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On 4 November 1861, Henri Conneau, personal physician to the French Emperor Napoleon III, was awarded the Grand Cross of the Order of Saint Maurice and Saint Lazarus (Italian: Ordine dei SS. Maurizio e Lazzaro) for his services to the unification of Italy. This was auctioned off last year with some of his honours from the estate of his granddaughter's nephew. Among his numerous other orders and decorations, which were awarded to him according to his position in the commander/commander class, this is his only Grand Cross and probably the only one he received for actual merit. He was the one who organised a meeting with the Sardinian prime minister Cavour on 25 May 1858. It was obviously his own idea to inform him that Napoleon was planning to spend a month in Plombière "near the border of Piedmont" in July. Despite the geographical impracticalities, Cavour had taken the hint very well. For his part, he let him know that he was planning a holiday in Switzerland and that this could provide an opportunity for a meeting. Count Cavour left Turin on 11 July 1858 and announced that he was travelling to Switzerland. In fact, however, he planned to go to Plombières, where he arrived on the evening of 20 July 1858. The following day, the famous meeting with Napoleon III took place; both sat unaccompanied in a small horse-drawn carriage that travelled slowly through the small town. They concluded a secret treaty without consulting their ministers. Firstly, a military alliance was agreed between France and Sardinia to expel the Austrians from Italian territory. In addition, a future political organisation of Italy was agreed: The Pope was to preside over this reunited Italy, which would consist of four states: Northern Italy, Central Italy, the Papal States and the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. In return, France was to receive Savoy and the city of Nice. In addition, the alliance was sealed by the marriage of the daughter of the future Italian King Victor Emmanuel to Prince Napoleon. In 1859, the Savoys attacked Austria with the support of France in northern Italy (Sardinian War). Napoleon III himself assumed supreme command of the 130,000-strong French army. The Austrians were defeated in the battles of Magenta and Solferino, and Lombardy fell to Savoy in the preliminary peace of Villafranca. At the same time, there were uprisings in Tuscany, Modena and other areas. Conneau accompanied the Emperor to Italy and was thus able to witness the triumphant entry of the Franco-Sardinian troops into his home town of Milan. Subsequently, Parma-Piacenza, Tuscany, Modena and parts of the Papal States joined Sardinia-Piedmont in 1860. Volunteer units led by Giuseppe Garibaldi brought the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies under their control in 1860. Cavour sent an army to the south, which also occupied other parts of the Papal States (Umbria and Marche). Plebiscites there and in both Sicilies sealed the annexation to Sardinia-Piedmont. On 17 March 1861, Victor Emmanuel II was proclaimed King of Italy. It is fair to say that Conneau's contribution was of some significance. After the Battle of Sedan and the fall of the Empire on 4 September 1870, Conneau accompanied the emperor into into exile in Chislehurst in England. On 3 and 6 January 1873, Napoleon had an operation to remove his bladder stones. The chloroform administered, combined with the emperor's weakening from the disease, which had probably progressed to kidney failure, led to heart failure. He died an hour before the third operation scheduled for 9 January 1873. His last words were to his long-time companion and friend: "Henri, were you at Sedan"? - "Yes, Sire". - "We were no cowards at Sedan?". After this final effort, the Emperor fell into unconsciousness, from which he never awoke. Conneau returned to France after the emperor's death, where he himself died on 16 August 1877. This is the judgement Napoleon made of his friend at the end of his first exile in England: "Conneau is one of those rare and inestimable souls, modelled on the greatest of antiquity; he is full of courage in danger and constancy in challenges; his selflessness is boundless, and he crowns all these qualities with the noblest of all: loyalty in misfortune."

The Landwehrdienstauszeichnung was not introduced before 1913 as a (round) medal in order to replace the 1842 model badge. Since the picture was taken before 1905 this should indeed be the KDM 1870/71. The correct order would be: 1. Düppelkreuz 2. Alsenkreuz 3. Kriegsdenkmünze von 1870/71 4. Erinnerungskreuz von 1866 5. Kriegsdenkmünze für 1864 6. Centenarmedaille

Duchy of Nassau, Waterloo Medal

Tiny crosses, that's what Nassau is (in)famous for:

Thanks for the quick response and the update. Congratulations for owning even two of these rare awards.

Did you happen to complete the list in the meantime?

From 1907 to 1908, Duke Adolf Friedrich of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (1873-1969) led a scientific research expedition in the region of the Central African Graben and traversed Africa from east to west. There was even a "Commemorative Medal for Participants of the African Expedition, 1907-1908" . It is most likely that Engh did something to support him. Later on the Duke became Governor of Togoland (1912-1914), elected duke of the United Baltic Duchy (5 November to 28 November 1918), and the first president of the National Olympic Committee of West Germany (1949–1951).

Weihnachten 1934. Wolf Frank

They seem to be the standard types. Hard to tell whether they could have been replaced at some point in time.

This medal case for a knight’s cross of the Order of Isabella the Catholic with the inscription 'S.M. la Reina de Espana à Mr. G.F. Servatius, Teniente de 2a. Clase de la Marina Real, De los Paises Vajos, Comandante de la Canonera No. 34' was awarded to Gerhard Fokko Servatius (1827-1893) who was a Dutch Naval officer. He received the medal for the saving of 11 people of the Spanish merchant vessel Allesandria, which ran aground on the sandbank Safinger bank in the Schelde in December 1855. @Antonio Prieto: Am I right to assume that I need to find a piece with the cipher YR/IR in order to complete the set? Does anyone have one for sale or knows where to get one?

This is a case for all three Hanseatic crosses. Although it is not marked, it shows all the typical characteristics of the Rothe company (Vienna): It is assumed that it was awarded to Archduke Eugen of Austria (1863-1954), as it came together with other awards from his estate.

Thanks to Antonio for both of these extremely useful charts! I understand that the Y2 monogram is considered to be 1847-1868 period and not the FR one which we see on JohanH’s (in that case later) piece. That would also explain why it has a post-1868 appearance and date it closer to the Italian cross.

Isn't the second model 1847-1868 supposed to have the "IR" or Y2 monogram? At least that is what Borna Barac (Reference Catalogue) says on page 1681.

This will come as a major blow to him since it came within a group from a reliable source and seemed to have been in its box for quite some time. Thanks for your help.

In this specific case the order was actually not awarded by Louis XVIII but by Napoleon, obviously for the Bavarian officer's bravery at the battles of Landshut and Eckmühl in 1809. It seems that he chose (or was even ordered?) to wear the new model since Bavaria did join the allie forces. Both of them have survived as you can see on the third image. The same goes for the certificate which is shown below.

While the awards of this Baviarian officer of the napoleeonic wars are pretty standard, his knights cross of the legion of honor is not. It shows battle clasps for both "Landshut" and "Eckmühl" divided by "1809". Are colleagues aware of any other example(s)?

A fellow collector asked me to share this variety with you. I was unfortunately not able to find it in Demir's book or anywhere else. Do colleagues know it of or even its maker?

Assuming that Scheffler-Knox' notes are correct, we can proceed from the thesis that 1. there was no ribbon and that 2. both the smal and the large silver medal were (at least also) handed out to persons in an official function.

This set was awarded to Baron George Carl Otto Louis Von Scheffler-Knox:

Should look like this:

After having closely examined the original I would now tend to agree. The prussian eagle on the hats suggests that this picture was not taken before 1866.

My guess: Randtz F.-Ltnt

No doubt about that.

This seems to be a misunderstanding. Actually only 0.95% of the German population was Jewish (in 1912). 17,3 % of the Jewish population was found to serve in the German army.