Order of the Golden Fleece

[Antonio Prieto]

The Order of the Golden Fleece

HM the King of Spain had granted two new concessions of Knight of the Order of Golden Fleece to:

Adolfo Su?rez Gonz?lez, Duke of Su?rez (first president of the Government, in democratic period).

and

HM the King Abdul? bin Abdulaziz al Saud of Saudi Arabia

From the arrival to the throne, they have been 19 the concessions, of those that 16 live at the moment

[Ed_Haynes]

Thanks for this. Very interesting.

So there is no restriction on the Fleece going to non-Christians? Somehow I recall that the Austrian Fleece had that restriction, but I could be (and often am) wrong.

[Antonio Prieto]

In this time of the politicalment correct... please see the list: not Head's of the Royal Houses (some politics of the Spanijh transition to the Democracy, The Emperor of Japan, the Quenn of the UK an NI, the Hing of Thailand....

The present members of the Order are, in order of their appointment

1. H.M. the King Juan Carlos I of Spain, 1941 (Chief and Sovereign).

2. H.R.H. Charles of Borbon-Two Sicilies, Infant of Spain, Duke of Calabria, 1964.

3. H.M. Constantine II King of Hellenes, 1964.

4. H.R.H. Felipe de Borb?n, Prince of Asturias, 1981.

5. H.R.H. Jean Grand Duke of Luxembourg, 1983.

6. H.M. Beatrix Queen of the Netherlands, 1985.

7. H.M. Marguerite II Queen of Denmark, 1985.

8. H.M. the King Carl-Gustaf King of Sweden, 1983.

9. H.M.I. the Emperor Aki-Hito of Japan, 1985.

10. H.M. Elisabeth II Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, 1988.

11. H.M. Albert II King of the Belgians, 1994.

12. H.M. Harald V King of Norway, 1995.

13. H.M. Simeon of Saxe-Coburg Gotha, 2004.

14. H.M. Bhumibol Adulyadej, King of Thailand, 2006.

15. Adolfo Su?rez Gonz?lez, Duke of Su?rez, 2007

16. H.M. the King Abdul? bin Abdulaziz al Saud of Saudi Arabia

In the past times the same...

[Josef Rietveld]

Dear Antonio, it took me some time to response to your original thread.

I have some questions. In 2010 two new entries to the spanish branch of the order of the golden fleece were published:

Javier Solana and Víctor García de la Concha

Now my questions. Am i right, that the fleece you show at the beginning of the thread is the version given in the franco-period?

I ask because i got one that i guess is the current version (see picture). It is made by cejalvo/madrid and shows silvermarks (925) and makers mark.

It did some internet-research and found pics from the 2010 awarding ceremony. It looks like as the the two new members only got the collar plus fleece

pendant and a miniature but NO insignia to wear arround the neck. Is this correct?

Do they have to buy the neckdecoration - if they want one - at their own costs? Is the cejalvo-fleece an official version or just one everybody can buy

at the cejalvo-jewellers-shop?

thanks in advance

josef

thanks

[Antonio Prieto]

Thank you for the answer

Yes, the past year 2010 two new entries to the spanish branch of the order of the golden fleece were published.

The badge of the post has a current version perhaps five years old, but not made for Cejalvo/Madrid

http://www.cejalvo.e...77317/index.php

It's possible, I believe to buy this insignia in other makers

http://www.condecora...php?cPath=21_29

http://www.nobili.es...ex.asp?idp=3213

The Collar of the Order is of gold with the arms of the Dukes of Burgundy, from which hangs the Fleece, also in gold. The necklaces are the property of the Order, which must be returned to the death of each Knight.

Please see some electronic translations for some parts of any articles of the Spanish Academic José Luis Sampredro about this Order

http://www.plusesmas...ro_(iv)/60.html

And also

http://www.hispagen.eu/hispagen.es/portal/encuentro1/toison.pdf

Another important alteration of the statutes came in 1985: the Queen of the Netherlands Beatrix received the necklace, do not know if as a Knight (the name given to the ladies who hold the Legion of Honor and the Order of Leopold of Belgium).

It seems he meant with this and other formal events during the official visit to Spain this Sovereign, a radical change in attitudes towards topical interpretations of performance in the Netherlands of two knights of the Fleece: Philip II and the famous Duke of Alba.

After the Dutch Queen joined the Order two other sovereign in its own right there in Europe, Margrethe II of Denmark and the Elizabeth II of United Kingdom.

The appointments made by King Juan Carlos showed the high esteem in which he has this token of appreciation, as has been limited to the prestigious award necklace eminent servants of monarchy (the Marques de Mondéjar, Torcuato Fernandez Miranda, José María Pemán) next to them has just awarded the Prince of Asturias and the reigning monarchs of the world almost in its entirety: the aforementioned sovereign holders of the Netherlands, Denmark, UK, Sweden, Norway, Jordan, Japan (which was recently lost necklace unfortunate reason for the Order currently), Luxembourg and Belgium.

Cases of the latter two are very significant as they represent the latest innovation by the Spanish in the uses of the Golden Fleece, both sovereigns have received two separate nominations official King of Spain when both the one and the other had previously received such mercy of Archduke Otto, Head of the House of Austria.

This means that, in reality, ceases to be a computer with two branches to formalize the idea, perhaps more consistent, to understand that there are two orders of the Golden Fleece, ignoring headed by the King of Spain performed by the Austrian Pretender by indifferent, wisely, in our opinion.

The fact that stakeholders express their acceptance of fleece and held the Spanish when the other arm for supporting this thesis maintained by demonstration of the prestige such an important institution from 1430 until today.

Best regards

Edited July 20, 2011 by Antonio Prieto

[Josef Rietveld]

Dear Antonio,

thanks for your explanations.

Sorry, but there is something i don't understand. When you look at the pictures when king Juan Carlos awards the Order of the golden fleece to Solana and García de la Concha you see that they get the collar and a miniature but NO neckdecoration to wear 'every day'.

see picture 5 Award ceremony 2010

I try to figure out what the current neckdecoration looks like but it seems that there is no regulation for that and every knight can buy a fleece whatever he wants. For example the King himself wears a neckdecoration similar (but much more luxurious) to the one cejalvo produces (see picture).

The other type you showed is also wellknown and looks similar to the one awarded to Prince Albert, Queen Victorias Husband (see picture).

josef

Edited July 20, 2011 by Josef Rietveld

[Josef Rietveld]

And there is a third Variant that i know from Gritzners Order Book and from auctions where it is described as 19th Century piece (see picture)

So i guess none of them is nowadays a official one, because one of the other producers, besides cejalvo, you linked to this thread,offers a completely different fleece neckdecoration for 3300 Euros.

regards

Josef

[larsb001]

Josef, here's what I believe is a pretty recent production which resembles the one in the picture - although not completely similar. It's made of sterling silver, partly gilted and set with paste stones.

Weather you like it or not is a completely different thing

[kapten_windu]

Josef, here's what I believe is a pretty recent production which resembles the one in the picture - although not completely similar. It's made of sterling silver, partly gilted and set with paste stones.

Weather you like it or not is a completely different thing

wow, it's so blink-blink.. :cool:

[Hugh]

Here's mine. As you see below, I bought it direct from Cejalvo in 1980. It seems fairly similar to the 19th century example shown above. Who can tell us what Vellocino means?

Order of the Golden Fleece (Vellocino del Toison de Oro, normal size, gold plated), Mint/new

Cejalvo, Madrid, 3/80,

Thanks,

Hugh

[Hugh]

Here's mine. As you see below, I bought it direct from Cejalvo in 1980. It seems fairly similar to the 19th century example shown above. Who can tell us what Vellocino means?

Order of the Golden Fleece (Vellocino del Toison de Oro, normal size, gold plated), Mint/new

Cejalvo, Madrid, 3/80,

Thanks,

Hugh

[Josef Rietveld]

Hi Hugh, thanks for your input,

Your piece dates from 1980, btw do you have better pictures?

Do you remember if this was the ONLY typ/variant cejalvo was offering at this time or could you choose?

Have you been to the shop?

regards

josef

Edited July 29, 2011 by Josef Rietveld

[Hugh]

Hi Hugh, thanks for your input,

Your piece dates from 1980, btw do you have better pictures?

Do you remember if this was the ONLY typ/variant cejalvo was offering at this time or could you choose?

Have you been to the shop?

regards

josef

Thanks for your help, Josef. I bought it in the shop in Madrid (I've forgotten the address, but could probably dig it out.) This was the only piece they showed me. I'm still curious about the meaning of Vellocino.

This is the only picture, which I cropped from a picture of all the orders on my Spanish display board. I have additional pieces to put on that board, so someday, I'll take better pictures.

[Josef Rietveld]

I'm still curious about the meaning of Vellocino.

I tried the google translator to be sure but i already stumbled across this word during my research. Vellocino in Spanish means fleece, toison or Vlies as we say in German.

regards

Josef

[Hugh]

Thank you, Josef. Of course, that's the obvious answer. I tried looking it up years ago in a paper dictionary, but they had no listing.

Best,

Hugh

Edited July 29, 2011 by Hugh