Denmark Danish breast star

[JBFloyd]

Can someone enlighten me about this breast star? The inscription reads "Juliana Maria/D.4.S. 1783"

Edited November 24, 2008 by JBFloyd

[JBFloyd]

The reverse is blank except for an "AM" maker's mark (Michelsen?) and it has a vertical double pin.

Edited November 24, 2008 by JBFloyd

[Riley1965]

WOW Jeff!!! I don't know what it is but, IT'S BEAUTIFUL!!!

Doc

[paul wood]

The reverse is blank except for an "AM" maker's mark (Michelsen?) and it has a vertical double pin.

Juliana Maria (1729-96) was the wife of Frederick V, she married him in 1752. Thats the only Juliana Maria who has any connection with Denmark, maybe an ephemeral order created in her honour.

Paul

[JBFloyd]

Paul,

I think you're on the right track. As you can see, it's a well-made piece, so it's not a church school attendance badge. I've seen photos of several minor princesses of Denmark wearing what were described as ephemeral or ecclesiastical orders, but the photos are never clear enough to see the detail of the insignia. This is when I miss my old friend Eric Ludvigsen, who had a remarkable knowledge of Danish insignia in addition to encyclopedic knowledge of Austria and German awards.

[Daniel Krause]

Niiice thing!!!!

Actually, now I am limited in my English.

It is a star of an Abbess of the Danish Ladies Foundation Wall? at Seeland

Quite RAARE!!!

Here is an embroidered early version:

Best regards

Daniel

[JBFloyd]

Daniel,

Many thanks for that information. It certainly ties together the bits of information I had. Now I just have to learn Danish and start some additional research.

Tak.

[Great Dane]

Daniel is indeed right in identifying this star. And 'AM' is Michelsen's hallmark.

Jeff, let me know if you need help with any Danish translations.

/Mike

[Guest Rick Research]

Any idea how old the star is from the construction and maker mark?

[Great Dane]

This particular star looks pretty 'clean' compared to my own and others I've seen, but it was probably made around 1880-1900. The metal stars were likely privately purchased stars - much like the embroidered Dannebrog stars which were frequently replaced with a purchased metal version (the metal version became official after 1909).

The members wore a badge in a sash. The 'headmaster' wore the same badge (but set with diamonds) and sash and the breast star shown here.

The Vall? Stift still exists, but they don't wear the insignias anymore (at least not that I know of...).

Here are some pictures of other stars (you can see the slight variations in the rays between the cross arms)

/Mike

[Great Dane]

And the illustration from Gritzner's (slightly inaccurate) book "Handbuch der im Deutschen Reiche, in Oesterreich-Ungarn, D?nemark, Schweden und den Russischen Ostseeprovinzen bestehenden Damen-Stifter..." from 1893.

/Mike

[Guest Rick Research]

:cheers:

How many of these Protestant lady-nuns WERE there????

[Great Dane]

I don't know exactly. The statutes (from 1737) mentions 25 ladies who would live at the place and 330 who would not. Furthermore there are limitations on how many 'retired' ladies who would receive a pension etc. etc.

The no. of ladies would probably vary widely over the years (there were a LOT of rules to fulfill - being noble and unmarried were just a few of them) and I don't know if the old statutes were followed to the letter later on.

I guess the privately purchased stars were non-returnable, but the badges would probably be returned after the death of the recipient.

/Mike