pieter1012

Was informed on another forum about a publication in which all awards and investitures by King Edward VIII are listed. Have ordered this in the meantime. Pieter

Dear Great Britain Forum members, recently, I bought an award document for the KCB, signed by King Edward VIII in June 1936. Unfortunately it had been framed and displayed, so the signatures have faded somewhat, but are still clearly legible, and for the rest the document is in a good state. I wonder how many Orders (not only of the Order of The Bath) were awarded during the reign of King Edward VIII, bearing his signature. Undoubtedly, the Chancery of British Orders will have a list of all names, but probably not grouped according to reign. If some fellow forum member has some infor

To add to the discussion, my great uncle, who was governor of Mid Java (Netherlands East Indies) from 1926-1930, received in 1929 the third class of the order of the White Elephant. He clearly wears the second type of the order on his official uniform as governor. He retired in 1930 and returned to the Netherlands without any further official function. regards,Pieter

Got a reply on another forum; 137, of which 2 with oakleaf cluster

Just saw on french TV the service at the Arc de Triomphe commemorating 100 years end of WWI. That reminded me of a question I always wanted to ask about a DSC document I have, which was awarded for this war. It is issued to Henri Lenoir, bigadier interpreter for actions on 11 Oct. 1918, exactly one month before the war ended. I bought the document long time ago in Paris, it was framed and became discolored by exposure to light, but fortunately, it was not pasted on carton. If my notes are correct, in total 6481 DSC's were awarded for the 1st WW and my question is, how many were awarded t

Heusy, Nice picture of the grand cross of this rare order. The Museum of the Order of Liberation has all the decorations of general de Gaulle, a very nice museum to visit. I don't know if it is a real story, but about the Latin American visit of general De Gaulle, Time magazine wrote that the Equadorian junta generals were angry that they all received only the Grand- Officer in the french Legion of Honour, whereas the presidents in the other countries received the Grand Cross. The French government explained to the generals that per country only one Grand Cross of the Legion of Honou

forgot this picture

Earlier this week King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands made a State Visit to the United Kingdom. During this visit the King was made a Supernumerary Knight of the Garter by Queen Elisabeth II. Here a picture of the King wearing the Garter, toasting with the Queen at the state banquet in Buckingham Palace (ANP photo, permission granted use for non commercial or business purposes). In the old times, when foreign monarchs or princes were appointed Stranger Knight of the Garter, mostly a special Garter mission was sent to the foreign court to invest the monarch or prince in the Garter, on

hi Graf, thank you for pointing out the thread on french maker's marks. i will study it and see if I can identify the mark on my star. regards, Pieter

Hi Graf, In the picture of the backside of the star you can see two spots on the pin; these are marks, one the familiar swinehead, and the other probably the maker, but I cannot recognize it. The swinehead mark is also on the catch for the pin. I have a simple camera, so unfortunately cannot make a close up photo. Regards, Pieter

Here a gold GC military I have, from the period of king Leopold II. The star is probably french made and must have been from some royalty with a lot of orders as it is inscribed Leopold (Belgique) so he could choose the right star when necessary. The case unfortunately is not correct. regards, Pieter

To add to this interesting thread about the Leopold Order, here pictures of an early gold civil Leopold in my collection, made by Buls in Brussels. Regards, Pieter

For those interested, found a picture of B.F. Blokland in the Life Saving museum Jan Lels, Hoek van Holland. The Sea Gallantry medal can be clearly seen on his chest among the many other life saving medals, including the highest Dutch government life saving medal. regards, Pieter

Simon, thanks for your nice comment. Yes, I will leave the medal as it is. I have enclosed a picture of the rescue boat on which Blokland served. A sad, but for us collectors interesting note, is that one of the victims on the SS Berlin was the Kings Messenger, carrying diplomatic pouches, among which one for Tehran, containing the Royal warrant and insignia of the KCVO bestowed by King Edward on a Persian Prince. I have not been able to find out what happened to the pouches. Regards, Pieter

Recently I could acquire a silver Sea gallantry medal (Foreign Services), awarded to a member of a Dutch sea rescue team, concerning the disaster with the SS Berlin on 22d February 1907. The SS Berlin was a steam ferry operated by a British company between Harwich and Hook of Holland. While entering the waterway at Hook of Holland, because of a winter storm, huge waves and strong wind made the ship uncontrolabe and it was slammed against the granite breakwater at the entrance of the waterway, breaking the ship in two. It became one of the biggest ship wreaks before the Titanic. Immediatel