Order of the Thistle, a miniature breast star

[larsb001]

Hello All.

A recent aqusition is this little beauty, a breast star of the British Order of the Thistle. It is actually set with 136 small diamonds including the 4 that's missing.

But I am a little puzzled. I bought it as a miniature, but it is 3 cm from tip to tip at the largest. So in my opinion it is too large to be a normal miniature, but again too small to be a prinzen size. It is not marked in any way!

Do any of our British experts have some comments, have you seen a similar "miniature" before and is it in your opinion a miniature or not? Any comments will be appreciated.

Paul???

Regards, Lars

Edited April 18, 2010 by larsb001

[Greg]

My first thought is that this is a "Ladies" size breast star. I have seen quite often where the Ladies' star is smaller than the Men's star. But then again, quite often, a recipient of an Order will have a star made privately - perhaps because they don't want to wear and risk losing the real thing, or because the issued insignia isn't fancy enough for their tastes.

I have never seen a miniature size breast star. The normal size star is worn at all times even with miniatures of other medals - that makes miniature stars unnecessary.

This item could be at least 150 years old - probably more - and that would place it in an era when people wore Orders more often and often had them embroidered onto uniform coats rather than risk damage or loss of the real thing. Hope this helps. Greg.

Edited April 19, 2010 by Greg

[paul wood]

My first thought is that this is a "Ladies" size breast star. I have seen quite often where the Ladies' star is smaller than the Men's star. But then again, quite often, a recipient of an Order will have a star made privately - perhaps because they don't want to wear and risk losing the real thing, or because the issued insignia isn't fancy enough for their tastes.

I have never seen a miniature size breast star. The normal size star is worn at all times even with miniatures of other medals - that makes miniature stars unnecessary.

This item could be at least 150 years old - probably more - and that would place it in an era when people wore Orders more often and often had them embroidered onto uniform coats rather than risk damage or loss of the real thing. Hope this helps. Greg.

In my opinion it is a Scots Guards sweetheart brooch, the Star of the Order of the Thistle is their regimental badge. probably First World War but quite nice.

All the best

Paul

[Mervyn Mitton]

I think I tend to agree with Paul - a sweetheart brooch seems very possible. Certainly senior officers from all Services , often had diamond brooches made for their wives of girl friends. There is no miniature shown for the Thistle - which is a rare order of only 16 , plus the Sovereign - it ranks second, after the Garter. I found mention of a mantle badge - but could find no details of size or, materials.

[Tony Farrell]

I concur: Scots Guards sweetheart brooch - and a rather nice one too.

[larsb001]

Hello All.

Thank you all for your responses. I hadn't actually thought of sweetheart brooches as I have absolutely no knowledge about them, so thank you for this info.

The sad thing is that it seems that I now have something that doesn't fit into my collection of miniatures!

Cheers, Lars

[Mervyn Mitton]

Lars - Sweetheart brooches have become a big collecting field in the UK, since several books have been written about them. I would suggest that you have a jeweller value the diamonds for you - also , is it white gold or, silver ? Consider sending it to a good auction in London - I would think £600 ($900) and upwards - but get an opinion first.