Hungary The President of the Republic Acknowledgement Wreath

[Gordon Craig]

Recently I had the occasion to examine a number of rare orders at an auction I attended. I will post the ones of interest to the forum as time permits. The first one is the order called ?A K?zt?rsas?gi Eln?k Elismer?s?nek Koszor?ja?. The NMK (#s-517,518 &519) says the following about the foundation of this order. (This is not an exact translation but rather an abridged version of what the foundation decree says)

?On February the 25th, 1948 the Hungarian Parliament ?founded a civilian order for those who?s achievements warranted it?. The President of the Republic wants to acknowledge this with an award named ?The President of the Republic Acknowledgement Wreath? in three degrees. The wreath acknowledges exceptional service to society in; legal, personal, collegial, private enterprises, factories and other endeavours. The award can be made for previous excellence. For the most part, this award replaces the former Signum Laudis awarded for similar performance. These instructions are temporary and will be followed by a change to include a monetary award. The award is to be connected to the centennial of the 1848 Hungarian military war of independence.?

The award consisted of a circular wreath 30mm in diameter with a solid centre. In the centre of the wreath was a 15mm Hungarian State symbol. Extending from each side of the metal wreath was a folded red ribbon with a green and white stripe running along the top and bottom. The back of the wreath is plain and not covered by the ribbon. It contains two prongs, similar to those used for the attachment of other awards, for attaching the wreath to the clothing via sewn thread loops. At the top, on the back of the metal wreath, is the date ?1948". The award was made in gold, silver and bronze grades.

The picture I have to post is of the obverse of the Bronze award and the award box.

Regards,

Gordon

Edited November 6, 2007 by Gordon Craig

[Gordon Craig]

Also available at this auction were what was termed "ut?ngy?rt?s" or in more familiar English terms "museum grade copies". There was one of each grade. I have pictures posted by the auction but the pictures of these copies do not tell the full story. The wreaths appear to be an exact copy of the original but in reality, where the ends the leaves of the wreath touch at the top on the original they do not on the copies. There is a noticeable gap between the ends of the leaves. The back of the wreath does not bear the date on the ones I saw but there may be other copies out there that will. The ribbons are obviously new and not made 50 years ago. Here are pictures of the three grades of the copies. I do not have views of the reverse of these items.

First "Gold"

Edited November 6, 2007 by Gordon Craig

[Gordon Craig]

"Silver"

[Gordon Craig]

"Bronze"

[Ulsterman]

Gasp-beautiful! Do you know who got these? Great post!

[Gordon Craig]

The original in bronze went to the guy who out bid me. He was sitting behind me and to my right so I couldn't see who was bidding against me. The three copies were not auctioned. They were sold through a sealed bid so there is no way of knowing who won them. I didn't place a sealed bid. I wish now that I had. As I said when I started this thread, there were numerous rare orders at this auction and I didn't win any of them. The reserve bid on each one was high to start with and there seemed to be one other guy there who wanted the same things that I bid on and he didn't care what he paid for them. I stopped when the price went beyond reasonable.

Regards,

Gordon

Edited November 6, 2007 by Gordon Craig