Chile Order of Merit

[Old bidder]

Hi,  Can anyone help in trying to find the identity to a miniature group of medals that include the Chile Order of Merit. The group include QSA , WW1 trio with 14-15 star, 1902 coronation and

Chile order of merit. I am stuck as to where to go next. Attached image of medals. I think the Chile medal is a type 2, 1911-1924 . Any ideas?

 

Regards

[coldstream]

Can you repost the image, can't seem to see it.

Regards Simon

[Old bidder]

Hi, Here is the picture ,hopefully.

 

regards

[peter monahan]

The Order was instituted in 1906, 'For meritorious service provided by foreigners to the Republic of Chile', and at least one 1930s award was to a Luftwaffe officer, presumably attached to the German embassy in Chile, so it's a fair bet that the owner of this set was a military attache or some such in Chile.

One point: all the illustraions I can find show that the Order ribbon is solid blue, while the red/white blue ribbon on this example seems to be the ribbon for the Chilean Order of Civil Merit so presumably at some point the original ribbon was replaced, either in error or because the owner wasn't able to get the correct ribbon, with one from a similar order.  Here is an example of the Civil Merit order:

https://www.emedals.com/an-chilean-order-of-civil-merit-knight

 

[Old bidder]

Hi, Here is a picture of the original diploma award which shows the ribbon but with colours in a different order. I was given some names of people who were awarded the Chile medal in 1924/5 but they were all too young to have fought in the Boer war. 

Regards

[peter monahan]

Clearly I am mistaken, then, about the correct ribbon - as illustrated on the award document.  I was popping back and forth between several on-line sites and trying to sort out the earlier award from the later version and 'merit' from 'Civl Merit'

However, it still looks to me as if the owner or his tailor used a substitute, a common enough practice with rare foreign awards, I'm afraid.

I'm not sure how one would go about tracking down the owner, other than trolling the London Gazette or whatever the Chilean equivalent would be, if such exists, and I'm not familiar enough with the Gazette to guess whether or not such an award would appear there.  Frustrating!

[1812 Overture]

On 24/04/2017 at 21:03, peter monahan said:

Clearly I am mistaken, then, about the correct ribbon - as illustrated on the award document.  I was popping back and forth between several on-line sites and trying to sort out the earlier award from the later version and 'merit' from 'Civl Merit'

However, it still looks to me as if the owner or his tailor used a substitute, a common enough practice with rare foreign awards, I'm afraid.

I'm not sure how one would go about tracking down the owner, other than trolling the London Gazette or whatever the Chilean equivalent would be, if such exists, and I'm not familiar enough with the Gazette to guess whether or not such an award would appear there.  Frustrating!

Dear Sir, can you tell me in which year the Chilean order at the commander level was established?

[heusy68]

Hello Gentlemen,

In the first years of its existence, the Order of Merit of Chile had only 2, then 3 classes, ( 2 Classes from 1906 to 1911, then 3 Classes from 1911), and the ribbon was "national colors",  On the 2nd Class, that I own, and which came from a Hamburg Auction about 8 years ago, you can see a triangular "german style" ribbon that is not from the status of the Order (and the color on the 2nd Class, are also not correct, however the owner wore it such a way, as he was the austro-hungrian Military Attaché to Santiago, and I have the document).

On the 3rd Class (which is a rare real 3rd Class 1st type, according to a discussion I had with the late Gustav Tammam who was a good fellow), the plain bleu color shall not be statutory, but I bought it such a way. And this one is a 1st Type, because of the "fischscale arms".

From exemple of the Order of Merit seen in collections, later, I mean Type 5 (after 1929), the ribbon was still "national colors" till at least the 2nd World War. Later on, you start to see plain blue ribbon (we got source to support these, as the official manufacturing plate from Arthus Bertrand still exist, and have been displayed in the book : Order of Knighthood in 2 volumes published by Rafal Heydel Mankoo, in 2012, if my memory is correct.

I post here also a photo from the Officer Type 5 of my collection (correct ribbon for a pre WWII insignia).

The main differences between badges of the Order of Merit 1st & 2nd Type with Order of Merit 5th Type (post 1929) is the "style" of the Condor Supension, and the motto "REPUBLICA de CHILE" which is part of the center on 1st & 2nd Type, but written between 2 circles on 5th Type.

Many many collectors believes that Order of Merit of Chile breast badge with red enamel are from a so-called "military division", but this had never existed. Just the arms of the breast badge were red enamel for 5th Class (from 1929....), bleu enamel for 4th Class (from 1929...), and white enamel for 3rd Class and above ( from 1929....), Still the Medal of Merit from the Order of merit still exist (without enamel on arms), as a kind of 6th Class of the Order (the lowest class).

Regards to all.

        Emmanuel

[1812 Overture]

Can photos of Austro-Hungarian military attachés be sent here?

[heusy68]

His decoration is the breast badge (with not regulatory triangular ribbon) on the photo where there is 3 Order.

Edited July 31, 2020 by heusy68