pieter1012

hi Peter,

thanks for your nice comment. As I am a medal collector, my impossible dream will be to have one of the orders worn by Napoleon, but they are all in museums, and would be beyond my financial reach anyway. However, the closest I can come to an order related to Napoleon is the Legion d'Honneur, established by him in 1802. Attached from my collection a chevalier 3d type of the Legion d'Honneur, together with the award document, signed by the Grand Chancelier.

As it is said that the Emperor would initial personally all lists with nominations for the Legion d'Honneur, I would like to believe that Napoleon at least have held the list on which the name of my awardee was mentioned.

Somehow the picture is uploaded sideways. I couldn't fix it, sorry for the inconvenience. Pieter

Hi fellow forum members,

I have in my collection a Ist WW DSO awarded to a Japanese navy officer, Lt. Commander Sakano. During the war, he was stationed at the Japanese navy base on Malta and got his DSO on 14 August 1918. How many DSO's were awarded to the Japanese navy during WW 1? I imagagine there couldn't have been so many, since the involvement of the Japanese navy was limited. Herewith a picture of Sakano wearing his DSO and his warrant. He later became rear admiral.

Thanks in advance for any information. Pieter

And here his picture. Somehow the attachments come out sideways. itried to correct that, but it didn't work. Sorry for the inconvenience. Pieter

Very nice star, worn by a distinguished person. 

In 1989 the Beaufort Garter jewels were auctioned by Christie's. In the sale was a sash  riband of the Garter that was given by the 2d Duke of Wellington to the 8th Duke of Beaufort. The 8th Duke was aide-de-camp to the 2d Duke of Wellington. There was a note attached that this sash was worn by the 1st Duke of Wellington. The families had close ties, the father of the 8th Duke de Beaufort was aide-de-camp to the 1st Duke of Wellington. I have it now in my collection, and although there of course can never be 100% guarantee that the famous Duke had worn this sash himself before it was given away, I am happy to believe so. The attached Garter is also old and original but has no connection with the Duke.

hope you like it. Pieter

Hi fellow forum members,

Recently I acquired this medal. I liked the design and it was cheap so I bought it. The medal must be Iranian from the Shah period because of the crown and the lion figure on the flag. The base material is silver with blue enamel and bronze medaillion plus crown. The backside is plain.

Can anyone help me identify this medal and also tell me what the correct ribbon will be?

Thanks for any information,

Pieter

If I understand it correctly, the contract with Arthus Betrand has been cancelled.

Pieter

Old topic, but in the upcoming Morton & Eden auction of 15 Dec, there is a Ist WW set to a British officer (lot nr 893) with the same type of White Elephant as in the German Ist WW set displayed here. According to the description the officer must have received his White Elephant in the early twenties. He died in 1939, and as the set looks like it is in its original state, it shows that the current type of White Elephant was awarded well before 1941, as is often asserted. Regards,

Pieter

Hi Saxcob,

I was thinking of the so-called Prinzen size (25-27 mm) which was used in the Dutch East Indies army, as the medals were often worn daily on the uniform. Your set is an example of this. This size of the cross for Important War actions is not so difficult to find. Best regards,

Pieter

Hallo Saxcob,

a nice miniature bar. What is the size of the medals? It should not be difficult to get the missing miniature cross for important war actions (kruis voor Belangrijke Krijgsverrigtingen), to complete it.

Regards,                                                                                                                                                                                             Pieter

Hi Marcin,

although not Great War, the Hermitage museum in the center of Amsterdam (an extension of the Hermitage in Russia) has now an exhibition on Napoleon, Josephine and Alexander. Next to paintings from Josephine's collection, it also exhibits  military stuff, such as some orders of Tsar Alexander, a sword of Napoleon retrieved at Waterloo, the uniform Marshall Ney, with the star of the Grand Eagle of the Legion d'Honneur, and other rarities. The exhibition runs till November and is well worth a visit when you are in Amsterdam.

Pieter

Hi Forum members,

I have in my collection a grand cross in the Order of the Medjidie in its, old type, dark red velvet case. I wonder if it ever has been recorded how many grand crosses were awarded during the period 1852 and 1918?

Thanks for any information and regards,

Pieter

This order is being offered on Yahoo Japan with some more detailed pictures. If one looks at these, in my opinion it is not made of gold. A hallmark "D" is shown on the upper eyelet for the ring. There is also a close up of the center piece and it certainly looks like the eagle is covered by something like glass.

Pieter

Carol,

thanks for the information. Next time I visit Vienna I will certainly include the Imperial Treasury.

Pieter

Hi Carol,

beautiful pictures of items of the short lived Emperor Maximilian of Mexico. Where are they located, in a museum in Vienna? That would mean Juarez allowed these items to return to Austria together with the Emperor's body.

By the way, sorry for this late reaction, but I seldom look at Rest of the World forum. Perhaps GMIC should make a Latin America forum.

Regards,

Pieter

If you are checking unissued versions of the army MOH it will be of interest to see if the backside of the medal is blank or has the inscription V100F 10KGF HLP.NYC at the bottom.

For a long time H.L.I. Lordship Industries in New York was the only official manufacturer of the army Medal of Honour. They all were marked with the above mentioned inscription. Between 1991 and 1994 the company, without permission of the authorities, sold about 300 officially marked MOH to collectors. After being alerted, the FBI retrieved a number of these medals and confiscated the dies that Lordship industries used to make the MOH. Of course the company also lost its right to manufacture the MOH.

Not all 300 MOH's were retrieved as many were sold to the collector's market already and from time to time an army MOH with such markings appear on the market. These are more desirable than the ones with blank backside because they are at least official, albeit unauthorized, specimens. I think a bit comparable to the specimens of the Victoria Cross that the official manufacturer of the Victoria Cross, Hancocks & Co, made a number of years ago. However, this was an authorized limited edition, and clearly marked (and I think also numbered) as specimen.

Needless to say that, for the average collector, it is almost impossible to obtain,original issued Victoria Crosses or Medals of Honour. These specimens can, in my opinion, therefore serve as a satisfactory substitute for the collection.

Pieter

Nice pictures of a member of the new generation of European kings. Only a pity that the king doesn't wear the collar of the order of the Golden Fleece, but some kind of miniature version. After all the Golden Fleece is one of the most esteemed orders of Europe and king Felipe is the Grandmaster.

Pieter

Hi Gavin,

according to the museum, this set belonged to Jhr. F. Beelaerts van Blokland, an old Dutch family of junior nobility. Jhr. Beelaerts was a career diplomat who later became minister of Foreign Affairs.

I have a friend who works at the Chancellery of Netherlands orders and he checked for me in the archives. It is recorded there that by Royal Decree of 8 July 1909, number 49, Jhr. Beelaerts van Blokland, Minister Plenipotentiary, Head of the Netherlands Legation in Peking, was given permission to wear the 3d class, 1st grade of the order of the Double Dragon of China. The date that the order itself was awarded, is not mentioned.

I agree with you that 1909 is well into the second type Double Dragon, so I also wonder why he had this early type. I am going to Japan soon for the summer, and after I return I will check with the museum if they have any records that indeed attribute this set to Jhr. Beelaerts. In his career Jhr. Beelaerts received many foreign orders, which seem to have been donated by the family to the museum, so hopefully there should be some list, mentioning the DD.

to be continued,

Pieter

I know the seller to be honest, who also has quite some knowledge on Japanese orders and medals. I have often bought from him and have always been very satisfied with what I got.

Perhaps he had a lapse with this one, but to put him immediately in the same category of those who really sell fakes on ebay, does him, in my opinion, no justice.

Pieter

DrClaw,

I am also not sure of the present law on the export of Chinese antiques, but I remember vagely that this law also applies to the S.A.R., unless there is proof that the object was already in Hong-kong before the handover in 1997. This in order to prevent objects being smuggled into Hong-Kong from the mainland for export, at the same time providing the local antique dealers with a chance to sell the objects they had already in stock in 1997 to be sold abroad. So the question is whether this collection (at least the DD's) was already in Hong-kong before the handover.

My friend wrote that two of the buyers came from Shandong and are very wealthy, so my guess is that they will bring the acquisitions back home.

Pieter

A Hong-Kong Chinese friend of mine attended the auction and wrote me that the Chinese/Manchukuo items were hotly contsted among two or three mainland Chinese bidders. There were not many bidders in the room because you had to pay a huge deposit beforehand to get an auction number. The only item he could lay his hands on was the second class order of the Golden Grain, which was actually a first class in a second class case.

One solace for us collectors with more modest financial means is that, after so many Chinese treasures were lost or destroyed during the many wars and revolutions, finally China sees some of its historical objects coming back home.

Pieter

Hi Mark,

I think it is a cross instituted by Pope Leo XIII during the Holy Year 1901, for long and faithful service to the Catholic church.

Hope this helps you a little further in your search.

Best regards,

Pieter

Rogi,

as I wrote already, just some thoughts from my side, no stipulations or anything. No need to look further into it.

Pieter

the seller writes that the hook for attaching the Sacred Treasure is missing, so there is no certainty that the original order was a 7th or 8th class Sacred Treasure. it could well have been a 6th or 5th class which got detached and replaced later by someone else with a (cheaper) 7th or 8th class. The bar must have been made up after 1939 because of the presence of the War Merit Cross. The ribbon of the Sacred Treasure looks indeed like a Meiji/Taisho era one like Nick indicates, but perhaps the tailor still had old ribbon in stock from that period. In 1940 the Japanese Foreign Minister Matsuoka made an official visit to Berlin to sign the Tripartite Alliance and at that time many German officials received Japanese orders. Could it be that the owner of the bar was in some way involved with this visit and received the Sacred Treasure 5th or 6th class? He could have been working at the German Foreign Ministry, second secretary rank would get a 5th class Sacred Treasure. In that case the War Merit cross (perhaps received from the German government for work done for the Japanese visit?) must have been without swords.

Just some thoughts from my side.

Pieter

Hi Nick,

thanks for the pictures, I saw this one on Yahoo Jp too and have (through an acquaintance in Japan) successfully bid on it. However, I am almost sure this is not a Boxer rebellion award, but an early Russo-Japanese war posthumous award. The date is 5 March 1904, to army major Hiroshi Ogita, about one month after hostilities between the two countries started. The number on the document is 6334. As only 200 Golden Kites were awarded for the Boxer rebellion, if someone has a list it could be verified.

Although I write posthumous, in the olden days no person was "posthumously" decorated with an order. If somebody died and he was given an award by the Emperor after his demise, the date of the award would be put on the date of death, so theoretically he would still be living when he received the order. By the way, this did not apply to the medals.

Best regards,

Pieter

For those collectors of Japanese medals who are interested in 1874 Taiwan medal, but don't have one yet, the British auction house Spink has one for sale in its November 21 auction, lot nr. 317. Good condition with original ribbon, estimate 2500 British pounds.

Pieter

Hi DrClaw,

the picture in Imperial robes must have been taken after 31 August 1907. Lu is wearing on his right upper breast the oval commemorative medal of the Second International Peace Conference, which was awarded by the Netherlands government to the delegates of the conference. The Heads of Delegation (Mr. Lu was Head of the Chinese delegation) received their medal during a banquet offered by the Netherlands government on 31 August 1907.

Regards,

Pieter