta 1973.
  
• Orders of knighthood, Awards and the Holy See by Peter Bander van Duren and Archbishop H.E. Cardinale (Apostolic Delegate in the United Kingdom), Buckinghamshire 1985.
  
• World Orders of Knighthood and Merit by Guy Stair Sainty and Rafal Heydel-Mankoo (ed), Burke's Peerage 2006.
  
• Ephemeral Decorations, Gillingham, H. E. New York, 1935. American Numismatical Society: Numismatic Notes and Mongraphs 66.
  
• Peter Kurrild-Klitgaard, Knights of Fantasy: an overview, history, and critique of the self-styled 'Orders' called 'of Saint John' or 'of Malta', in Denmark and other Nordic countries, Turku 2002, ISBN 951-29-2265-7
  
• 
  

These books may be consulted via the Library of Congress and the American Numismatic Assn. library---sometimes copies appear on alibris, Amazon or eBay.

The French on-line society has a couple of members interested in the subject. My studies in this area began in the early 1970s without much to show for it.

[farthingbowl]

again a big thanks, I had no idea that "fake" or private orders existed in such a way and that there are so many. So what I suspected is true, it's a non official Italian order which has absolutely nothing to do with the rest of my small collection, any idea of people collect these ? and if the set does have some value at all ? I probably would prefer to sell this set and spend some money on items which do fit in my collection.

Tim