pieter1012

I have a Prussian Iron Cross second class document for the 1813-1815 war, that was issued on 23d October 1816. Although the document is in a poor shape, and has been restored at the backside, I thought it might be interesting to show, as it was signed by king Friedrich Wilhelm exactly 200 years ago today. The text reads; Wir Friedrich Wilhelm von Gottes Gnaden Konig von Preussen, haben dem Premier Lieutenant Stuerz, vom 14ten Schlesischen Landwehr Infanterie Regiment, das eiserne Kreuz zweiten Classe verliehen, und ertheilen demselben uber den rechtmassigen Bezitz dieser Auszeichnung das gegenwartige Beglaubigungs Schreiben mit Unseren eigenen Unterschrift und beygedruckten Koniglichen Insiegel. Berlin, den 23ten Ocober 1816 hope you enjoy it, Pieter

Hucks, thanks for your comment. I didn't know there are not so many award documents signed by general Blaskowitz around. As I wrote earlier, I bought it because it is an Iron Cross document awarded for actions in The Netherlands, as from April 1945 Blaskowitz became commander of the German forces in The Netherlands. regards, Pieter

Some time ago I bought this Iron Cross Citation from a reputable dealer in Germany. My interest in it was the connection with my country; it was awarded just before the end of the war for actions in The Netherlands. I compared general Blaskowitz's signature with some other documents on internet and it looked OK. Also, the general feeling of the document gives me confidence it is an original, but any comments by more knowledgeable forum members will be appreciated I also enclose a postcard I had already, of the surrender of the German army in The Netherlands by Blaskowitz on 5 May 1945. He is sitting on the right side in the middle. At the far left end of the table is Prince Bernhard of The Netherlands, commander of the Dutch liberation forces. Thanks and regards, Pieter

922F, thanks for your additional information on the connection of Arthus Bertrand with Bokasa I remember visiting Arthus Bertrand many years ago at Rive Gauche, a store in old fashioned style and the only one it had. Now it has several luxurious stores in Paris. I recently visited its main store at Rue Royale close to Place de la Concorde, the shop full of expensive jewelry; orders somewhere in a corner. Probably as a result of the fortune it made from Bokasa. Well, Roman emperor Vespasianus already said pecunia non olet. Pieter

I would say a nice third type (1808-1812) chevalier Legion d'Honneur with reasonable enamel damage. As this order was worn almost daily on the uniform by the military, most pieces have enamel damage. regards, Pieter

What about "emperor" Bokasa? He created many ordres, or was Arthus Bertrand the lucky one? Pieter

I remember Mr. Joslin well, and although I was a very modest client, he was always friendly and helpful. Pieter

Hi Alex, I realize its usefulness as spacefiller, but for myself I shoo away from replica's even if they are made by an official manufacturer of a particular order. Like Rothe made, from their original dies, collector's copies of the Hungarian St Stephan order, well into the 60's.The only difference is that these copies are not made of gold but are silver gilt. I'd love to have one of these beautiful orders in my collection, but the originals are very rare and very expensive. However, instead of buying a collector's copy, I'd rather wait till the national lotery smiles to me. But of course this is my personal opinion. regards, Pieter

Hi 922F, thanks very much for the information on possible makers of the Hungarian order of Merit. I didn't know the books about Hungarian orders, although unfortunately I cannot read Hungarian, the pictures will be interesting. regards, Pieter

Stuka, Spink & Sons is a long established firm that many years ago was, as far as I know, the only firm in London that next to British orders and medals, also had a large selection of foreign orders and medals for sale in their offices at King Street close to Picadilly Circus. The orders and medals were stored in wooden cabinets with drawers. One could freely spend hours going through all the drawers admiring the contents, as the staff was always friendly and helpful. Spink also published a monthly Numismatic circular with many orders and medals for sale. I think after it moved from their historic premises in King Street, it ceased selling orders and medals from stock and concentrated on auctions as it does today. Alex, personally I don't think the prices Spink asked for their foreign orders and medals were especially high. But in those days there was no internet nor ebay, so it was difficult to make comparisons; I had to make my own judgement before deciding to buy something. But I can add that I never regretted a buy I did at Spink, and they are still part of my collection. Of course there were several other firms and auction houses of repute, such as Sotheby's and Christie's that had regular order and medal auctions, that one could use to estimate value of orders and decorations.. regards, Pieter

I also have no specific theme or structure, although I limit myself to orders and medals, including their award documents. The Netherlands, being my home country, has always my interest in the field of collecting orders and medals. As I have lived and worked quite some time in Japan, I had the opportunity to add to my Japanese collection. Having been posted in London too, gave me the opportunity to get rid of my money at Spink & Sons that used to have a shop in King street, much to the annoyance of my wife, who compensated by becoming a favorite customer of Harrods (just joking). regards, Pieter

Alex, I also like this order, it is elegant and made of good quality. I especially like the Saint Stephen's crown on the case. After all, from 1922-1946 Hungary was officially a kingdom, under regency of admiral Horthy. Regards, Pieter

Alex, I don't know about France, but I'm doubtful whether the Hungarian government would have commissioned an Austrian firm like Rothe to make them. In the early twenties the relations between the two countries were bad, to say the least, because of Deutsch Westungarn. Of course they could very well have been made in Hungary. By the way, here is my Hungarian Merit Cross. As I wrote earlier, no marks at all. Regards, Pieter

Alex and Stuka, I don't think there are any maker's marks on the pieces. Peter Czink doesn't mention any manufacturers of either the Cross or Order of Merit, and as far as I know the cases have also no maker's mark inside the lid. I have a set of the Cross of Merit, in case, and without any marks. Pieter

Hi Alex, nice samples of the Hugarian Order of Merit. You may know that when this order was established in 1922, it was originally called Hungarian Cross of Merit. In 1935 the name was changed into Hungarian Order of Merit and then also some subtle changes were made in the design.The green enamelled wreath of the Cross of Merit is a little more detailed three dimensional and the three mountains under the crown and double cross have a pebbled finish. The mountains of the Order after 1935 have fine diagonal lines. On the Cross of Merit the central red enamel disk is more convex, and has either a plain or pebbled finish under the green enamel that runs along the edges of the cross. With the Order of Merit under the green enamel a laddered design can be seen. The reverse remained the same for both versions. I have this information from an excellent article by Peter Czink on the history of the Hungarian Cross and Order of Merit, published in November 1999 in the Magyar Front. regards,Pieter

Paul, the backside of the postcard indeed says; acquired by the Friends of the Iolani Palace in 1991. As you mention Sotheby's, do you think this is the collar which was given by the king to French President Grevy in 1881? The other known ones were to Tsar Alexander III, Emperor Meiji and Queen Victoria (hers is shown in the book Royal Insignia, and I presume the other two are in the Hermitage and the Imperial Japanese Household). I always thought that it was the king's collar and acquired from the former Royal family of Hawaii. It means then that the collar of king Kalakaua would still be missing. Pieter

Alex, many thanks for the nice picture of Mannerheim's Sword order. I don't remember King Kalakaua's uniforms being shown at Ioliani palace, but in the Throne room a number of his orders and perhaps also some of Queen Kapiolani's orders were displayed. Unfortunately it was not allowed to take any pictures. However, in the museum shop I bought a postcard of the ultra rare collar of the order of Kamehameha, which was displayed in the palace (copy enclosed) regards, Pieter

Here another case by Ch. Galére, this one for commander military of the Leopold order. Pieter

Alex, thank you very much for the link to the Mannerheim collection. Under nr. 82 is a picture of his rare Swedish Sword order, really beautiful. I realize you can choose among many royalty for your avatar, but I have some good memories about king Kalakaua. I visited his Iolani palace in Hawaii many years ago and liked it very much (actually enjoyed my whole stay in Hawaii). I then bought a book about his life which has a nice painting of him on the cover in tropical uniform. Regards, Pieter

Paul, thanks for the beautiful picture, this must be an early 19th century example of this rare class of the Sword order. I wonder if Mannerheim's order is present in the Mannerheim museum in Helsinki. Would be nice to see a photo of it. By the way Alex, I have nothing against women, but I liked your avatar of king Kalakaua better; looked more impressive Pieter

Paul, I checked a bit more and indeed Mannerheim received the Knight of the Grandcross First Class of the Order of the Sword in 1942. He must have been one of the very few who got this in the 20th century. Pieter

Paul, Hieronymussen in his book on European orders writes that the Swedish order of the Sword also had special ranks that were only awarded in war time. One of them was Knight of the Grandcross of the Sword First Class, which wears a neckbadge of the size as the Grandcross badge and a single upright silver sword on the left breast. I guess Mannerheim was awarded this rank, but our Swedish forum members may have more information. Pieter

Earlier posts in this topic have referred to the several medals the Dutch government instituted to reward resistance against the Germans in WW II. A little known medallion of the Netherlans, is the remembrance medal for the members of "Medical Contact", a group of Dutch doctors that resisted the German occupation authorities. End 1941 the German Obermedizinalrat in the Netherlands instituted the so-called Artsenkamer of which all registred doctors had to become member with the exception of Jewish doctors. Of the more than 6000 registred physicians in the Netherlands, 4300 refused to become member and of the medical professors at the universities, only one became member. Doctors refused to execute the sterilisation and euthanasie laws of the Germans and to report wounded resistance fighters who came to them for medical assistance. They also refused to cooperate with medical exams for young Dutchmen who were recruited for the Arbeids einsatz in Germany, or would give statements that the person was medically unfit. At one point in 1943, when the Obermedizinalrat tried to force physicians to become member of the Artsenkamer by arresting doctors who were active in the resistance, withdrawing their doctor's licence and confiscating their clinics (about 300 were sent to a concentration camp), at the iniative of the Medical Contact group, thousands of doctors decided to "renounce" their medical licence by covering their MD title on the nameplate at the frontdoor of their clinic, with a plaster. This "Klebe Aktion" infuriated the Germans, but these few centimeters of plaster were a clearly visible manifestation of mass resistance against the violation of Hippoctratic ethics by the occupier. Seys-Inquart, the Reichscommissar for the Netherlands finally gave in and the physicians were no longer forced to become member of the Artsenkamer, and those who were in concentration camps, released. The coordination of this unique resistance of the Dutch medical sector against the occupation was in hands of the management of Medical Contact. After the war a remembrance non wearable medal was instituted for the members. The front shows a swastica being broken by a snake (the esculapius) with the surrounding words Alleen een vrij man kan een goed geneesheer zijn (Only a free man can be a good physician), and on the reverse Medische Contact MCMXLI-MCMXLV, with the name of the recepient. The medal I have in my collection was given to Dr. W.P. Plate, a gynaecologist who was active in Medical Contact. By the way, he was the gynaecologist who assisted the then princess Beatrix of the Netherlands with the birth of Prince Willem-Alexander in 1967, the present king. I realise the story became somewhat long, but I hope you found it an intersting episode from a little known aspect of Dutch resistance during WW II. Pieter

Paul, you may remember that in those days one could even buy second hand original guards jackets in Carnaby Street (London). Those red jackets were much in fashion with the youth and were sold cheaply. I was then a teenager myself and bought a Cold Stream Guards coat, not to wear, but just for the fun of it. I still have it as a memory to the days of "flowers in your hair". Pieter

Just saw this interesting topic. Here pictures of an Leopold order and case made by C.J. Buls I have in my collection. He was the first Belgium manufacturer of the Leopold order, starting around 1850. Before that the Leopold order was made by Dutalis in Paris. As you can see the maker's mark is not inside the lid of the case, but a sticker on the bottom. Pieter