Tinsel Dannebrog star

[JBFloyd]

A commander's breast star in tinsel with a silver backplate. With four marks across the back: a 3-towered castle; crowned "AM"; "1888" and initials "GS" or "SG". It measures 70x88mm.

[Great Dane]

Do you have a bag full of these things...?

"SG" is the assay master mark for Simon Groth (master 1863-1904).

/Mike

[Ed_Haynes]

To a novice, this (like your other star) seems to be a VERY interesting transitional piece. A chunk of history?

[Great Dane]

Spot on, Ed

Since we were very late to abandon the embroidered stars (1909), these were often mounted on a silver plate (cheaper than ordering a privately made all metal version, I guess...) to ease moving them to other uniforms.

/Mike

Edited December 8, 2008 by Great Dane

[JBFloyd]

I've always been a fan of the Dannebrog because of its distinctive and beautiful design, but, in this case, I'm cataloging a collection from a US Army brigadier general who was a collector while posted in Copenhagen in the 1950s. He obviously liked the order as well because he left 3 grand cross breast stars, four commander's crosses, 3 knight first class badges (FVII, CIX and FVIII) and a silver cross (FVII). [This is part of a collection of roughly 400 pieces of worldwide orders, decorations and medals].

Working with Stevnsborg's book and a Danish-English dictionary (and the kind assistance of our forum members), I've learned a fair amount about Dannebrog insignia. That's the fun part of the job.