Dominican Republic Order Of Merit

[AK101]

Hello,

I recently picked up a cased Dominican Republic Order of Merit, made in Havana Cuba by Vilardebo y Riera taller de joyeria

Does anyone have any info on these awards? What I could find points that they are not a military award.

THANKS!!

[JBFloyd]

The Order of Merit of Sanchez, Duarte and Mella. Established 24 February 1931 and known as the Juan Pablo Duarte Order of Merit until 9 September 1954. It comes in seven grades: Collar; Grand Cross, with gold breast star; Grand Cross, with silver breast star; Grand Officer;Commander; Officer and Knight. It was awarded for meritorious service (civil or military) and could be awarded to foreigners.

[AK101]

Thank you for the prompt and informative response. Below are some pics of my medal.

[AK101]

Anyone have any ideas on which grade this is?

THANKS

[JBFloyd]

Officer grade is denoted by the rosette.

[AK101]

Officer grade is denoted by the rosette.

Great info, thanks!!

I had to google "rosette", and some learning has occured. 8^)

Would it be safe to assume that this one was likely made between 1954 & 1959 when Cuba went to Castro? Or is this jeweler known to have stayed in business into the Castro years?

Would it be bad form for me to ask what something like this would be worth? I have no idea what it is made of but it is feels darn heavy too me.....

[JBFloyd]

Villardebo y Riera was the "Tiffany" of Cuba, making a number of very high quality orders for Cuba and other Latin American nations. I've never seen any reference to the firm after the Revolution, but I assume they continued on, although Fidel probably frowned on contacts with governments such as the Dominican Republic, especially on something as elitist as orders. I'd estimate this piece is probably from the early years of the order.

Value is tough to establish for Latin American awards, largely because supply far exceeds demand (although neither is very great). However, I'd probably list a cased officer's badge like this at $125-175.

[AK101]

Excellent info, THANKS!

[heusy68]

The Order of Duarte (1931-54) which existed prior to the Order of Duarte Sanchez & Mella exist in 2 size for the lower grade.

The one at left which is 59 x 85 millimeters is typical of cuban workmanship.The smaller one at right,might be of french manufacture (but there is no hallmark).Actually I guess the smaller one ( 42 x 65 millimeters ) was made at request of a european citizen who was awarded the Order of Duarte and wanted a badge which its size would be similar to his others european Orders.But it's only a guess.

Low grade of Dominican Republic are seldom seen,much less often than Grand Cross.

I ever found amazing that Dominican Republic had used a same big size badge for all grade of Order of Duarte & then of Duarte Sanchez & Mella Order.Actually I saw a small size officer only twice in 20 years,but the big size much more often.

Known manufacturer are Vilardebo & Riera of Havana & La Royale of Rio do Janeiro.

But Henri Walravens of Bruxelles in Belgium had manufacture some set of Grand Cross of another Dominican Republic Order,the Order of Trujillo (one such set was sold in London in december 1993).

From an auction in Basel last year we know that the Order of Duarte Sanchez & Mella was made also by Carlup-Fibo of Santo Domingo and I agree with Jeff Floyd that after 1959 the manufacture of Orders in Cuba should have stop fast.

Emmanuel

Edited November 4, 2009 by heusy68

[heusy68]

Here I post the 2 reverse side.

[heusy68]

The Order of Duarte as the Order of Duarte Sanchez & Mella exist in both Civil & Military Division.

Here a picture of a rare set of the Grand Cross of the Military Division.

Emmanuel

[heusy68]

Here you can see a breast star of the Order of Duarte (grade of Grand Cross with Silver Breast Star).

That one is manufactured by La Royale of Rio do Janeiro (a well known manufacturer).

You can see the difference of manufacture with the military division set posted above,watch the edges of the breast star.

On the military set the edges are guilloched,on the civil division breast star below the edge are smooth.

This star is 82 millimeters wide.

Emmanuel

Edited November 4, 2009 by heusy68

[AK101]

Wow, there is more info on this order in this thread then on the whole internet!!

THANKS!!