Question about the Order of Ismail/Nishan al-Ismail

[Rusty Greaves]

President Dwight D. Eisenhower (34th US President from 1953-1961) was one of the most well-known Americans to be awarded the Order of Ismail. He received the Grand Cordon 1st Class sash, sash badge, and breast star on 24 May, 1947. This was after he had returned to Washington DC following his work in the Occupied Zone of Frankfurt, Germany (1945),  his advancement to Chief of Staff of the US Army (1945), and having his wartime rank of General of the Army made a permanent rank (1946), and prior to his running for US President in 1948. The regalia is housed at the Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library, Museum & Childhood Home, 200 SE 4th Street, Abilene, Kansas, USA (https://www.eisenhowerlibrary.gov/eisenhowers/awards-medals). This example was probably made by Tewfik Bichay (spelled "Bichai" on the interior of the presentation case lid). Below are some med-low resolution images from the Dwight D. Eisenhower Library and Museum of his Order of Ismail. There apparently are no photos of the presentation of this award to Eisenhower, nor of him wearing it. I am checking with the staff to see if I can get any better images, some photos of the reverse of the sash badge and breast star to identify the manufacturer and date hallmarks, or information about the award brevet.  

Moderate resolution image of the Eisenhower sash and sash badge. Note the presence of a clip that the suspension device attached to the crown uses to secure it to the sash that is similar to the illustrated clips on this thread in the 6th photo (the last photo) of my previous post of 22 August 2019 and in the 2006 JOMSA photo reproduced in my post of 27 August, 2019. Also of interest in this Grand Cordon set are the muted colors of the blue and the red of the sash. 922F pointed out in a post of 5 April, 2018 on this thread that the 3rd Class Commander's neck badge that Owain showed in his 3rd-6th photos of his post here of 5 April, 2018 exhibits comparably less brilliant colors of that neck ribbon. 922F further stated that Fahmy Tewfik Bichay told him about shortages of materials for medals in 1940-1944 (less relevant to the Order of Ismail are shortages in 1953-1959) that included ribbons, and 922F suggested that this color difference may be frequent enough across award classes to merit designation as a possible variant form of the Order of Ismail. The coloration of the sash of the Eisenhower example appears to be very similar to that in Owain's 5 April post. 

Low-resolution closer view of the Eisenhower sash badge. The dark color of the metal of the clip to which the sash badge's suspension device is attached cannot be determined from this image. 922F indicated in his 5 April post that Fahmy Tewfik Bichay specifically mentioned the difficulty in obtaining the swivel attachments for badges to sashes during the periods of material shortages, so this may be a different material "work-around" that 922F quotes Bichay as saying his workshop staff had to create during these shortages. This photo does show the 3-D engraving of the gold ornamentation of the 5 arms of the star (seen on all examples that were made by Lattes or Tewfik Bichay, but possibly not present on all [any?] medals made by Fahmy Tewfik Bichay). Again note the "faded" red and blue of the sash. Compare the above sash with the sash colors seen on the Grand Cordon sash and sash badge example from a past eMedals auction example (Item W0269, made by Lattes with a date hallmark "A" for 1925-1926) illustrated on my 13 November, 2017 post on this thread; 2 images of the same Grand Cordon set (made by Lattes, with a date hallmark of "Y" for 1923-1924) on my posts of 6 December, 2017 and of 13 December, 2018 on this thread from a Spink & Sons Catalog listing (Auction 17003, Lot 28) of December 2017; and the cased Grand Cordon set (made by Lattes, with a date hallmark of "B" for 1927-1928 on the sash badge and a "C" for 1928-1929 on the breast star) illustrated in the first 2 photos of my post of 22 February, 2019 offered on an April 2018 auction by La Galerie Numismatique archived on the live auctioneer.com website. 

Poorly focused image of the breast star of President Eisenhower's Grand Cordon Class of the Order of Ismail. This also shows the sculpted gold ornamentation on the 5 arms of the blue enamel and gold star. 

Inside of the upper case lid showing the maker's name of "TEWFIK BICHAI, FOURNISSEUR DE S.M. LE ROI". This is the same inscription shown on the inner case of the 3rd Class Commander's neck badges illustrated by Owain in the 2nd photo of his post of 5 April. 2018 on this thread. Owain noted that while the maker's inscription on the inside of the case for his Commander's neck badge was Tewfik Bichay, the hallmark on the reverse of that neck badge was of Fahmy Tewfik Bichay, the son of Tewfik Bichay.  

Photo of the exterior of the presentation case with King Farouk I's cipher and the taped note that this is "Egypt-L'Ordre  d'Ismail Grand Cordon 5-29-47", indicating a slight discrepancy in its award date to President Eisenhower as 29 May, 1947 (other sources give the date of this award as 24 May, 1947). 

Edited September 18, 2019 by Rusty Greaves

[922F]

Elaborating on Rusty's above note, this image shows different Grand Cordon suspension swivel devices used by Messrs. Lattes/Bichay.   Fahmy Bichay gave me these samples in 1980.  

The first is a standard device [20 mm overall] which has a spring type closure.  The metal loop swivels between the cone beneath the top ring and the 'washer’ at the top of the actual suspension loop.  The cone is smooth save for a crimp line at the base.  These are heavily gold plated and made in Germany pre-1939.  

The second slightly larger standard device [25 mm overall] has a spring type closure but does not swivel.  A series of rings appears on the cone.   It is lighter weight and not as heavily gold plated, made in Germany or France after WW II.  

The third 28 mm device illustrates those made by Bichay technicians.  It is a brass color [and maybe metal] piece of shaped wire [round on the exposed side, flat on the inside] bent to the proper shape on a jig.  It was then wrapped in thinner wire to simulate a cone with the added benefit of holding the 'correct' shape and provide additional spring tension for closure.

As to use, Fahmy told me that from about 1941-45 Anglo-Egyptian customs regulation defined commercially available closures as manufactured jewelry so they were 'non-essential' for the war effort.  And they were 'enemy' sourced.  The firm tried to secure these devices from the UK and U.S. but costs were excessive.   So the company made the 3rd type 'in-house'.   He thought that from 1947-56 2nd type swivels could be imported from Europe.  The Suez affair and subsequent Egyptian tariffs disrupted supplies from about 1956-64.  So again 'in house' swivels were used.   About 1970, an Egyptian firm began making the 2nd type which Bichay used.   Fahmy mentioned that some 3rd type without wire wrapping exist [somewhat similar to those used on current Polish sashes] but that those were not secure enough.    
 

[Rusty Greaves]

922F, Many thanks for posting this information and the image of the different suspension swivel devices for the sash badge. I am most grateful to see such details about these swivel atttachments and your follow-up on the points about material scarcity affecting the availability of components of Egyptian awards. Fascinating background on these components in relation to the political and economic times when these awards were manufactured! I'm not surprised by your knowledge, but was delighted to see this posted information. 

I have a few more points and images about the Eisenhower Grand Cordon Order of Ismail to include here. The Museum Registrar suggested that the dye colors of the sash may not (necessarily) be an example of the difficulty 922F mentioned in obtaining good quality dyes in his post of 5 April, 2018. It appears that the original colors of the Eisenhower sash were similarly brilliant to other Grand Cordon examples shown in this thread. Perhaps the shortages that 922F mentions from conversations with Fahmy Tewfik Bichay that included ribbons involved both dyes of less brilliant original colors and dyes that were less stable. This could have been similar to the above illustrated and described variation in the swivel suspension devices 922F provides where shortages included several different temporal problems and work-arounds in obtaining materials needed for these Egyptian awards. The Museum Registrar at the Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library and Museum has written me that the more muted colors are due to fading of the ribbon from exposure to UV light, and sent the below image (2nd photo) of the more vibrant coloration of a reverse portion of the sash. The sash and sash badge are currently "on rest", meaning they are being curated away from UV light sources (mostly daylight). However, I think that  922F's point is still relevant as perhaps these dye lots were less color-fast and suffered UV degradation that is uncommonly seen in earlier examples of the Order of Ismail I have illustrated on this thread, principally made by J. Lattes. I doubt that many of the Grand Cordon examples from auction sites have been as carefully protected from UV light for most of their post-award existence as this example from the Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library and Museum in the National Archives and Records Administration. I think that 922F's information from Fahmy Tewfik Bichay suggests the potential for at least a couple of dye problems that have resulted in the unusual colors he noted on the ribbon of  Owain's 3rd Class neck badge that was illustrated on this thread 5 April, 2018, and on the other examples of color and different stripe widths 922F notes in that post, as well as the susceptibility to fading on the Eisenhower example. This suggests a range of work-around solutions as the reason for these color differences rather than the recognition of a classificatory "type two" ribbon variety as Owain's example originally indicated as possible explanation. I do not have a good image of the hallmarks that allow an unambiguous identification of the year of manufacture, although it appears likely to be 1945-1946 (see below) but the maker of this set is Tewfik Bichay (also see below). All of the photos below are courtesy of the Museum Registrar of the Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives and Records Administration. 

Another image of the obverse of the sash of the Eisenhower Grand Cordon Class of the Order of Ismail showing the faded colors of the sash. The sash badge has been  reversed in this image, and, although not of good resolution, the Tewfik Bichay hallmark is visible. The catalog number for the Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library and Museum is written on the reverse of the badge, 61-195.1. Note that the bow of this example lacks the zig zag margins (pinking edge) as seen on the ends of the sash ribbon and present on almost all of the J. Lattes examples I have seen photos of and shown here on this GMIC with the better resolution images I have posted in this thread (see the photos in my posts of: 13 November, 2017 [3rd photo]; 6 December, 2017 - this is the same as shown in the 1st photo of my post of 13 December, 2018; and note the example Illustrated in the 2nd photo on 22 February, 2019 that is ambiguous in relation to the configuration of the bow margins and exhibits frayed margins of the ends of the sash ribbon). Zig zag margins of cloth are sometimes employed to limit the extent of fraying of cloth edges, but are probably at least partially decorative on these and other award sashes[?], but may also be used because of the potential wear to this portion of the sash. The museum catalog description identifies the dimensions of the sash badge as: 8.2 cm tall (only extending to the top of the star above the crescent and not including the uppermost portion of the suspension loop); the length of each arm of the gold and blue enamel arm of the star is measured as 2.4 cm (from the finial to where the arm meets the gold border of central round center of the badge); the height of the crown suspension device is 1.8 cm (from the inferior "headband opening" of the crown to the top of the star above the crescent); the width of the crown is 2.0 cm; the anterior to posterior dimension of the suspension loop attached to the crown device is given as 1.0 cm, and the total maximum thickness of the piece (from the obverse central enamel medallion boss with the calligraphy for "Ismail" to the center of the reverse boss) as 1.3 cm. The thickness of the central obverse medallion boss is 0.5 cm, the body of the star is 0.5 cm thick, and the revers boss is 0.3 cm. No maximum width is identified in the catalog description and illustration. 

Image of the reverse of the Eisenhower Order of Ismail sash showing the less faded colors of the sash ribbon that must have been exposed to less UV degradation than the obverse. However, note that the the two exterior margins show fading of the lateral red stripes, and there appears to be some color loss on parts of the blue portion, especially on the viewer's right side. Non-aniline red dyes can be particularly unstable in retaining their original color. This image shows nice detail of the reverse of the decorative ribbon knot that is rarely seen in photographs from auction sites of the Grand Cordon Class of the Order of Ismail. 

Reverse of the Eisenhower Order of Ismail breast star showing the hallmark of Tewfik Bichay. Only a portion of the the Cairo assay office gold hallmarks are visible on the gold star ray in the viewer's approximately 2:30 position. This is a compete set of 3 Egyptian gold hallmarks, but only the Cairo assay office identification of 18 carat gold can be distinguished. A single silver hallmark is visible in the center of the (viewer's) lower right of the reverse of the silver faceted embellishment. This appears to identify a manufacture date of 1945-1946. The Museum Registrar suggested that the discrepancy in the identified award date of this 1st Class Order of Ismail, the recorded 24 May, 1947 date in contrast with the taped paper strip on the presentation case 29 May, 1947  (noted in relation to the last photo of my previous post here of 17 September, 2019) may be due to the 24 May date referring to when King Farouk I signed the award brevet and 29 May as the date when it was actually presented to General Eisenhower in Washington, DC by the Egyptian Ambassador. The catalog number of this breast star is 61-195.2, written on the reverse silver boss. 

Closer detail of the Tewfik Bichay hallmark on the reverse of the Eisenhower breast star of theOrder of Ismail. The dimensions of the breast star are identified in the catalog documentation as: the diameter is 8.2 cm; the length of the longest ray of the silver embellishment measures 2.5 cm (from the exposed obverse portion between the arms of the gold star to the outermost position of the longest central ray); the arms of the gold and enamel star rays are 2.8 cm (from the outer end of the gold margin of each arm -excluding the finial- to where they meet the outermost, plain margin of the central medallion border); the length of each star arm including the finial gold and enamel balls is 3.3.cm; the thickness of each of the exterior and interior plain gold borders of that surrounds the ring of raised hemispheres are each 0.2 cm; the obverse central medallion boss with the calligraphic inscription of "Ismail" is 1.3 cm in diameter; the diameter of the interior of the obverse medallion that extends to the outer margin of the wreath where it meets the margin of the border of raised gold hemispheres is 2.8 cm;  the diameter of the obverse central medallion boss bounded by the border of raised gold hemispheres is 3.3 cm; the maximum thickness through the central medallion is 2.4 cm. 

The award brevet to Dwight D. Eisenhower signed by King Farouk I. Note the embossed royal coat of arms at the top center of the award document and the embossed symbol of the breast star of the Order of Ismail on the lower right of the document. I have seen close-up images of the embossed symbol for the Order of the Nile that must have come from such an award brevet, but this is the only image I have encountered of the embossed symbol for the Order of Ismail. The award brevet I illustrated in the 6th photo in my post of 14 November, 2017 on this thread showing the 2nd Class Grand Officer Order of Ismail awarded to the Italian physician Dr. Giovanni Quirico (with a manufacturing date hallmark of 1924-1925, unfortunately the breast star has been incorrectly reconfigured) by King Fuad I that shows the royal coat of arms at the top of the page but lacks the embossed breast star device on the lower left. I do not know whether this difference may be due to the temporal distinctions between King Fuad I and King Farouk I's reigns or because they represent different classes of the Order of Ismail. Note the identified award date on the legend attached to the mat as 24 May, 1947. The catalog identification of this matted document is the archive location: Box 4 Book 4 Folder 2 #22.

Translation of the award brevet provided to General Eisenhower at the time of the presentation of the Order of Ismail to him by the Egyptian Ambassador. Catalog identifier: Box 4 Book 4 Folder 2 #22a. 

Edited October 17, 2019 by Rusty Greaves

[Rusty Greaves]

I have some supplemental information about two very high resolution images of a 2nd Class Grand Officer Order of Ismail that I illustrated on 21 April, 2018 on this thread. I encountered these images (re-posted below) on a Pinterest site (the neck badge: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/298433912792222444/?nic=1; and the breast star:   https://www.pinterest.com/pin/7881368074139698/?nic=1). I posted these very high resolution images to show the detail of the 3D engraving on the gold and enamel arms of the star on the sash badge and on the breast star, as well as for the exceptional detail these two images provide of the award design and execution. I have recently found their source as an auction posting from a November 2012 auction by Stack's Bowers Galleries archived on the acsearch.info website (https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=1430371). The auction description correctly identifies this as a 2nd Class set made by Lattes. It provides dimensions for the neck badges as 78.3 mm (tall) X 51.3 mm (wide) and weighing 46.4 g. The height is in agreement with measurements of other examples, the width appears incorrect, as most neck badges are reported between 60-62 mm. The weight is close to that identified for other neck badges (~47-48.6 g). The auction description provides no dimensions for the breast star. Although no photos of the reverse of these medals are provided, the auction listing describes the hallmarks, identifying the date hallmark of "C:" for both of the neck badge and breast star, indicating a manufacturing date of 1928-1929. The dimensions of the leather-covered presentation case (not illustrated) are given as 9.5 inches (241.3 mm long) X 4.75 inches (120.6 mm wide) X 2.25 inches ( 57.15 mm deep). 

Vey high resolution image of the neck badge of the Grand Officer Class (2nd) of the Order of Ismail from the November 2012 auction by Stack's Bowers Galleries November 2012 auction archived on the acsearch.info website. This image can be enlarged for excellent detail of the obverse of the neck badge. 

Vey high resolution image of the breast star of the Grand Officer Class (2nd) of the Order of Ismail from the November 2012 auction by Stack's Bowers Galleries November 2012 auction archived on the acsearch.info website. This image can be enlarged for excellent detail of the obverse of the breast star design. 

I also recently came across a good set of iilustrations on the eMedals site of a presentation case (empty) for a 4th Class Knight  Order of Ismail breast badge from a February 2019 auction (https://www.emedals.com/egypt-kingdom-an-order-of-ismail-iv-class-officer-case-c-1950). The description identifies the case as belonging to a 4th Class of this Order, with an exterior lid cider of King Farouk I, and an interior label for J. Lattes of Cairo. This listing provides a detailed description of the materials the case is made from and its dimensions. The hardshell case is not identified as being covered in leather, although it is, but the description states that the ornamented border is in gold ink (as the cipher should be as well). The lining of the interior lid is stated to be white satin, the "J. Lattes Cairo" label inserted into the upper left corner of the lid interior is identified as a white satin ribbon. The lower base of the case is identified as a cardboard insert covered in cream-colored felt for the recessed medal bed, with a push release latch on the exterior. The exterior dimensions of the case are 127 mm long X 90.5 mm wide X 31.5 mm deep. 

Exterior upper lid of the eMedal case for a 4th Class Knight Order of Ismail showing the gold cipher for King Fuad I and the decorative border. 

Superior view of the same Medals case opened, showing the medal bed and compartment for the suspension ribbon of the same 4th Class award. 

Close up view of the medal bed and compartment for the suspension ribbon, also detailing a view of the push release closure. 

Oblique view of the same opened eMedals case.

Oblique view of the same Knight's Class order of Ismail case showing thesis, lid, and push release button. 

View of the plain push release button on this eMedals case for a Knight's Class Order of Ismail breast badge. 

Interior detail of the upper case lid showing the Arabic inscription and the white satin ribbon insert label for "J. Lattes, Cairo". May I trouble one of GMIC's Arab speakers to provide a translation of the lid interior inscription? I assume the Arabic inscription identifies J. Lattes, possibly with the additional qualifier of "supplier to H.M. The King of Egypt and to the State, Cairo" that appears on printed French inscriptions ("J. LATTES, FOURNISSEUR DE S.M. Le ROI D’EGYPTE & DE L’ÉTAT, LE CAIRE") commonly seen on examples of cases for the Order of the Nile.

I am including below a few comparative photos of other cases for the Order of Ismail, to illustrate a few differences and similarities in case configurations among available illustrations of the different classes of this word. These mostly document examples made by Lattes, but a small number of Bichay cases also are illustrated on auction site and other web locations. I have posted some of the below images previously, but am adding them here to document some of the the visual information about cases together in this post. These cases are made of wood, overlain on the exterior probably with leather (?).Several described cases for other Egyptian awards identify colored paper as the covering (and different awards have different colored cases), often a different color for the underside of the case from the upper sides and lid. For example, most Kingdom era Order of the Nile cases are identified as covered in blue paper with either black or a different hue of blue paper on the underside. As noted, the interiors have a cardboard medal bed coated in a felt, and the loss are lined in a white or cream satin fabric. 

View of an open case with a 4th Class Knight Order of Ismail, from a past Heritage Auctions offering identified as 58 mm in width that lacks it's suspension ribbon. Note the use of more elaborate latch hardware on this case compared with some of the other Lattes cases shown in this post. This appears similar to pull or flip release catch shown in the 7th-12th photos below of the 2nd Class Grand Officer cased set from a December 2017 eBay auction (see especially the 8th and 12th photos below) previously illustrated 2 enlarged and higher resolution images of this breast badge in my post of 21 February, 2019 post on this thread. (From https://historical.ha.com/itm/military-and-patriotic/foreign-wars/egyptian-order-of-ismail-by-lattes-of-cairo/a/6156-40197.s)

A more detailed view of the same 4th Class Knight Order of Ismail breast badge in the medal bed of its case from  a made by J. Lattes from an auction of June 2016 by Heritage Auctions (previously unsold from a December 2015 auction). Note that the medal bed of the Lattes example above from the February 2019 eMedals auction has longer recessed cutouts for the gold star arms compared with this Heritage Auctions example. I posted this same image, and a close-up of the suspension ring and crown suspension device in my previous post of 21 February, 2019 on this thread to illustrate some of the gold hallmark locations on the 4th Class of this award.  (From: https://historical.ha.com/itm/military-and-patriotic/foreign-wars/egyptian-order-of-ismail-by-lattes-of-cairo/a/6144-47429.s)

An example of a 4th Class breast badge in its presentation case made by Tewfik Bichay. I previously posted this photo in my post of 15 November, 2017 on this thread to illustrate an example of the Tewfik Bichay label for an example of the Order of Ismail. This case has more decorative latch hardware. I cannot determine the color of the leather covering in this example. (From:https://www.flickr.com/photos/dereenb/8059318294)

Photo of a 3rd Class Commander neck badge of the Order of Ismail in its presentation case from from Lot 1027 in an April, 2019 auction by Very Important Lot (https://veryimportantlot.com/en/lot/view/egypt-ismail-order-nischan-al-ismail-3-class-175085). Note that the neck ribbon is stored below portions of the medal bed through a rounded trinagular opening rather than in a rectangular compartment as it is for the neck badge of the Grand Officer Class shown below.  A white satin ribbon pull tab to assist in removing the medal tray is visible at the upper right margin of the medal tray. This case also has plain push release hardware. I previously posted this photo, the one below, an oblique view of the same neck badge on the medal bed, two views of hallmark placements on this example, and two photos showing the inner lid and exterior of the case initially on 17 April, 2019 on this thread. 

 

Image of the reverse of the same 3rd Class Commander's neck badge showing the cutout configuration of the medal bed in the case for this same Very Important Lot example as shown above. 

Another image of a cased 3rd Class Commander Class neck badge made by J. Lattes in its case, partially showing the same triangular cutout for the ribbon rather than the rectangular compartment seen for the Grand Officer Class neck badge or the example made by Fahmy Tewfik Bichay. The white satin ribbon pull tab to remove the medal tray also is visible in this photo at the upper right margin of the tray. This Lattes case also has plain latch hardware. I previously posted the 1st photo of my post of 14 November, 2017 on this thread. From: https://www.flickr.com/photos/kelisli/3050711171/in/photolist-5DDZo3-5DzGe2-5DDZnJ-5DzGez-5DzG7K-5DzG9i-5DzG9t-5DDZpm-etugA2-etxrPf-j9yp2D-etugAx-GSgy3-j9usEt-5DCuqk-j9tPte-j6HSDH-5DCuzz-j9uDC1-5DGMAU)

A 3rd Class Commander neck badge made by Lattes from a January 2018 eMedals auction (https://www.emedals.com/egypt-kingdom-an-order-of-ismail-in-gold-1st-class-commander-by-j-lattes-c-1925) showing the rounded triangular cutout for the neck ribbon.The satin ribbon pull also is visible in the upper left margin of the case, as in the other examples above. This case uses the plain push release latch hardware. This neck badge is hallmarked "A" indicating manufacture in 1925-1926. I have previously illustrated this neck badge in the 3rd photo of my post of 13 December, 2018 (and hallmarks on the suspension loop attached to the crown suspension device in the 6th photo on that 13 December post) on this thread and to show hallmarks in the 7th-9th photos of my post of 11 January, 2019. 

Also see Owain's six high resolution illustrations of a 3rd Class Commander's neck badge made by Fahmy Tewfik Bichay in a case marked "TEWFIK BICHAI" (his father) in his post of 5 April, 2018 on this thread: 

Owain's photos show that, unlike the Lattes cases for the 3rd Class award, the ribbon is housed in a rectangular compartment of this red leather Bichay case as is the neck badge of the 2nd Class awards in Lattes cases. The satin ribbon pull is visible in at the lower left of that compartment, similarly place to the pull on the Lattes cases for the 2nd Class and 1st Class awards. It appears that the Bichay example Owain illustrated has more decorative latch hardware. The Eisenhower example made by Tewfik Bichay, illustrated above in the last photo of my post of 17 September, 2019 also is associated with a red, rather than brown, leather covered case. 

Below are several photos of an Order of Ismail 2nd Class Grand Officer award made by Lattes in its presentation case from a December 2017 auction on eBay (https://www.ebay.com/itm/EGYPT-ORDER-OF-THE-ISMAIL-2ND-CLASS-GRAND-OFFICER-ORIGINAL-CASE-RIBBON-RARE/222734299477?hash=item33dbffb155:g:5jQAAOSwQwBZkILL).

 

View of the lid of the December 2017 eBay Grand Officer cased set showing the decorative border and cipher of King Fuad I. Although the leather covering of this case appears green int this photo, the other images of the case (see below) show the color as brown. 

Photo of the same 2nd Class cased set showing the medals on the medal bed with the J. Lattes name on the ribbon insert and Arabic inscription visible on the satin lining of the lid. Note the cutout at the inferior margin of the breast star to aid in lifting the piece from the medal bed. The white satin pull tab to lift out the medal bed is visible on the lower right of the compartment for the neck ribbon. Also note the uncommon decorative latch hardware visible on the margin of the upper lid in this photo (discussed below in the 4th photo below showing  a close-up view of this latch).

Closer view of the neck badge and breast str resting in the medal bed of this same eBay Grand Officer set. 

Close-up view of the neck badge of this December 2017 eBay Grand Officer award resting in the medal bed with the neck ribbon in the rectangular compartment at the end of the case (a similar configuration as used for the case of the 1st Class Grand Cordon Class. Although I have not encountered measurements for either the 2nd Class or 1st Class awards, the 1st class case is likely a bit larger to accommodate the sash and slightly larger breast star. 

 

Close-up view of the breast star of this same eBay Grand Cordon cased set. Again, note the inferior cutout to assist in removing the breast star.  

Close up view of the exterior of the pull release catch and an exterior catch assembly for the same eBay 2nd Class cased Grand Cordon set award. Note the more elaborate fittings for the button and catch than seen on the illustrated 4th Class example above or other examples shown on this thread, as well as the push release latch's laurel wreath. I have not seen many other photos showing this latch configuration for more than one other example of a case for the Order of Ismail. That single example is shown above in the 10th photo on this post of the 4th Class Knight Order of Ismail from the Heritage Auctions website. However, this latch form, and a variety of others, are more common on cases for the Order of the Nile. Both plain and elaborate hardware for the push release catches are seen across all classes of the Order of the Nile. 

Cased named 2nd Class Grand Officer Class set awarded to the Italian physician Dr. Giovanni Quirico from a 2017 auction archived on the La Galerie Numimatique website (https://www.coins-la-galerie-numismatique.com/auction-33-day-1/order-ismail). This also shows the cutout at the inferior margin of the breast star for removal of the piece and the white satin pull at the upper right of the rectangular compartment for the neck ribbon. This cases is fitted with plain latch hardware. I have previously noted several times in this thread that I thought the silver embellishment of the breast star on this example has been unfortunately rotated into an incorrect position. However, viewing the calligraphy of the "Ismail" inscription in the center medallion (and the position of the gold star's arms) it is apparent that it is the gold star has been incorrectly re-oriented. The gold star is oriented upside down on the breast star in the above photo. The hinge of the tunic pin can be seen in its correct 12:00 o'clock position, but the superior arm of the gold star is pointed downwards (the incorrect 6:00 o'clock position). On re-examination of the calligraphy of the neck badge, it is clear that it also is shown in an inverted position in this photo. The central medallion is incorrectly rotated to an upside down position in this photo, but the superior arm of the star must be in the correct position attached to the crown suspension device. It appears that orientation was not related to a completed incorrect repair when this photo was taken. Another photo of the neck badge from this auction listing shows the central medallion almost oriented correctly, slightly offset to the viewer's left of the correct orientation. This suggests at least the neck badge may not have been "repaired" to the wrong configuration, but that the medallion is loose, appearing in two different incorrect configurations, although the listed condition of this piece is "best".  

Photo of a cased 1st Class Grand Cordon set of the Order of Ismail made by Lattes from a April 2018 auction, Lot 0560,  by La Galerie Numismatique and archived on the liveauctionees.com website (https://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/60483636_order-of-ismail#&gid=1&pid=5). The white satin pull tab to lift out the medal bed also is visible on the lower right of the compartment for the sash. This case uses plain, unembellished latch hardware. I previously illustrated this set (with several additional photos, especially to detail hallmarks on this set) in my post of 22 February, 2019 on this thread. 

Edited October 21, 2019 by Rusty Greaves
added additional information

[Rusty Greaves]

I have a few additional notes about case labelling to include here. The majority of examples of all classes of the Order of Ismail that show up on auction sites were made by J. Lattes of Cairo and exhibit significant consistency in the labelling inside their cases. This is not true for many of the Order of the Nile examples that appear as auction offers, and they provide some additional details on variants of the Lattes interior case labeling. I believe this is principally due to the apparently much greater number of medals of the Order of the Nile that were awarded and so available to modern collectors. 

This above format of interior case labelling is the most commonly seen for all classes of the Order of Ismail. As noted in my previous post that includes this same illustration, this comes from an empty case for a 4th Class Knight Order of Ismail offers in a current eMedals auction, Item: EGC93 (https://www.emedals.com/egypt-kingdom-an-order-of-ismail-iv-class-officer-case-c-1950).  

This appears to be a form of the J. Lattes case interior labelling that may be the earliest type I have found of a J. Lattes maker's mark inside of a presentation case of an Egyptian award. I am basing my assessment of this as an "early" mark only on its simplicity and difference from all other Lattes maker's labelling printed in other cases for Egyptian orders and decorations that I have seen. This comes from a past eBay auction archived on the Worthpoint.com website for an Egyptian Devotion to Duty medal, identified as a 2nd Class silver version (https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/egypt-medal-meritorious-actions-1917-1896628816). The auction description for this medal suggests a 1917 date, however, that is prior to the institution of this medal in 1920. 

An example of a printed Lattes maker's identification that I previously included as an illustration sourced only from Piccssr as the 2nd photo in my post of 14 November, 2017 on this thread. This image comes from a past auction archived on the Medal-Medaille website for a 4th Class Officer cased set of the Order of the Nile that includes a miniature (http://www.medal-medaille.com/sold/product_info.php?products_id=35). The legend "J. LATTES, FOURNISSEUR DE S.M. LE ROI D’EGYPTE & DE L’ÉTAT, LE CAIRE" (J.Lattes, supplier to H.M. The King of Egypt and to the State, Cairo) appears on a few other examples of the Order of the Nile offered on auction sites, but I have not yet seen this label on an example of the Order of Ismail. The auction description states that: "Early examples of the order are made by 'A.Lattes'; and late royal examples by 'Maison Lattes, J. Weinber & Co.' with an Arabic inscription to the interior of the case. The presence of the words ‘& DE L’ÉTAT’ suggest this example is towards the end of the ‘J. Lattes’ period." I have not seen A. Lattes marks nor any for Maison Lattes and J. Weinber (or Weinberg?). However, see the examples below in the 12th and 17th photos in this post. that identify Maison Latte with L. Rosen & Cie. I cannot distinguish the date hallmark in a low resolution image of the breast medal of the Order of the Nile shown on the auction listing. The cipher on the exterior case lid is of King Fuad I. 

Paper foil case label for J. Lattes reading "J. LATTES, FOURNISSEUR DE S.H. LE SULTAN, CAIRE-GENÈVE’” from a past auction archived onto Medal-Medaille website (http://www.medal-medaille.com/sold/product_info.php?products_id=1171). I previously included this image that I came across on Picssr in the 3rd photo of my post of 14 November, 2017 on this thread. I have now identified this case label as associated with this auction listing of a 3rd Class Commander neck badge of the Order of the Nile. The auction listing includes the following statement about the potential date of this piece: "...the maker’s mark referring to ‘S.H. Le Sultan’ rather than ‘S.M. Le Roi’ indicates that this example is a very early award, pre-1922. I do not know if the the cipher on the exterior lid of this case is that of Sultan Hussein Kamel, who established the Order of the Nile in 1915, or an early version of a cipher for Fuad I as Sultan. The version of this cipher is shown below from a photo of a better example on a case lid for a 2nd Class Grand Officer Order of the Nile.  Images of these foil paper labels are moderately common in auction listings for the Order of the Nile.

Another example of the paper foil J. Lattes case label from the approximately same period of the sultanate in Egypt (pre-1922). From a December 2018 auction (Item: W5561) archived on the eMedals website (https://www.emedals.com/egypt-kingdom-an-order-of-the-nile-i-class-grand-cross-case-by-lattes) of an empty case identified as that if a 1st Class Grand Cordon (?) Order of the Nile. 

Case lid for the same empty 1st Class Grand Cordon Order of the Nile from the eMedals website. This is the same royal cipher that appears on the case lid of the above example of a foil paper J. Lattes label from a cased set of the 3rd Class Commander neck badge from the Medal-Medaille website. This same royal cipher appears in conjunction with auction site examples that provide views of the date hallmarks identifying the awards as made under Fuad I, suggesting it may be a variant earlier form of Fuad I's cipher during his term as Sultan prior to April 1922 when his titled changed to King (?).  

Detailed view of one variant of elaborate push release catch hardware on this same empty case for a 1st Class Grand Cordon Order of the Nile from the eMedals website.  

Another image of the foil paper J. Lattes case label from the period of the sultanate from a current eMedlas auction (Item: 5761) of an empty case identified as that of a 2nd Class Grand Officer Order of the Nile. All design aspects of this case appear identical to that of the eMedals example shown above that is identified as for a 1st Class Grand Cordon Order of the Nile. (From: https://www.emedals.com/egypt-kingdom-an-order-of-the-nile-ii-class-grand-officer-case-by-lattes)

Photo of the open empty case from this same eMedals examples of a 2nd Class Order of the Nile showing the placement of the paper foil label on the interior lid. This is the same configuration as that of the labeling seen on the eMedals 1st Class case example shown above. 

Lid of the same eMedals empty case for a 2nd Class Grand Officer Order of the Nile showing the same royal cipher for this undatable case. 

Photo of the same eMedals empty case identified as a 2nd Class Grand Officer Order of the Nile showing the same catch release hardware as on the above eMedals 1st Class Order of the Nile. 

Photo of a satin ribbon maker's label in the normal upper left corner of the case interior lid for J. Lattes Order of the Nile that includes a partner I have not seen identified for any of the Order of Ismail. The insert ribbon reads: "Maison Lattes, L. Rosen & Cie., Le Caire." I have seen this label in other cases for the Order of the Nile, but have no information about J. Lattes partnership with L. Rosen or the chronology of this association. This is from a current auction (Item: W5562) on the eMedals website (https://www.emedals.com/egypt-kingdom-an-order-of-the-nile-iii-class-commander-case-by-lattes). 

The printed labelling inside the upper lid of this empty case for a 3rd Class Commander Order of the Nile in the same position as seen in the examples of the Order of Ismail shown above in my post of October 19. This is the same inscription seen in the Order of Ismail cases and probably reads: "J. Lattes, supplier to H.M. The King of Egypt and to the State, Cairo".

Exterior lid of this same eMedals current offering of 3rd Class Commander Order of the Nile case showing the royal cipher of King Fuad I. 

View of the pull release catch hardware on the same 3rd Class Commander Order of the Nile empty case. This shows a similarly elaborate latch hardware with the pull release catch ornamented with a laurel wreath as seen on the example of the Order of Ismail in my 19 October post above, 3rd from last photo.

 

Detail of the elaborate pull release catch hardware on this same 3rd Class Order of the Nile case from the current eMedals auction. Although similar to the eBay auction example of the Order of Ismail case hardware with the laurel wreath on the pull release catch, this catch has scrolls only on each of the lateral sides of the button, and the catch shown in the 3rd to last photo of my 19 October post above also has scroll ornaments above and below the catch. 

Another example of the satin ribbon makers' identification for "Maison Lattes, L. Rosen & Cie., Le Caire" from a March 2018 auction (Item: W5131) archived onto eMedals website (https://www.emedals.com/egypt-kingdom-an-order-of-the-nile-grand-officer-2nd-class-by-lattes-c-1925) of cased set of a 2nd Class Order of the Nile. This set is nearly complete, but lacks the neck ribbon for the neck badge

Exterior of the case for this same eMedals set of the Order of the Nile showing the royal cipher of King Fuad I and a similar ornamented pull latch with the laurel wreath ornamentation as seen on the 3rd Class Order of the Nile case example above and on the 3rd to last photo of the eBay auction offering of a 2nd Class Grand Officer Order of Ismail case from my post of 19 October above. 

Although fewer examples of the Order of Ismail made by Tewfik Bichay (father) or Fahmy Tewfik Bichay (son) appear on auction sites, I also have a few bits of label information variability to add here. I have illustrated the printed name of Tewfik Bichay's workshop on the satin case lining in the 4th photo of my 17 September, 2019  post regarding the Eisenhower 1st Class Order of Ismail (made by Tewfik Bichay) above on this thread. Owain illustrated the same printed name in his post of 5 April, 2018 on this post for a 3rd Class Commander neck badge of the Order of Ismail made by Fahmy Tewfik Bichay. Both the Eisenhower example and Owain's use the spelling "Bichai". Owain's example is quite interesting also because the case is that of Fahmy Tewfik Bichay's father although the neck badge has the hallmarks indicating manufacture by the son Fahmy Tewfik Bichay This form of maker's identification appears to be the most common for the Tewfik Bichay workshop, however many fewer images of these marks are available on auction listings than for J. Lattes examples. I also included an oblique view of an embossed decorated foil paper Tewfik Bichay label for a 4th Class Knight breast badge the Order of Ismail in the 12th photo of my previous post of 19 October above. Unfortunately, I do not have a better image of that label. Below are a few variant Bichay labels I have come across on the internet. Except for the first 2 cases shown below, the others all are Republic period awards made and labelled by Fahmy Tewfik Bichay. 

Printed label on the interior lid of the Eisenhower 1st Class Grand Cordon Order of Ismail that reads: "TEWFIK BICHAI, FOURNISSEUR DE S.M. LE ROI" underneath an image of the maker's hallmark for Tewfik Bichay and another Arabic inscription (anyone want to volunteer a translation?). This may be the most common form of the Tewfik Bichay labelling inside cases of the Order of Ismail. As noted, this marking appears on examples made by Tewfik Bichay and his son Fahey Tewfik Bicay. From: The Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library, Museum & Childhood Home, 200 SE 4th Street, Abilene, Kansas, USA

Printed label of Tewfik Bichay in blue ink ("TEWFIK BICHAI, FOURNISSEUR DE S.M. LE ROI"), similar to the version seen on the Eisenhower Order of Ismail example and Owain's 3rd Class Order of Ismail neck badge from his post on this thread of 5 April, 2018. This label includes a square frame around the label that is not present in those other 2 examples. This is from a current eBay auction of an Egyptian 3rd Class, Devotion to Duty medal in bronze  (https://www.ebay.com/itm/EGYPT-DEVOTION-TO-DUTY-BRONZE-ORDER-MEDAL-OF-KING-FAROUK-ORIGINAL-CASE-RARE-/323858249749). 

Lid of the same eBay bronze Devotion to Duty medal showing the royal cipher of King Farouk 1. 

Plain foil paper label for Maison Tewfik Bichay case label from a March 2019 auction listing (Item EU16495) archived on the eMedals website for a 1st Class Grand Cordon Republic period case set of the Order of the Nile sash, sash badge, and breast star (https://www.emedals.com/egypt-republic-an-order-of-the-nile-i-class-grand-cordon-with-case-c-1955). This set is identified as dating to approximately 1955. Although the label is for the Tewfik Bichay workshop, a business card pasted into the bottom of the case (shown below) is that of Fahmy Tewfik Bichay (the son of Tewfik Bichay). Both the label above and the business card below give the workshop address on 40 Talaat Harb Street, in downtown Cairo and the telephone number ([202] 779558).  

Business card of Fahmy Tewfik Bichay glued into the base of the same eMedals auction offering of a 1st Class Republic period Order of the Nile. 

Photo of a gold foil case label of Fahmy Tewfik Bichay in a cased set identified as a 2nd Class Grand Officer Order of the Republic (Type II). The label is fixed to the lower left portion of the lid interior (above the compartment for the neck badge). This is from a current auction on the My Militaria e-shop website (http://www.mymilitaria-eshop.com/prestashop/home/8014-egitto-grande-uff.html). 

Military issue (1941) identity card of Fahmy Tewfik Bichay (spelled "Fahmi Tawfik Beshay") from a section of the MP Antique et Militaria website (http://www.militaria.qc.ca/air-force/south-africa.html) illustrating South African Air Force pins that the site moderator obtained personally from Fahmy Tewfik Bichay in the 1950s after he emigrated to Canada. (http://www.militaria.qc.ca/air-force/south-africa.html)

Edited October 22, 2019 by Rusty Greaves

[Rusty Greaves]

Well, cases aren't as cool as the regalia, but I keep encountering some additional variation that seems worth posting here on GMIC. I am trying to keep the information relevant to the Order of Ismail, not all Egyptian awards. Many images about case variation come from illustrations of the much greater number of examples of the Order of the Nile that appear on auction sites, so this post also includes label and case closure photos that are dominated by the Order of the Nile. 

Below are images of a case that is identified as for an Order of Ismail, class unspecified, from an archived past eMedals auction (Item: 9270). These images show a few details of case construction moderately well. The size of this case (288 mm long X 137 mm wide X 56 mm deep) indicates it would have been for either the 1st Class Grand Cordon or 2nd Class Grand Officer Class of this award. This example lacks its medal bed insert and one of its hinges is missing. 

 

View of the exterior lid of this Order of Ismail case showing the royal cipher of King Fuad I.

The above image on the right is the underside of the same Order of Ismail case showing what appears to be a cloth or paper covering of this part of the case. 

                                                

Above is an image of the interior of the lid the same Order of Ismail case showing the most common J. Lattes labelling as noted in my 2 recent posts above.

This is a view of the same Order of Ismail case showing the interior of the lower portion of the case without the medal bed, showing some aspects of the wood construction, the latch mechanism, supports for the medal bed, the interior side lining of white cardboard, possibly paper on portions of the center, and what looks like cloth on the base of the compartment to house either the 1st Class sash or the 2nd Class neck badge ribbon. 

Another variant form of push release catch hardware on a case of a 4th Class Officer Order of the Nile breast badge made by Lattes from a past auction (Item: W2594) archived on the eMedlas.com website (https://www.emedals.com/an-egyptian-order-of-the-nile-4th-class-by-lattes-of-cairo-w2594). No date hallmarks can be seen on the photos of the reverse of the breast badge, but the cipher on the case lid is that of King Fuad I.

Push release latch mechanism with very slight design differences from that above on the eMedals 4th Class Officer Order of the Nile. This comes from a cased 5th Class Knight Order of the Nile made by Lattes from an April 2018 auction (Item: EG150) archived on the eMedals website (https://www.emedals.com/egypt-kingdom-an-order-of-the-nile-knight-by-lattes-cairo-c-1924). One photo of the breast badge, and the auction description, identify a date hallmark of "Z" indicating a manufacturing date of  1924-1925. The royal cipher on the case lid is that of Fuad I and the Lattes interior case labelling is the same as shown in the 3rd photo in this post (and the 1st photo of my previous post from today). 

Another variant version of the push release latch hardware on a case for a neck badge of the 3rd Class Commander of the Order of the Nile made by Lattes. This example comes from a past auction (Item: EG146) archived on the eMedals website (https://www.emedals.com/egypt-kingdom-an-order-of-the-nile-nishan-al-nil-grand-cordon-by-j-lattes-c-1930) that is misidentified as a Grand Cordon Class The neck badge exhibits a date hallmark of "E" indicating manufacture in 1930-1931. The royal cipher on the case lid is the same as the 2 illustrated in the 6th and 10th photos of my previous post today that are associated with sultanate period J. Lattes labels, suggesting (if this is not a re-used case) that this is an alternative cipher of Fuad I as Sultan rather than the other cipher of him as King after the end of April, 1922. 

A better image of the what appears to be the same form of push release latch as that shown above onto case for a 3rd Class Commander Order of the Nile (it may however lack some engraving of the upper hinge of the latch compared with the previous photo). This example is from an empty case for a 3rd Class Commander neck badge (Item: W5613) from a past eMedals auction (https://www.emedals.com/egypt-kingdom-an-order-of-the-nile-iv-class-officer-case-by-j-lattes). The case is mistakenly identified in the auction description as a case for a 4th Class Officer award, and misidentifies the royal cipher er as that of King Farouk I. The royal cipher on the case lid is that of King Fuad I, however the interior J. Lattes printed label identifies Lattes as a purveyor to the sultanate as well as to the state (see image below). 

Printed label inside the lid of the above eMedals empty case for a 3rd Class Commander neck badge of the Order of the Nile. This label reads "J. LATTES, FOURNISSEUR DE S.H. LE SULTAN, ET DE L’ÉTAT, CAIRE",  similar to the wording of the inscription to the paper foil Lattes labels shown in my earlier post of today, but including the phrase: "ET DE L’ÉTAT", and lacking the identification of their shop in Geneva. This stamp may have been created to bridge the period in 1922 between Fuad I's transition from Sultan to King (?).  

Another form of push release latch hardware on a case of a 4th Class Officer breast badge of the Order of the Nile made by J. Lattes from a past eMedals auction (Item: PM011) archived on the eMedals website (https://www.emedals.com/egypt-kingdom-an-order-of-the-nile-4th-class-officer-by-lattes-of-cairo-c-1945). No date hallmarks are visible on the photos of the reverse of this badge, but the royal cipher on the case lid is that of King Fuad I. 

The J. Lattes maker's labelling inside the case of this same eMedals example of a 4th Class Officer badge of the Order of the Nile. This is the same form illustrated in the 3rd photo of my previous post from today on this thread. 

Another variant form of the makers' labelling for J. Lattes on the interior lid of a case for a 1st Class Grand Cordon set of the Order of the Nile from a January 2018 auction (Item: EG1243 ) archived on the eMedals website (https://www.emedals.com/egypt-kingdom-an-order-of-nishan-al-nil-grand-cordon-by-lattes-of-cairo-c-1940). It appears to read: "J. LATTES, FOURNISSEUR DE S.H. LE SULTAN, GENÈVE CAIRE". No date hallmarks are visible on the photos of the reverse of the sash badge or breast star of this cased set. The auction description suggests a date of c. 1940, however, the royal cipher on the exterior case lid is that of Fuad I, so that it should be on or before 1936. The identification of the Sultan on this interior was labelling suggests it predates April 1922.  

Edited October 21, 2019 by Rusty Greaves

[ChrisW]

Thanks for posting these, Rusty! Those are some beautiful details on the cases! As always, you've done an exemplary job on the in-depth research for this posting.

[Rusty Greaves]

Chris, I appreciate your interest in the variation in cases. I just seem to take advantage of questions that pop up based on what images I can encounter in the online component of my research and never know if they would be of interest to others here on GMIC. Even with the limited topics I follow, there are certainly a lot of interesting rabbit holes to go down. 

Below I am posting a cropped and manipulated image (to make it a bit sharper) of the Tewfik Bichay label on the 4th Class Knight example of an Order of Ismail breast badge that I most recently illustrate in the 12th photo of my first post on 19 October, 2019 . Please note that this is an image copyrighted by DereenB on her flickr photostream (https://www.flickr.com/photos/dereenb/page1). I have not found another example of this interesting label to show its design elements and inscriptions in better detail.

Close-up image of the paper foil label on the interior upper lid of the 4th Class Knight Order of Ismail breast badge from DereenB's flickr site (https://www.flickr.com/photos/dereenb/8059318294/). The embossed paper foil label shows the Tewfik Bichay (father) hallmark as the upper most line; below that is the arced Arabic inscription over the Royal Coat of Arms; Tewfik Bichay’s name is split on either side of the Royal Coat of Arms of the Kingdom of Egypt used between 10 December 1923 and when it was changed to the Republican Eagle on 29 June, 1953. Interestingly, the honorific “PACHA” is apparent on the lower right of the label under the “…HAY” of Bichay. I cannot read the portion of the inscription on the lower left underneath the “TEWF …” in Tewfik. The phrase “FOURNISSEUR DE S.H. LE ROI” is on the lower center of the label underneath the royal coat of arms. 

The Royal Coat of Arms of the Kingdom of Egypt used from 1923 until 1953 showing the imagery of the royal mantle lined with ermine surmounted by the princely Egyptian crown, with the crescent and 3 stars surrounded by the collar of the Order of Medjidie and surmounted by the princely crown. This image comes from Kelisli's flickr site (https://www.flickr.com/photos/kelisli/4765919868) and is an image copyrighted by him. The form of this mantle derives from a variety of European uses of this imagery, especially its use in France.  The version on the Tewfik Bichay label above appears to also use the tughs crossing behind the central medallion of the crescent and stars that is an Egyptian variant of the staffs used in European heraldry. Tugh is a Turkish word, possibly derived from Chinese (tu) and Uyghur (tugh), identifying rods with horsetails that are a military standard with various historical uses. A modified form of the mantle is used as a central design framing element in the judicial badges of the Egyptian Mixed Courts (1875-1949). See my post of 3 December, 2018 on the thread: "Egypt Khedive Judge's Badge Question" that I started on 17 November, 2016 here in the Middle East & Arab States section of GMIC for additional information about the imagery in this coat of arms. 

Image of the Royal Coat of Arms of Kingdom Egypt (L) used form 1922-1953 and the Royal Coat of Arms of the Sultanate of Egypt (R) used from 1914-1922. The above image is also from Kelisli's flickr site (https://www.flickr.com/photos/kelisli/5109448186) and is copyrighted by him. Kelisli notes in the legend for this image that: "The Arms of the Sultanate of Egypt were simply the dynastic arms of the House of Mohamed Ali Pasha. The six staffs were formerly tughs (during the Khedivate of Egypt, 1867 - 1914)"

 

A version of the Royal Coat of Arms that is the second version employed by Khedive Ismail that shows the tughs with horsetails behind the central medallion and is the version that first features the Collar of the Order of Medjidie design that replaced the Order of the Crescent on previous versions (from: http://www.hubert-herald.nl/EgyptKingdom.htm)

Another version of the Royal Coat of Arms of the Kingdom of Egypt used from 1922-1953 (from: https://www.sabah.com.tr/galeri/kultursanat/kavalali-hanedaninin-hikayesi/8)

Edited October 26, 2019 by Rusty Greaves
correcting spell check

[Rusty Greaves]

There are a few of very high resolution images of the Order of Ismail archived on the Spink website that I wanted to link to here. The images I can download are of pretty good resolution, but the archived images can be zoomed for much greater detail by following the links here. I have not previously illustrated the first three of these photos, but the final image of two miniature breast badges of the Order of Ismail appear in very high resolution images in my previous posts of 10 November and 13 December, 2018. Although there are plenty of images of these particular classes on this thread, the auction listings of the first 3 examples provide information on the date hallmarks and dimensions of these pieces, adding some data worth including here. These archived images are only provided on the Spink website as obverse views, no images of the reverse of these medals are provided. Please note the photos below are copyrighted images to be used only for research purposes. 

Above is a photo of of a 2nd Class Grand Officer breast star made by Lattes from an undated past auction (Auction 18003, Lot 907). The auction description identifies the diameter as 72 mm. Although most 2nd Class breast stars with measurements available are fairly consistently listed as 70 mm in diameters, this size still indicates it is the 2nd Class of this breast star (the 1st Class is usually given as 80 mm in diameter, although some examples are identified as 81-82 mm). Although no photos of the reverse are provided, the description identifies the date hallmark as "B", indicating a date of 1927-1928. (From: https://spink.com/lot/18003000907) 

A neck badge of the Order of Ismail made by Lattes that is either part of a 2nd Class Grand Officer set of regalia or a 3rd Class Commander neck badge. It is not the accompanying neck badge to the above 2nd Class breast star, because of the date hallmark identified in the auction description ("Z"=1924-1925). This is from an undated past auction  (Auction 18003, Lot 908) archived on the Spink website (https://spink.com/lot/18003000908). The description also provides the height measurement as 83 mm (including the crown suspension device) and the width as 62 mm. As noted in several previous posts, the dimensions of the 2nd Class and 3rd Class neck badges are the same, although there are some differences in the reported measurements. The photo does show the group of 3 hallmarks on the right side suspension link between the superior arm of the star and the crown suspension device, showing the Cairo assay office mark for 18 carat gold, the ibis for Egyptian gold, and the date hallmark of "Z"".

A photo of a 4th Class Knight breast badge of the Order of Ismail made by Lattes from an archived undated past auction (Auction 19001, Lot 1179) on the Spink website (https://spink.com/lot/19001001179). Although some photos of the Knight's chest badge show the Egyptian gold hallmarks on the circular link ring between the crown suspension device and the ribbon, none are visible even when the website version of this image is zoomed. The height of this pieces is given as 75 mm (including the crown suspension device) X 56 mm wide. The date hallmark on the reverse is identified as "K", 1935-1936. There appears to be some damage to the enamel of the central medallion's inscription of "Ismail". 

Above is a photo of two miniatures of the Order of Ismail from an undated  past auction (Auction 18001, Lot 902) archived on Spink website (https://spink.com/lot/18001000902). These are the same miniature breast badges that I illustrated in my post of 10 November, 2018 on this thread, that came from an October 2018 auction listing (Auction XLI, the mini on the L is Lot 280 and that on the R is Lot 281) of La Galerie Numismatique, featured on the Sixdbid.com website (https://www.sixbid.com/browse./la-galerie-numismatique/5367/page/1/perPage/100?term&orderCol=lot_number&orderDirection=asc&priceFrom&displayMode=large&auctionSessions=5606|168960). I also posted a cropped version of that photo, showing only the 4th Class Knight mini on the right, in the 5th photo of my post of 13 December, 2018. As noted in those posts, the mini on the left is a 3rd Class Commander grade of this mini, indicted by the rosette and silver galon. The mini on the right with a rosette and lacking a galon is the 4th Class Knight mini (I erroneously stated it was a 4th Class Officer version in my 10 Novemebr 2018 post, the Sixbid.com auction listing correctly identified the example with the silver salon as an Officer Class mini but also used the same designation for the mini without a galon). Those previously posted photos here on GMIC are of much higher resolution than the photo above. Those previously posted images (as well as the photos still available on the Sixbid.com website) can be zoomed for terrifically detailed views. The dimensions in the Spink auction listing are given as a height of 30 mm (including the crown suspension) and a dimater of 20 mm for both, the same dimensions given on the Sixbid.com website archive. Both sets of listings identify the material as silver, gilt, and enamel. I am including this image because these 2 particular miniatures are two of the the best documented examples for the Order of Ismail (also see the mini I included in my post of 5 December, 2017 from a past auction archived on the La Galerie Numismatique website [https://www.coins-la-galerie-numismatique.com/auction-33/order-ismail-1] that also identifies the dimensions as 30 mm high X 20 mm wide), they are illustrated with the best available photos, and represent some slight variations in execution of the miniatures, although they appear to have been made by the same (unidentified) manufacturer. Both of these minis likely have replacement ribbons, although there appears to be some slight wear on the margin of the rosette of the 3rd Class mini on the L in the 3:00-4:00 position.

[Rusty Greaves]

I have a minor amount of additional information on the elusive J. Lattes to add here. This is peripheral background info that builds on the advertising card I posted on 24 April, 2019 from a July 2018 eBay auction, and some of the horological info mentioned in that post as well. In the 24 April post on this thread (and in my post of 14 November, 2017), I cited the only other source of information I have found about J. Lattes business: I have previously given a short synopsis of this brief mention in The Jeweler's Circular and Horological Review, Vol 34, No. 24, of 14 July, 1897, pg. 9 of the shop of J. Lattes as a small but attractive store at the margin of the market area (the Muski) and what the author (Chas Crossman) termed the foreigner's quarters. Lattes shop was considered by the author of this article as the best of the small shops catering to both local and European trade interests. I am re-posting the 1st page of that advertisement card I posted on 24 April at the end of this post. I apologize for cluttering up this thread with some watch images, but as biographical data on M. J. Lattes is so scarce perhaps any additional information can be useful in getting a better sketch of his life and work that includes so many beautiful Egyptian medals. 

This is a J. Lattes art deco jewelry brooch in its original case with a different form of the J. Lattes name and identifier of the Cairo shop than seen on any cases for the Egyptian state awards and decorations. This piece features a probably genuine ancient Egyptian scarab (however, molds also have been found by antiquities looters and dealers that were used to make ceramic copies of ancient scarabs for the tourist market since at least the 19th century, but the common nature of scarabs in the archaeological record and tourist markets, especially during the early 20th century, suggests it may be an archaeological example rather than a copy) that is noted to have hieroglyphs on the underside. The scarab is set in 18 carat gold with enamel for the bird-like wings (tail and eyes), with a span of 6.8 cm,. This is a fanciful deco modification of the ancient Egyptian imagery that often puts raptor (vulture) wings on scarabs or occasionally combines vulture and scarab motifs.The description indicates that the case is stamped "J. Lattes Jeweller Cairo", but it is unclear if that is on the outside case lid. This is from a listing on the PICTAME website from Peter Brandt-Jensen Antiques (From: https://www.pictame.onl/media/BxCuVriHT7S). Note that the advertising brochure for J. Lattes, shown in the last image on this post and as the 1st image of my 24 April, 2019 post, claims the use of "real scarabs" in Lattes jewelry.

The advertisement card shown in the last image of this thread also mentions the Lattes Cairo shop dealing in watches from Geneva, Switzerland. Several auction listings are available online that identify pocket watches made by Lattes Frères & Cie à Genève. As with the dearth of other biographical data on J. Lattes, I do not know who these Lattes brothers may have been nor the relationship between the Geneva and Cairo shops, other than the watches being Swiss-made and sold in Cairo. As this is not a thread about watches, I will only illustrate a couple better photo examples of Lattes Frères watches and one made for J. Lattes by the exceptional, but little known, watchmakers Haas Neveux & Cie. of Geneva. 

A pocket watch (No. 10789) made by Lattes Frères from a November 2017 (Lot 85) auction by Christie's (https://www.christies.com/lotfinder/Lot/lattes-freres-an-extremely-fine-and-rare-6102744-details.aspx). The description of this two time-zone watch notes that this is an 18 carat gold open case (several listings of Lattes Frères watches identify the cases as pink or rose gold) measuring 53.5 mm in diameter, and probably dating to the 1880s. This example also is interesting for exhibiting Turkish numerals on the upper right dial below the Lattes Frères signature. 

A close-up of the face of this same watch from a Pinterest website archive (https://www.pinterest.com/pin/511932682622510024/visual-search/?cropSource=6&h=355&w=492&x=16&y=10) of a past eBay auction of this same two time-zone watch (No. 10789). 

Close-up view of another face of a pocket  watch made by Lattes Frères & Cie., Genève, showing a variant form of the manufacturer's signature. This image comes from a watch-wiki.org image index (https://watch-wiki.org/images/1/16/Lattès_Frères_&_Cie_à_Genève,_Geh._Nr._4318,_57_mm,_143_g,_circa_1880_(2).jpg) and is from an auction archive on the invaluable.com website (https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot/lattes-freres-cie-a-geneve-case-no-4318-57-m-464-c-b8049a0a70) that no longer includes the photo shown above of this watch. That auction description (6 May, 2017, Lot 464 from  Auktionen Dr. Crott, Frankfurt Airport, Germany) identifies the number of this watch as 4318, gives its size as 57 mm, and provides a weight of 143 g. It also suggests a date of approximately 1880s. The description also give bracketing dates of 1860-1880 for Lattes Frères & Cie., although I have not yet  been able to check those dates through many other sources. The advertising card for J. Lattes shown below identifies the date of the Cairo shop's establishment as 1860. Another past auction listing (Lot 45, from June 2001) on the La Cote de L'Occasion website of a Lattes Frères watch (http://www.lacotedesmontres.com/Enchere-No_468.htm) suggests a date of 1890 for their watch listing. I do not know if Lattes Frères & Cie. continued to make watches into the 20th century, the few with attributed dates on auction websites do not include any dates later than c.1890. Note the watch below made by a different Swiss manufacturer for J. Lattes in Cairo that likely dates to before 1937. 

A watch with the signature "J. LATTES, LE CAIRE" from a website listing of Paris Encheres Collin Du Bocage (http://encheres.parisencheres.com/en/lot/26277/6082587). The watch is described as made by Haas Neveux & Cie., a Geneva-based and award winning fine watchmaker (founded in 1848 by the brothers Lèopold Haas and Benjamin Haas jeune [jr.], both knights of the Légion d'honneur), and is given an approximate date of c.1940 (probably incorrect). The case is 18 carat gold, with a silver face, with a blue stone cabochon on the winding knob, gold numbers, and the J. Lattes signature, probably suggesting it was made for the J. Lattes Cairo shop by Haas Neveux & Cie. (the movement anchor is signed Haas Neveux No. 67708; case number is given as 9053835). The diameter is 44 mm and it weights 50.7 g. The provenance of this watch is identified in the auction listing as having belonged to Ahmed Ihsan Bey, a member of the royal family a chamberlain of King Fuad I (he also appears to have been a chamberlain of King Farouk I). A photo of King Farouk I's chamberlains is shown in my post of 2 April, 2019 on this thread (the Flickr attribution suggests this photo is from the 1920s, however it is more likely post-1936 as Ahmed Hassanein, shown in the photo, probably only served as a chamberlain to King Farouk I sometime after becoming crown Prince Farouk's tutor in the early-mid 1930s, although he was an advisor to King Fuad I from 1925-1936) that includes Ahmed Ihsan Bey, shown seated in the front row at the viewer's right of the 3rd photo (with names) and the 4th photo (possibly showing a watch chain attached to his vest??) of that post. Although the Paris Encheres Collin Du Bocage website dates this watch to approximately 1940, Haas & Neveux went out of business in the 1930s (probably ~1937). However, this may help bracket the termination of the Lattes Frères & Cie. of Geneva relationship with J. Lattes in Cairo. However, J. Lattes is not identified as a regular retailer of Haas Neveux watches on the partial listing of 384 individual watches (out of a production of probably ~90,000 watches) provided on the Haas Neveux & Cie. Genève website (http://www.haasneveux.com/watches.php). 

The first page of the undated J. Lattes folding card advertisement that I posted on 24 April, 2019 on this thread which mentions the manufacture of "Egyptian jewellery (the preferred British English  spelling) with real scarabs" and watches from Geneva, from a past eBy auction (https://www.ebay.com/itm/RARE-FOLDING-TRADE-CARD-WITH-MAP-FOR-J-LATTES-JEWELLER-CAIRO-EGYPT-/163133205268?ul_noapp=true&nma=true&si=mpDX%2FvmJ3j93DINpvfI%2FS1m09vQ%3D&orig_cvip=true&nordt=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557) that was formerly archived on the Picclick website (https://picclick.com/Rare-Folding-Trade-Card-With-Map-For-J-163133205268.html#&gid=1&pid=1), although the image and description is no longer available on that site. A much lower-resolution image of the first page of what is probably a different example of this same card (lacking the calculations in upper left corner, no stain in the upper right, possibly with darker brown ink on the decorative sphinx, pillar, & lintel, and maybe black ink used for the lettering?) was recently identified on the invaluable.com website (https://www.invaluable.com/advertising-general/sc-LY1J4TXKAW/?page=73) in a listing of "Advertisements-General", although the image of the card and its description is no longer available on that site. 

Edited November 13, 2019 by Rusty Greaves

[Rusty Greaves]

I recently came across an archived auction listing from 2013 for a named set of the Order of Ismail attributed to Sir Geoffrey Francis Archer. This auction included the neck badge and breast star of the Knight Commander of the Order of St. Michael and St. George, what the auction listing incorrectly described as the cased set of the 2nd Class Grand Officer neck badge and breast star of the Order of Ismail, and a ribbon bar that includes: the KCMG; the African General Service Medal; the George V Silver Jubilee Medal 1935; the Egyptian Order of Ismail; and the Ethiopian Order of the Star ribbons. All of these awards are attributed to Sir Geoffrey Archer. This auction listing is Lot 895 from 20 March, 2013 archived on the Toovey’s Antiques & Fine Art Auctioneers & Valuers website (https://www.tooveys.com/lots/232439/the-awards-bestowed-upon-sir-geoffrey-archer/).

Sir Geoffrey Francis Archer (1882-1964) was a British administrator in Somaliland, Uganda, and the Sudan. He is best known as the Governor of British Somaliland between 1913-1922 and is credited with a controversial plan to use the RAF airpower against Mohammed Abdullah Hassan (the “Mad Mullah”) following four unsuccessful ground campaigns. In January 1920, Archer’s plan successfully broke the Mullah’s forces' resistance to the British and resulted in victorious ground campaigns against the “Dervish” State forces. Archer was appointed Knight Commander of the Order of St. Michael and St. George on 3 June, 1920. Wikipedia and other derivative and secondary sources report the award date as 5 June, 1920. However, the description of the brevet for this award in the Sudan Archives' (GB-0033 SAD) “Catalogue of the Papers of G. F. Archer” at the Palace Green Library Special Collections in the Durham University Library’s Sudan Collection (GB-0033 SAD. 490 1/42) identifies the date as 3 June. Subsequently, Archer served as the Governor of Uganda (1922-1925), and then as Governor General of Sudan from January 1925-July 1926, in the wake of the assassination of Archer’s predecessor Sir Lee Stack. His tenure in the Sudan was controversial with the British colonial interests. First, it was unusual for a non-military man to take on such a position and he appears to have been viewed as an outsider in his role as Governor. Archer assumed his governorship of Sudan at a time of significant British conflict with Egypt over emergent nationalist movements and controversy about the status of the Sudan, as well as problems within the Sudan. The British had severely suppressed what they viewed as a mutinous allegiance of one Sudanese battalion with the Egyptian King Fuad I and their refusal to obey British Orders. Archer tried to support some of the Sudanese officers who had not participated in that mutiny. This attitude and especially his meeting with the leader of the Mahdist Ansar movement of Sayyid Abd el-Rahman al Mahdi and promised future relationship between the British with the Mahdi was seen as highly problematic by the administration of the British High Commissioner for Egypt and the Sudan. The unpopularity of any rapprochement with the Ansar rebels, and that Sayyid was the son of the Mahdi whose forces were responsible for the publicity nightmare in Britain of Major-General Charles George Gordon’s killing in Khartoum in 1885 was clearly an embarrassment to the British and Archer’s actions were seen as a reversal of their policy in the region. Consequently, Archer was forced to resign, and this was the end of his administrative career. He subsequently worked in business in India and then retired to the south of France where he died in 1964. Archer also is remembered as an avid ornithologist, hunter, and outdoorsman who made several contributions to the ornithology of East Africa in bird classification, breeding, and migratory behaviors. Information about Sir Geoffrey Archer is readily available on several online sources. I initially thought that perhaps his sympathy for the Sudanese forces who had wished to remain loyal to the Egyptian King might have been the reason that his service in Sudan earned him the attention of King Fuad I and resulted in his being awarded the Order of Ismail. However, I have been unable to find any historical documentation linking his work there directly to the honor from King Fuad I. Subsequently, I found images of his 2 successors as Governors of the Sudan, Sir John Loader Maffey (later Lord Rugby) and Sir George Stewart Symes both wearing the 1st Class Grand Cordon of the Order of Ismail in several official portrait photographs. I currently think that each of these Governors of the Sudan have been decorated by King Fuad I (and possibly by King Farouk I) particularly because of the conflict between the Egyptians and the British over the Egyptian position that the Sudan was a part of Egypt and British strategies that allowed them to rule the Sudan. 

The Order of Ismail attributed to Sir Geoffrey Francis Archer and identified in the Toovey’s auction description incorrectly as the 2nd Class Grand Officer neck badge and breast star. The auction description identifies this Order of Ismail as made by Lattes. There is no additional information in the auction description, and no images are provided of the case nor any neck ribbon for this award. The brevet for this award is archived in the Palace Green Library Special Collections(GB-0033 SAD) in the Durham University Library’s Sudan Collection. The “Catalogue of the Papers of G. F. Archer” (http://endure.dur.ac.uk:8080/fedora/get/UkDhU:EADCatalogue.0518/PDF) identifies the brevet in section “2. Personal Papers (ii) Honours and Decorations” (GB-0033 SAD. 430/7/6). The description gives the award date as 26 March, 1930. This catalogue entry identifies this as the “Grand Cross” Class of this award. Because that term can be ambiguous, and because of the contrast with the Toovey’s listing, I contacted the Palace Green Library Special Collections at Durham University to clarify the class of this award. Correspondence with the Sudan Collection's Archivist identified that this is the 1st Class Grand Cordon Class of this award. Additionally, I came across a photo of Sir Geoffrey Archer wearing the sash and breast star of the Order of Ismail, and later confirmed with the Sudan Archive at Durham University Library that they are the source curating this image. Although this medal, and the others in this auction of Toovey's Lot 895 sold in 2013 are attributed to Sir Geoffrey Archer, the identification of the class of the Order of Ismail award is incorrect. I do not know if they did not distinguish between a neck ribbon and a sash, or if the measurement of the breast star could partially resolve the class of this award (see caption on the next photo below). The auction listing's identification of the ribbon bar with 5 awards includes his KCMG, the Order of Ismail, and the African General Service Medal, shown in the two portrait photos below. As noted above, the listing also identified the ribbons for George V Silver Jubilee Medal 1935 and the Ethiopian Order of the Star ribbons on that same bar, which I have not seen on any portrait of Archer and no information on these medals is in the Sudan Archive of the University of Durham Library online catalogue records in section “2. Personal Papers (ii) Honours and Decorations of the Papers of G. F. Archer". 

Full photographic image associated with the Toovey’s Antiques & Fine Art Auctioneers & Valuers 2013 auction listing showing the neck badge and breast star of Sir Geoffrey Francis Archer’s Knight Commander of the Order of St. Michael and St. George on the left and the Order of Ismail on the right. The size of the breast star of the Order of Ismail appears to be approximately the same as the KCMG breast star. The KCMG breast star is usually identified as 82 mm in diameter; the 1st Class Order of Ismail breast star is usually reported as 80-82 mm in diameter; and the 2nd Class breast star is consistently identified as 70 mm in diameter. If this photograph was taken of both awards in the same exposure (likely), and they are both shown at the same scale, then it  would be evident the breast star of the Order of Ismail is most likely ~80 mm in diameter, identifying it as the Grand Cordon Class, consistent with the information that Archer was awarded the 1st Class of the Order of Ismail and as seen in the 2nd portrait photo shown below. 

The above portrait photo is the most commonly reproduced image of Sir Geoffrey Francis Archer in his dress uniform for the Governor-Generalship of the Sudan. It shows him wearing the neck badge and breast star of the Knight Commander of the Order of St. Michael and St. George and what is probably the Africa General Service Medal (1913-1920). This fairly high-resolution version of the portrait is from David Valenzuela’s flickr photostream (https://www.flickr.com/photos/target_man_2000/34752817902/in/photostream/). I have found one source for a high-resolution portrait of Sir Geoffrey Archer wearing his Order of Ismail regalia, and have reproduced a moderate resolution copy of that image below.

A moderate resolution version of the portrait of Sir Geoffrey Archer in his dress uniform as the Governor-General of the Sudan wearing the Grand Cordon Class of the Order of Ismail. This image is copyrighted by the Palace Green Library Special Collections of the Durham University Library’s Sudan Collection, and is the only portrait I have found showing Archer wearing the Order of Ismail. This same image is reproduced as a low-resolution photo in the upper right plate on page 314 of Martin W. Daly’s 1986 book: Empire on the Nile: The Anglo-Egyptian Sudan 1898-1934. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. This portrait shows him wearing the KCMG neck badge and breast star, probably the same African General Service Medal (the thin green stripes of the ribbon on the Africa General Service Medal are more apparent of this image), and the breast star of the Order of Ismail in addition to a sash of the Order of Ismail. The black & white photo shows a light gray center and darker stripes at the margin, and there is a sash badge visible in this image that appears to be the sash badge of the Order of Ismail. The color configuration does not match the sash for the KCMG which has a broad central stripe of red against a blue background. During correspondence with the Archivist for the Sudan Collection, he identified their higher-resolution original of this portrait as GB-0033 SAD. 1/11/4. This number does not appear in the online catalogue of the Papers of G. F. Archer because it is a duplicate of one of the loose photographs associated with his time in the Sudan SAD. 22/3/1, that is listed in the catalogue for this collection. No date is associated with the collection information for this photograph, however the archivist has now included a note that it must post-date 1930 when Archer received the Order of Ismail from King Fuad I. The portrait clearly shows the sash badge of the Order of Ismail, and the black & white hues of the sash are similar to those shown below in photographs of Sir Geoffrey Archer’s successors in the Governorship of the Sudan, Sir John Loader Maffey and Sir George Stewart Symes. Those portraits do not show the sash badge of the Order of Ismail, although both individuals also wear the breast badge and the what appears to be the sash for the 1st Class Grand Cordon of this Order. 

Portrait of Sir John Loader Maffey, 1st Baron Rugby (GCMG. KCB, KCVO, CSI, CIE) in the same dress uniform of the Governor General of Sudan as shown above for Sir Geoffrey Francis Archer. The portrait shows the breast star and sash of the 1st Class Grand Cordon of the Order of Ismail. I have not found any information about the award date of his Order of Ismail. The above version of this portrait comes from Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Maffey,_1st_Baron_Rugby#/media/File:Lord_Rugby.jpg), but, as noted below, a high resolution version can be seen on the National Portrait Gallery website. Following Sir Geoffrey Archer’s resignation, the career civil servant Sir John Loader Maffey was appointed as Governor-General of Sudan and served from 1926-1933. Maffey is better known for his diplomatic role during WWII between Britain and Ireland from 1939 until his retirement in 1949. This was a particularly challenging post, especially in navigating Ireland’s neutrality policy and the secretive Anglo-Irish security during WWII. Maffey was made the 1st Baron of Rugby in 1947. At least 4 portrait photos of Sir John Loader Maffey show him wearing the breast star and the sash of the Order of Ismail. In the above portrait, Maffey also wears the neck badge and breast star of the KCVO, and five service medals that include (from the viewer’s L to R): probably the India General Service medal with 4 clasps; the 1914-15 Star; the British War Medal (WWI) and Victory Medal; and probably the Delhi Durbar Medal 1911.The name of the photographer of this is portrait is unknown,  but worked for Bassano Ltd.. The photo is recorded to have been taken on on 27 June, 1931. It is a whole plate glass negative, curated in the National Portrait Gallery (NPG x150081): https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portrait/mw114847/John-Loader-Maffey-1st-Baron-Rugby?LinkID=mp59788&role=sit&rNo=2. The National Portrait Gallery version is much higher resolution than the image I have included above, and, of course, copies can be purchased through the NPG.

A larger format portrait of Sir John Loader Maffey from the National portrait Gallery taken on the same date shows the sash for the Order of Ismail better, but the sash badge is not visible. This portrait also was taken by a photographer whose name has not been recorded working for Bassano Ltd. (probably the same as the previous portrait of Maffey), on 27 June 1931, and is a whole plate glass negative, curated in the National Portrait Gallery (NPG x150079): https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portrait/mw114845/John-Loader-Maffey-1st-Baron-Rugby. The lower resolution image I have posted above comes from:  http://royalisticism.blogspot.com/2015_12_23_archive.html. In addition to the Order of Ismail, Sir John Maffey was awarded the Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St. Michael and St. George (KCMG); Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order, neck badge and breast star, (KCVO), CSI Companion of the Star of India (CSI); and the Companion of the Indian Empire (CIE). 

Above is a photograph of Sir John Loader Maffey (front row, 4th from the viewer’s left) with the British Delegation attending the coronation of Haile Selassie I as Emperor of Ethiopia in 1930 that shows him in dress uniform on the steps of the British Legation in Addis Ababa wearing the same decorations in the two portraits above, including the Grand Cordon Order of Ismail. The detail is not good enough to determine whether it may show the sash badge of the Order of Ismail. This version of the photo is from https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/06/British_delegation_Addis_Abeba.jpg. This photo is available in a higher resolution for sale on the Alamy Stock Photo History and Art Collection on the alamy.com website (image ID: P7GKA3). The Alamy listing also identifies some of the individuals in the photo: "Front row, from left to right: Sir H. Kittermaster, Governor of Somaliland; Sir S. Barton, Minister (ambassador) to Addis Abeba; the Duke of Gloucester, Head of the delegation; Sir J. Maffey, Governor-General of the Sudan; Admiral Fullerton, East Indies Station, Royal Navy. Standing behind Kittermaster and Barton is the Resident of Aden, Sir Stewart Symes. Young Wilfred Thesiger, who had been invited by Selassie to attend the event, is standing in the 4th row (arrow)". 

Photo from the Palace Green Library Special Collections of the Durham University Library showing Sir John Loader Maffey (seated in the center) wearing the sash of the Grand Cordon Order of Ismail. This is a copyrighted photo from the Sudan Archive, although lower resolution images can be found online. Although Maffey's KCMG breast star is visible (he was awarded the KCMG in 1931, and the GCMG in 1938), that for the Order of Ismail is not (there may be small amount visible below the KCMG star, but both the low resolution of this version of the photo and perhaps Sir John Maffey;s sash and sleeve covers up most of the Order of Ismail breast star as well). Martin Willoughby Parr, the Private Secretary to the Governor-General from 1927-1933, is seated to the viewer's left of Maffey. The  2004 Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford University Press, Oxford) identifies the dates of Maffey's KCMG and GCMG awards noted above, as well as the dates for his KCVO (1921), CIE (1916), and KCB (1934) in volume 36, page 105. This image is from the Sudan Collection's materials associated with Martin Willoughby Parr, and listed in the catalogue as GB-0033 SAD.842/10/5. This image is identified in the catalogue as probably dating between 1932-1933, depicting Maffey with his staff in Khartoum. This photographic print measures 221 x 272 mm, and was taken by taken by A. Kazandjian. 

One of the National Portrait Gallery photographs of Maffey’s successor, Lieutenant-Colonel Sir George Stewart Symes (KBE, KCMG, DSO) as Governor General of the Sudan (1934-1940), also shows him wearing the sash of the Order of Ismail and it shows a portion of the breast star of the Order of Ismail below his breast stars of the Knight Commander of the Order of St. Michael and St. George and that of the Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire. The award date of his Grand Cordon Class of the Order of Ismail to Symes is identified in Le Mondain Egyptien; The Egyptian Who’s Who: L’Annuaire  de l’Elite d’Egypte1939 (F. E. Noury & Fils, le Caire) entry on page 355 as 1938. This portrait (NPGx85426) also is by an unnamed photographer from Bassano Ltd. and is dated 1938. This portrait can be viewed at a much higher resolution on the National Portrait Gallery website (https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portrait/mw53172/Sir-George-Stewart-Symes).

A larger portrait of Lieutenant-Colonel Sir George Stewart Symes that appears to be from the same sitting shows the breast star of the Order of Ismail and the complete sash, but the sash badge is not visible in this photograph because of the position of his left arm holding the dress sword. This is a copyrighted image from the Palace Green Library Special Collections in the Durham University Library’s Sudan Collection (GB-0033 SAD. A85/181), from the papers of J. Angus Gillan. As in the above, he wears the neck badge and breast star of the KCMG, and the breast star of the KBE (the KBE neck badge is suspended to the viewer’s L of the KCMG breast star, overlapping the sash of the Order of Ismail). He wears the DSO below the KCMG neck badge. The resolution of the maximum zoom possible on the National Portrait Gallery site’s image of the 1st portrait above of Sir George Stewart Symes shows enough detail that some knowledgable person here on GMIC can, I believe, determine enough of the obverse design and especially ribbon configurations to identify the medals. I can only identify six of these seven medals. To the viewer’s R of Symes' DSO, from L-R are: the Queen’s South Africa Medal 1899-1902 with 2 clasps, the British War Medal (WWI) and Victory Medal with MiD oak decoration; the George V and Queen Mary Silver Jubilee Medal 1935; George VI Coronation Medal 1937 (?); and the Order of Osmanieh 4th Class. The obverse of the 7th medal is difficult to see, even on a zoomed view of the NPG image, because of the overlap of the Order of Osmanieh, but appears not to be a portrait bust, but some other design. I have not had luck trying to match the ribbon design. Symes is recorded to have received the "Egyptian Medal" for his participation in the 1908 Blue Nile Expedition, but this is probably not that medal. The Archive’s data for this portrait identifies it as taken in 1938, and it includes the caption in an album page where this photo is situated, apparently with other portraits: “Goodbye to all these, July 1939”, and a caption on the photograph “H.E.”, probably "His Excellency". The National Portrait Gallery version of this portrait (the same format as the 1st photo of Sir George Stewart Symes shown above) identifies the date as 12 July, 1939. The Durham University Sudan Archive identifies this portrait as having been taken in Khartoum and measures 151 x 104 mm, but does not list the photographer (identified as Bassano Ltd. on the NPG online catalogue). Another image of Symes in his Governor-General's uniform from the Durham University Sudan Archive (SAD.1/11/5 ) shows him without the Order of Ismail. In that autographed portrait, with an uncertain date of 1939, Symes is wearing his KBE neck badge at his collar and the neck badge of the KCMG is worn to the viewer's left of the breast star of the KBE. It also shows two honors not worn in the above images; the 3rd Class Commander Order of the Nile (identified as awarded in 1915 in the biography of Symes on the AngloBoerWar.com website: https://angloboerwar.com/index.php/medals-and-awards/non-boer-war/129-dso-ed-vii-by-date-of-issue?option=com_grid&gid=23_px_0&p=3), and another breast star I cannot distinguish from the resolution of that image. The other award may be an Ethiopian Order of the Star, but I am uncertain about that. The 2004 Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford University Press, Oxford) states that Symes' foreign honors include Hedjazi and Ethiopian decorations (Vol 53, pg. 585) in addition to Turkish (Order of Osmanieh) and Egyptian (Order of Ismail; Order of the Nile) recognition, but the specific awards and dates are not identified. The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography entry for Symes also identifies the dates of his awards of KBE (1928), GBE (1939), CMG (1917), and KCMG (1932).

As noted in the first paragraph of this post, the award of the these 1st Class Order of Ismail honors given to Governors of the Sudan occurred at a particularly contentious time in regard to Egypt’s claim on the Sudan. Although I do not have any historical documentation to support this inference, I may speculate, that King Fuad I awarded these Governors the Order of Ismail not simply in a pro forma manner, but for very pointed political reasons. I believe that the Egyptian King rewarded these Governors-General for their service within a territory that Egypt continued to claim as their rightful conquest under Mohammed Ali Pasha, blaming Britain for losing this territory to the Mahdi Muhammed Ahmad, and unhappy with the British scheme of maintaining it as a condominium which effectively kept Britain as the actual ruler of Sudan. Decorating acting or former Governors of the Sudan with the Grand Cordon Class of the Order of Ismail may be a minor way to assert that the Governorship role was a service to Egypt in its interest in maintaining that the Sudan should have been under Egyptian control. By honoring these governors with the 2nd highest Egyptian award, the Grand Cordon Class of the Order of Ismail, the Egyptian throne was implicitly identifying the value of their contribution to the ”eminent service of the state” (the defined purpose of this award’s creation by Hussein Kamal in 1915), emphasizing their service to Egypt in the Sudan rather than to the British. General Sir Francis Reginald Wingate, 1st Baronet (GCB, GCVO, GBE, KCMG, DSO, DL, TD), Governor-General of the Sudan and Sirdar of the Egyptian Army (1899-1916), was awarded the Grand Cordon of the Order of the Nile in 1915 and the Grand Cordon of the Order of Mohammed Ali in 1917 (both probably from Sultan Hussein Kamel) that likely were given for his service as Governor-General. He was sympathetic to the Egyptian Nationalist Party, a position that resulted in his acrimonious dismissal by the British from his position as British High Commissioner to Egypt (1917-1919). I have not identified any Egyptian honors awarded to Major General Sir Lee Oliver Fitzmaurice Stack (GBE, CMG), Sir Geoffrey Archer's predecessor, when he was Governor General of the Sudan and Sirdar of the Egyptian Army from 1917 until his assassination in Cairo in 1924. I also have not found any data regarding whether the subsequent Governor-General of the Sudan (1940-1947), following Sir Stewart Symes, Major General Sir Hubert Jervoise Huddleston (GCMG, GBE, CB, DSO & Bar, MC), received any honors from King Farouk I. The Sudan Archive at the Durham University Library also has no corroborating imagery or documentation of Huddleston or Stack having received Egyptian honors. 

Edited November 26, 2019 by Rusty Greaves

[Rusty Greaves]

I have some doubts about the alleged award date of 1930 for the Archer Grand Cordon Order of Ismail noted above. Although the Palace Green Library Special Collections in the Durham University Library’s Sudan Collection. (GB-0033 SAD. 430/7/6) identifies the award date as 26 March, 1930 in the “Catalogue of the Papers of G. F. Archer”,  I think this date is problematic. Archer resigned under duress in 1926. The above portrait of Archer from the Sudan collection (GB-0033 SAD. 1/11/4)  is used as the first plate of Archer's autobiography Personal and Historical Memoirs of an East African Administrator, 1963, Oliver & Boyd, Ltd. Edinburgh. Archer titled the image “The Author as Governor-General of the Sudan”.  As Archer was forced to resign in 1926, this raised  question about the date associated with the brevet for his Order of Ismail as 26 March, 1930. It is certainly conceivable that King Fuad I may have awarded Archer the Order of Ismail after his term as Governor-General. However, it seems unlikely that Archer would pose in the official uniform of Governor-General 4 year after his resignation (and despite the acrimonious attitudes of many British administrators about Archer’s meeting with Sayyid Abd el-Rahman al Mahdi that precipitated his resignation, although historically his position about al-Mahdi proved to be prescient). I believe there is a good chance that the 1930 date in the catalogued information for the brevet may be incorrect. Archer’s forced resignation was considered a disgrace, and I would be surprised if he could have posed for this portrait, and titled it “The Author as Governor-General of the Sudan” in his autobiography, wearing his uniform and this award after that unpleasant event. I am corresponding with the Archivist of the Sudan Collection to see if this question can be resolved. 

I also wish to add the above image of another example of the 'Mon J. LATTES, Le Caire" label inside a medal case that is identical to that shown in the 2nd photo of my first post of 21 October, 2019 on this thread (although the above image is much higher resolution than that shown on 21 October) from a  past eBay auction archived on the Worthpoint.com website for a 2nd Class Silver Egyptian Devotion to Duty medal. The above interior case lid is illustrated in an October 2019 auction listing (Lot 855) on the Saleroom website (https://www.the-saleroom.com/en-gb/auction-catalogues/arthur-johnson-and-sons-auctioneers/catalogue-id-ibart10723/lot-f891320e-5a2e-40be-b3f5-aada00f02ed1) for a 2nd Class silver Egyptian Medal for Meritorious Action. The auction description does not identify the medal, but shows illustrations of the obverse, reverse (both showing a purple ribbon), an illusion of the interior case lid (cropped in the above photo), and the exterior of the case showing the cipher of King Fuad I. Other than dating prior to 1936, there is no additional information to try and situate the temporal use of this form of Lattes' interior case marking. The other similar J. Lattes marking shown in my post of 21 October is not associated with any reliable dating information.  

Edited December 9, 2019 by Rusty Greaves

[Rusty Greaves]

One of the most illustrious Europeans to be awarded the Grand Cordon Class of the Order of Ismail is the Norwegian jurist Michael Hansson (1875-1944). Unfortunately, I have not found any photographs of him wearing this award, nor any documentation regarding where this award currently resides. Hansson had a 25-year career on the Egyptian Mixed Courts and then worked with the Permanent Court of Arbitration at the Hague as well as other international arbitration commissions. Hansson received the1938 Nobel Peace Prize on behalf of the Nansen International Office for Refugees and presented the acceptance speech for the1938 Nobel Prize as the President of that organization from 1936-1938  (https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/peace/1938/nansen/lecture/). Michael Hansson was appointed in 1907 to the District Court of Mansourah, transferred to the District Court of Alexandria in 1913, promoted to Conseiller (legal advisor) of the Mixed Court of Appeals in 1915, made vice-President of the Mixed Court of Appeals in 1924, and served as the President of the Court of Appeals from 1927 until his retirement from the Mixed Courts in 1931. I have posted 4 images of Hansson in his judicial regalia in the 6th-9th photos of my post on 18 April, 2019 that discusses the biographies of judges whose badges or photos of them in their regalia are useful in my research on the badges worn by the judges and some other officials of the Mixed Courts (see the thread “Egypt Khedival Judges’ Badge question” that I started on 17 November, 2016 here in the “Middle East & Arab States” section of the GMIC Forum). Hansson was a very well-respected jurist, and his promotion to the most prestigious position in the Egyptian Mixed Courts (President of the Appeals Court) is evidence of the esteem in which he was held by his peers. Hansson also was awarded the Grand Cordon Class of the Order of the Nile, but I do not know the date of that award. I do not have any photographs of Hansson wearing his Order of Ismail, and do not know the precise date of the award. Hansson had probably not yet received the Order of Ismail or Order of the Nile by 1926. His biography in the 50th Anniversary publication celebrating the Mixed Courts (Les Juridictions Mixtes d'Égypte 1876-1926: Livre d'or Édité sous le Patronage du Conseil de l’Ordre des Avocats á l’Occasion du Cinquantenaire des Tribunaux de la Réforme, par le :journal des Tribunaux Mixtes. Alexandrie, Egypte, Février 1926, on page v of the appendix listing the personnel of the Appeals Court) makes no mention of these honors. Jasper Yeates Brinton wrote in his memoir of his time serving on the Mixed Courts (and eventually as the President of the Appeals Court from 1943-1948) that honors from the Egyptian throne to judges of the Court often were not awarded until after their retirement, to avoid any appearance of biased influence during their term on the bench (pg 87 of Brinton, Jasper Yeates, The Mixed Courts of Egypt, 1930. Yale University Press, New Haven). This practice may not have been entirely exclusive of some individuals receiving ranks and honors from the Egyptian King, however it does appear to be so in relation to Hansson’s receipt of the Grand Cordon of the Order of Ismail. Hansson had a sterling reputation both for his legal acumen and professional behavior that is consistent with not accepting any distinctions from the Egyptian Government while serving on the courts. I can find no evidence that he received his Order of Ismail honor prior to 1931. Hansson also received the Norwegian Knight 1st Class of the Order of St. Olav in 1915, and the 2nd Class Commander of this Order in 1926, and was a Commander of the Swedish Order of the Polar Star (date unspecified).

Photograph of Michael Hansson taken in 1912 showing him in his judicial regalia (stamboulin coat with a red sash with the gold & silver judicial badge of a District Court, and maroon tarbush) at the time he served on the District Court of Mansourah. I posted this image as the 6th photo in my post of 18 April, 2019 on the GMIC thread addressing research on the judicial badge of the Mixed Courts, referenced above. This photo is from the Norwegian biographical website Norske Biografisk Leksikon of the Store  Norske Leksikon (https://nbl.snl.no/Michael_Hansson) and is the 2nd photographic plate in Hansson's posthumous autobiography: Hansson, Michael, 1946. 25 År I Egypt (25 Years in Egypt), Forlagt Av H. Aschehoug & Co., Oslo, opposite page 17. 

Photo of Michael Hansson (L) accepting the 1938 Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo on behalf of the Nansen International Office for Refugees from Frederik Stang (R), Chairman of the Nobel Committee on December 10, 1938. Captions of this photo do not unambiguously identify which man is Hansson. Although both men look similar in this photo, other photos of each man show that Stang parted his hair on the left and Hansson parted his hair on the right. Additionally, the photo is supposed to document Hansson receiving the award for the Nansen International Office for Refugees, so I believe I have correctly identified their positions in this photo. (From: https://evian1938.de/en/norway/?a=2&d=0&o=0)

Edited December 10, 2019 by Rusty Greaves

[Jah Jim]

On 25/11/2019 at 13:23, Rusty Greaves said:

From above"

The National Portrait Gallery version of this portrait (the same format as the 1st photo of Sir George Stewart Symes shown above) identifies the date as 12 July, 1939. The Durham University Sudan Archive identifies this portrait as having been taken in Khartoum and measures 151 x 104 mm, but does not list the photographer (identified as Bassano Ltd. on the NPG online catalogue). Another image of Symes in his Governor-General's uniform from the Durham University Sudan Archive (SAD.1/11/5 ) shows him without the Order of Ismail. In that autographed portrait, with an uncertain date of 1939, Symes is wearing his KBE neck badge at his collar and the neck badge of the KCMG is worn to the viewer's left of the breast star of the KBE. It also shows two honors not worn in the above images; the 3rd Class Commander Order of the Nile (identified as awarded in 1915 in the biography of Symes on the AngloBoerWar.com website: https://angloboerwar.com/index.php/medals-and-awards/non-boer-war/129-dso-ed-vii-by-date-of-issue?option=com_grid&gid=23_px_0&p=3), and another breast star I cannot distinguish from the resolution of that image. The other award may be an Ethiopian Order of the Star, but I am uncertain about that.

Do you have an image that shows the possible Order of the Ethiopian Star?  I might be able to make it out for you no matter how grainy.  My brain has used it's own version of fuzzy logic to identify Ethiopian awards for 45 years.  Thanks.

 

[Rusty Greaves]

Jah Jim, I've included the other portrait of Sir George Stewart Symes from the Durham University Sudan Archive that you wished to look at to perform some "fuzzy logic" medal identification. At second glance, I am very uncertain whether the breast star to the viewer's right of the neck badge of the 3rd Class Order of the Nile may be an Ethiopian Order of the Star. I expected to see some of the openwork of the execution if it is an Order of the Star. My guess was based on the 2004 Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Vol 53, pg. 585) listing that Symes’ foreign honors include Hedjazi and Ethiopian decorations, in addition to the identified Turkish award (the 4th Class Order of Osmanieh) and Egyptian awards (the 1st Class Order of Ismail and the 3rd Class Order of the Nile). I look forward to your opinion on this breast star. 

Autographed portrait photo of Lieutenant-Colonel Sir George Stewart Symes in his uniform as Governor-General of the Sudan with a slightly contrasting set of decorations from the portraits shown in the last 2 images of my recent post of 25 November. This photo is dated to approximately 1939, although that is not a secure date association. The portrait is identified as having been taken in London. This photo is from the Palace Green Library Special Collections, Durham University Library’s Sudan Collection (GB-0033 SAD.1/11/5) in materials of the Symes, G. S. Collection, and is copyrighted by the archive and should be used for research purposes only. 

Edited December 11, 2019 by Rusty Greaves

[922F]

Rusty-

Star next to Nile commander and below KBE  star appears to be an Al-Nada; see  Owain Raw-Rees' The Order Of Al Nahda of the Kingdom of the Hijaz at http://www.rogersstudy.co.uk/hejaz/al_nahda/al_nahda.html likely first class.  For image of that insignia, in addition to Owain's work, see:   https://www.mortonandeden.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/web106-1.pdf , lot 771.

[Rusty Greaves]

922F, Many thanks for identifying this breast star and for providing the links with information about this award. Where would I be without the education you keep providing through significant information related to my stumbling along in the dark about the Order of Ismail and my feeble forays into identifying other decorations? I have passed your identification along to the Archivist at the Durham Univ. Sudan Archive as well. We'll see if the Archivist can clarify the possibility of an earlier date for Sir Geoffrey Francis Archer's Order of Ismail that makes a bit more sense in terms of the potential date for the portrait of him wearing the Grand Cordon sash with badge and breast star. 

In the meantime, to veer back into the Order of Ismail lane (albeit a low velocity philatelic rather than purely phaleristic one), below are a few Egyptian stamps that use one of the best known official photographic portraits of King Farouk I showing him wearing the Order of Ismail. I posted a version of this portrait as the 3rd image of my post of 24 March, 2019 on this thread (and accidentally inserted it a second time at the end of the post). In that portrait King Farouk I wears the Collar of the Order of Mohammed Ali along with the Sash and breast star of the Order, The breast star of the Order of Ismail, and the breast star of the Order of the Nile, all worn in correct order of precedence. Although the portrait has sometimes been identified as c 1948 (and I repeated this in my post of 24 March. 2019) it is used in several stamps below that were issued before that date.

This s a sheet of imperforate 4 mills King Farouk I stamps in green ink from David Feldman International Auctioneers (https://dsy73arn0qite.cloudfront.net/2019/05/159770ex1_full.jpg). The King's portrait has been cropped so that it only displays a small portion of the Order of Ismail breast star to the viewer's left of the Order of Mohammed Ali. 

1944-51 military King Farouk I £E blue and sepia ink stamp with the breasts stars of the Order of Mohammed Ali, the Order of Ismail, and the Order of the Nile visible (as are the other stamps and one FDI envelope illustrated below). These may be a valuable imperforate set. This is from David Feldman Auctioneers (https://www.davidfeldman.com/de/dfsa-auktionen/egypt-2017-online-auction/global-catalogue/80120/egypt-definitives-1936-1952-king-farouk-1944-51-mi/?soff_session_category=6410). 

This is the 25th Birthday of King Farouk I stamp in purple ink issued in 1945 celebrating the King's 25th birthday (11 February, 1920). This is a valuable imperforate example set of this 10 mills stamp. (From: https://findyourstampsvalue.com/rarest-stamps/most-valuable-egyptian-stamps). 

50 pi military stamp of King Faoruk I issued in 1944-51 in green and sepia ink. It shows a much greater amount of the King Farouk I portrait. Note the King's crescent and 3 stars from his coat-of-arms surmounted by the crown at the superior margin of the stamp. This is considered to be one of the most handsome Farouk I stamps by collectors, and this imperforate examples is quite valuable. From: https://findyourstampsvalue.com/rarest-stamps/most-valuable-egyptian-stamps

This 30 mills stamp is identified as having been issued on February 11, 1952 (the King's birthday) in green and sepia as part of a series commemorating the abrogation of the Anglo-Egyptian treaty, before King Farouk I was overthrown on 26 July, 1952. From the cornet.com website (https://colnect.com/en/stamps/stamp/321721-King_Farouk_and_Flag-Abrogation_of_the_Anglo-Egyptian_treaty-Egypt). 

Commemorative first day of issue envelope (10 January, 1946) for the royal visit of King Adulaziz Ibn Saud of Arabia to Egypt. I illustrated a photo of this event (with the associated date of 11 January, 1946) showing both King Farouk I and Ahmed Hassanein wearing the 1st Class Order of Ismail as the 6th photo of my post of 24 March, 2019 on this thread. From an August 2019 eBay auction (https://www.ebay.com/itm/1946-Cairo-Egypt-The-Royal-Visit-King-of-Saudi-Arabia-First-Day-of-Issue-Cover/392384361280?hash=item5b5bee3340:g:4dgAAOSwPqFdVeqH). 

There are several other Egyptian stamps that feature versions of this portrait. Many are cropped and do not show the Order of Ismail. There are some additional stamps that repeat the cropped versions seen in the 4 mill green stamp shown above (i.e., a 1 mill orange/brown ink 1945 issue; a 2 mills red ink 1948 issue;  a 10 mills purple ink 1944 issue; a 13 mils red ink January 17, 1952 issue; a 10 mills military Gaza stamp in green ink). I have illustrated above the best quality examples I can readily find online, and those my uninformed philatelic tastes consider interesting uses of this King Farouk I portrait with the Order of Ismail. 

Edited December 13, 2019 by Rusty Greaves

[Rusty Greaves]

The Archivist at the Sudan Archive at Durham University just got back to me about the unlikely date of 1930 for Sir Geoffrey Francis Archer's award receipt of the Grand Cordon Class of the Order of Ismail. Apparently the catalogue entry was incorrect, identifying the Hijra date as 25 Shawwal 1348 as the award date of the award to Archer (26 March, 1930). The correct date on the brevet for Archer's Order of Ismail is 6 Shawwal 1344 AH, which is 20 April, 1926. This dates fits within Sir Geoffrey Archer's time as Governor General of the Sudan (he was forced to resign on 6 July, 1926). The Archivist step that the date is unclearly printed on the brevet, and he will double check in February with a group of Arabists. 

[Rusty Greaves]

Below are four higher resolution images of a Grand Cordon set of the Order of Ismail from an April 2018 auction, SKU 560, by La Galerie Numismatique (https://www.coins-la-galerie-numismatique.com/auction-xxxviii-day-1/order-ismail) that also are archived on the liveauctioneers.com website (https://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/60483636_order-of-ismail). I previously illustrated this set in the 1st-3rd photos and the 8th photo of my post of 22 February, 2019 in a continued discussion of hallmarks and their placement on the Order of Ismail. I also illustrated this first Class Order of Ismail in its case in the last photo (24th image in that post) of my post of 19 October, 2019 discussing cases of the Order of Ismail. Those images all came from the liveauctioneers.com website, and I only recently was able to download these higher-resolution images from the La Galerie Numismatique website. These are slightly more detailed images than photos in the 22 February post. The description in the La Galerie Numismatique auction listing is the same as that for the liveauctioneers description. This set was made by Lattes and the  sash badge measurement is given as 62 mm wide x 85 mm high, the breast star is stated to measure 82 mm in diameter. I originally illustrated this cased set to show that the sash badge and breast star had overlapping but slightly contrasting date hallmarks. The sash badge is hallmarked with "B" date hallmarks indicating a manufacturing/assay date of 1927-1928. The breast star is hallmarked "C" for manufacture/assay in 1928-1929. Apparently, the Cairo assay office either received each component at slightly different times, or the staff performed the assays of each under adjacent temporal periods when the date hallmark was being changed so that each piece in the cased set bears a different date hallmark. Another reason I wanted to illustrate this set again is that it appears to show a variant form of the decorative bow of the sash that does not have the pinking (zig-zag) edge as shown in the illustrations of most other examples of the Grand Cordon sash of the Order of Ismail. As noted in my post of 15 October, 2019, the Eisenhower 1st Class Order of Ismail sash bow lacks pinking of the bow (shown in the 1st photo of my post of 17 September, 2019 and in the 1st and 2nd photos of my post of 17 September). The decorative bow also may have a slightly different tied configuration that I do not know if it is principally an artifact of more recent re-tying or folding of the sash or some other form of the intended bow configuration. The ends of the sash of this example are frayed and do not exhibit the pinking edge, but that may just have been cause by wear.  

Higher resolution image of this Grand Cordon Class of he Order of Ismail from the April 2018 auction by La Galerie Numismatique in its case. This is a better detailed image than the versions I previously illustrated in the 1st photo of my post of 22 February, 2019 and in the last photo of my post of 19 October, 2019. (this image, and the three photos below, are from: https://www.coins-la-galerie-numismatique.com/auction-xxxviii-day-1/order-ismail)

Higher resolution image of this La Galerie Numismatique Grand Cordon Order of Ismail than the version I posted in the 2nd photo of my post of 22 February, 2019, showing the lack of pinking on the decorative sash bow. It also illustrates the frayed margins of the sash that lack pinking. While some sashes for other Egyptian Orders also exhibit a lack of pinking of the bow and sash margins (see the 1st illustration that 922f included in his post of 22 April, 2018 on this thread showing one of Fuad II's  Monarchy in Exile example of the Nishan al Noor; also see the Monarchy in Exile examples of sashes for the Order of Women and the Order of Mohammed Ali made by Worth in Markus post of 28 November, 2018 in his thread "Interesting Egyptian orders in Spink Auction" in the Middle East & Arab States section here on GMIC). However, such a configuarion is unusual compared with most examples of the Grand Cordon sash of the Order of Ismail. 

Higher resolution photo of the sash badge from the La Galerie Numismatique April 2018 auction than I posted in the 3rd photo of my post of 22 February, 2019. The auction description states this badge is 62 mm wide x 85 mm high, and date hallmarked "B" = an assay date date of 1927-1928. The identified height of 85 mm seems too large, most reported height dimensions for the sash badge range from 80-82 mm, but I cannot be certain where on the Crown suspension device that dimensions was measured (or if it may have included the clip to the sash?). 

Higher resolution photo of the breast star from the La Galerie Numismatique April 2018 auction than the version I posted in the 8th photo of my post of 22 February, 2019. The auction description identifies the diameter of this star as 82 mm. Although most reported examples are consistently 80 mm in diameter, some 1st Class stars are identified as ranging 81-82 mm. Images of the reverse of this breast star show  a "C" date hallmark for manufacture or assay in 1928-1929.  

I am including a few additional images below (most I have previously posted on this thread) showing configurations of the bow on the Grand Cordon sash of the Order of Ismail. Unfortunately, there are not a lot of good mages of the sash bow on auction sites nor in some of the few photos I have found of individuals wearing the Grand Cordon Order of Ismail. 

Image of a Grand Cordon Class Order of Ismail sash and sash badge (there is no breast star associated with this example) from a past eMedals auction. This example was made by Lattes. The sash badge is identified as measuring 61.5 mm wide x 80 mm tall, including the crown suspension device. The sash badge has a date hallmark of "A" indicating manufacture in 1925-1926. I previously posted this image as the photo in my post of 13 November, 2017. This example shows the pinking of the central 2 bow margins of the decorative bow (and the outermost/lowermost portion of the bow is hemmed, not pinked). The sash margins also have pinking of the fabric ends. No length or width dimensions of this sash are give in the actuation description. (From: https://www.emedals.com/africa/egypt/egypt-order-of-ismail-w0269)

Image of another sash for the Gand Cordon Class of the Order of Ismail from a past eMedals auction. This sash is not associated with any sash badge or breast star, but the suspension swivel clip device is present). Although slightly crushed from storage, this photo clearly shows the 2 central portions of the decorative bow exhibiting pinking above the lowermost single bow that is hemmed. This configuration also is seen in the above eMedals Grand Cordon sash, and in the next image below from a 2017 Spink & Son auction. The width of this sash is identified as 112 mm, its length is not given, although it is stated to be "full length". I previously illustrated the sash suspension swivel clip device of this example in the 6th photo of my post of 22 August, 2019. (From: https://www.emedals.com/order-of-ismail-1915-a-sash-w01278)

A Grand Cordon Class Order of Ismail from a December, 2017 auction by Spink & Son, Auction 17003, Lot 28, (https://www.spink.com/lot/17003000028) archived on The Salesroom website (https://www.the-saleroom.com/en-us/auction-catalogues/spink/catalogue-id-srspi10156/lot-3b07acb4-542f-4733-93a3-a83200b99892). This example was made by Lattes and the auction description identifies the sash badge as 62 mm wide x 80 mm tall (Including the crown suspension device) and the breast star as 80 mm in diameter. This example has a date hall mark of "Y" (manufactured in 1923-1924) and was associated with its case. I previously posted this image as the only photo in my post of 6 December, 2017 on this thread, and as the 1st photo of my post of 13 December, 2018. This is probably the best auction image of the decorative bow showing the pinked margins of the uppermost 2 portions of the bow underlain by the 2 bows with hemmed margins (and the pinking of the sash end). 

The Eisenhower Grand Cordon sash showing the lack of any pinking of the decorative bow, although the margin of the sash shows pinking of its edge. Photo provided by the Archvist at the Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library, Museum & Childhood Home, Abilene, Kansas, USA (https://www.eisenhowerlibrary.gov/eisenhowers/awards-medals). I included this photo as the 1st image in my post of 17 November, 2019 on this thread. The date hallmark probably identifies the manufacturing date as 1945-1946 for this example made by Tewfik Bichay (the award date to Eisenhower is 1947). 

The JOMSA article on the Order of Ismail (2006. Journal of the Orders and Medals Society of America (JOMSA) 54 (4): Fig 15, pg. 20) appears to show a decorative bow that lacks pinking, however the image of the bow itself is incomplete. The JOMSA description gives the width of the sash as 100 mm, and the 9 mm red stripe are inset from each edge of the sash by 2 mm. No length of the sash is identified. I included this illustration in my post of 27 August, 2019.

The portrait of Sir John Loader Maffey wearing the Grand Cordon Order of Ismail with his uniform as Governor-General of the Sudan that I included as the 6th photo in my post of 25 November, 2019. This is the only image I have currently found showing someone wearing the Grand Cordon Order of Ismail that shows the decorative bow of the sash. The National portrait Gallery version of this image (https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portrait/mw114845/John-Loader-Maffey-1st-Baron-Rugby) can be zoomed and appears to show pinking of the 2 uppermost margins of the decorative bow and the hemmed lowermost bow portion, as seen in several photos above. Unfortunately, the resolution of this version of the portrait (from: http://royalisticism.blogspot.com/2015_12_23_archive.html) is not high enough to see the pinking on the margins of the decorative bow. This photo was taken on 27 June 1931, and is a whole plate glass negative, curated in the National Portrait Gallery (NPG x150079). 

Edited January 16, 2020 by Rusty Greaves

[Rusty Greaves]

I have a couple odds & ends to add - illustrations of one additional 4th Class Knight Order of Ismail and a good resolution image of a Tewfik Bichay interior case lid marking from an Order of the Nile. 

Obverse of a 4th Class Knight Order of Ismail from a December, 2015 auction, Lot 269, by Thies Auction that is archived on the invaluable.com website (https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot/egypt-order-of-ismail-knight-s-badge-269-c-2744c6ab2c). No measurements or other data are provided in the auction description.

The Lattes hallmark on the reverse of this 4th Class Order of Ismail from the 2015 Thies auction. 

The hallmarks on this same 4th Class Knight Order of Ismail showing (L-R): the Cairo assay office hallmark for 18 carat gold; the ibis hallmark identifying Egyptian-made gold; and the date hallmark "D" indicating the manufacture and/or assay date as 1929-1930. 

Tewfik Bichay manufacturer's mark printed inside the lid of a 3rd Class Order of the Nile from a 27 February, 2016 auction of Centurion Auctions, Lot 15138, archived on the Liveauctioneers website. (https://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/43639112_egypt-order-of-the-nile-badge-with-sash-and-box). This cased Order of the Nile is mistakenly described as having a sash, rather than the neck ribbon. No date or assay hallmarks are visible in the 2 images of the reverse of the Order of the Nile neck badge in this case, but the Tewfik Bichay hallmark is visible on the reverse of the central boss of the badge. This is a good quality image of this interior printed case label (It can be zoomed). It is comparable to that shown in the 2nd photo of Owain's post of 5 April, 2018 on this thread of his cased example of a 3rd Class Commander neck badge of the Order of Ismail; to the 4th phot of my post of 17 September, 2019 of the 1st Class Grand Cordon Order of Ismail awarded to Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1947; and to a blue ink version of this mark with a blue-line frame in a case  that I illustrated as the 6th to last photo (20th image ) in my post of 21 October, 2019 of the case for an Egyptian 3rd Class, Devotion to Duty medal in bronze from an eBay auction. The royal cipher on the exterior lid of this case is that of King Farouk I. 

Edited January 16, 2020 by Rusty Greaves

[Rusty Greaves]

I have identified an individual who is wearing the Order of Ismail in a photo I included in my post of 2 April, 2019 on this thread. That post showed some of King Farouk I's chamberlains wearing chamberlain's pins in response to illustrations that Owain provided of such pins in his posts here of 26 March and 29 March, 2019; 2 photos of named individuals wearing the Order of Ismail;  a couple low-resolution images of King Farouk I's Order of Ismail from theAlexandria National Museum; and the image duplicated below of an individual I could not identify at the time I posted this photo. 

Above is the final image (11th) in my post of 2 April, 2019 showing the man seated 3rd to the viewer's left of King Farouk I wearing the Order of Ismail (the sash is probably that of the Grand Cordon Class of this award). This shows a royal banquet honoring Crown Prince Mohammad Reza Pahlavi of Iran (the wedding banquet?) seated to the viewer's left of King Farouk I, probably in 1939. Unfortunately I cannot read Arabic and had no volunteers to translate the captions. I have now been able to identify this recipient of the Order of Ismail. The woman seated to the viewers right of the Crown Prince of Iran is Lady Lampson, the 2nd wife of the British Ambassador to Egypt, Sir Miles Lampson, from 1934-1946. Next to Lady Lampson on the viewer's left is the Iranian Ambassador to Egypt from 1939-1943, HE Ali Akbar Bahman wearing the Grand Cordon Order of Ismail. This image came from: https://www.flickr.com/photos/43829903@N02/4047823450/in/pool-egyptianroyalty/

Above is another photo from this same banquet that is posted on flickr in a photostream of Ahmed S. Kamel (https://www.flickr.com/photos/askamel/400176241/in/photostream/). On Ahmed S. Kamel's flickr, this image is identified as copyrighted by askamel (and the same image also is on a flickr photostream of Almorgh that is identified as copyrighted by almorgh:  https://www.flickr.com/photos/8168043@N03/807345293/in/dateposted/). The Ahmed S. Kamel version of this image identifies Lady Lampson by name, but only identifies the man next to her as "HE the Iranian Ambassador". This made it straightforward to check a list of ambassadors to Egypt and identify him as Ali Akbar Bahman (also known as Mizra Ali Akbar Khan) who was the Ambassador to Egypt from 1939-1943, and confirm that with other photos of Bahman. This photo does not show the Grand Cordon Order of Ismail breast star in as good detail as the previous image above (that can be zoomed). As noted above, the images probably dates to March 1939 when Princess Fawzia (sister of King Farouk I) married the Crown Prince of Iran. The marriage is considered to have been a political union conceived by Reza Shah of Iran to legitimize his non-royal origins. King Farouk I was apparently convinced by his advisor Aly Maher Pasha to approve of the match to benefit Egypt's power in the Middle East against Britain. Ali Akbar Bahman arranged the marriage. The 1939 date of these photos indicate that Bahman was awarded the Grand Cordon Order of Ismail probably very early in his appointment as Ambassador to Egypt. The presence of Ali Akbar Bahman suggests these photos are from the elaborate wedding banquet sponsored by King Farouk I at Abdeen Palace. Ahmed S. Kamel's notes on this photo also identify that King Farouk I wears the breast star of the Iranian Order of Pahlavi and the Iranian Crown Prince wears the Grand Cordon breast star of the Order of Mohammed Ali. 

A photo of Alii Akbar Bahman (second from the left, wearing glasses) at the 1943 Cairo Convention (November 22-26) that Franklin Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, and Chiang Kai-Shek attended with their diplomatic corps to strategize post WW II treatment of Japan and power relations in Asia (including Russia's role, although Stalin and his staff did not attend this conference). Bahman may be wearing the sash and breast badge of the Order of Ismail in this photo, although the breast badge is barely visible. (From: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ali_Akbar_Bahman#/media/File:Ali_Akbar_Bahman_with_delegation.JPG). 

Another photo associated with Iranian Crown Prince Mohammad Reza Pahlavi coming to Egypt in March, 1939 for his marriage to Princess Fawzia of Egypt. This photo is from the same flickr photostrem of Ahmed S. Kamel and also is copyrighted by him on flickr (https://www.flickr.com/photos/askamel/400176235/in/dateposted/). It shows the Iranian Crown Prince on the left saluting as the Imperial Iranian Anthem is played on the Egyptian Royal Yacht H.M.S. Mahroussa (see my post of 30 April, 2019 on this thread that briefly discusses the H.M.S. Mahroussa in relation to identifying the portrait of Rear Admiral Galal Eddin Allouba Bey , who was the commander of the H.M.S. Mahroussa, wearing the 4th Class Knight Order of Ismail in that portrait). This image is of interest here as the man behind the Crown Prince appears to be wearing the neck badge of the 3rd Class Commander Order of Ismail. I have not yet identified this individual. 

 

 

Edited January 29, 2020 by Rusty Greaves

[Rusty Greaves]

I just came across an odd example a 1^st Class Grand Cordon breast star of the Order of Ismail breast from a January 30, 2020 auction listing on the Fritz Rudolf Künker GmbH & Co. KG website, Auction 331, Lot 1704 (https://www.kuenker.de/en/auktionen/stueck/251846). This includes very high resoltion images of the obverse and reverse of this breast star and pretty good cropped images of the hallmarks from the reverse, The same offering also is archived on the NumisBids.com website (https://www.numisbids.com/n.php?p=lot&sid=3630&lot=1074). The Numisbids.com listing has the same high-resolution image of the obverse, but only a washed out, partial image of the reverse. No image of the hallmarks is in the Numisbids.com archived listing of this auction. The breast star is not associated with its neck badge or a case. The auction listing identifies the dimensions as 82.0 mm x 80.5 mm, without any clarification of which measurement represents the wider dimension. This is consistent with the size of the Grand Cordon breast star given for most other examples where measurements are provided. There are no gold hallmarks visible on the reverse of the gold arms in the high-resolution image provided. The silver hallmarks are detailed in the description and shown on a photo of the reverse of the breast star and in smaller close-up cropped image. A full set of 3 Egyptian silver hallmarks is present on the left principal embellishment ray to the left of the main central ray. No hallmarks are present on other portions of the embellishment and none are visible on the tunic pin. The description correctly identifies the Cairo assay office silver purity mark as 900 silver. The second hallmark is the cat (with raised tail), which is associated with marking Egyptian made silver between 1916-1946. The auction description (and photos) show the date hallmark to be “Y”, but the listing identifies that as indicating 1948 (which would have technically been associated with a lotus blossom Egyptian silver mark, but also see the commemorative coin example I illustrated for the closing of the Egyptian Mixed Courts in October, 1949 that employed the cat hallmark rather than the “correct” lotus blossom hallmark for Egyptian silver made after 1946 on the last photo [14^th] in my post of 22 February, 2019 on this thread). The “Y” hallmark actually was used for 1923-1924. The description does identify Lattes as the manufacturer of this breast star and the hallmark close-up image provided in the listing on Numisbids.com does illustrate this. The strange(st) thing about this example is the form of the engraving decoration on the gold floral designs on the obverse of gold arms of the five-pointed gold star with blue enamel. I previously encountered a different image of a similar engraved 2^nd Class Grand Officer breast star on flickr (https://www.flickr.com/photos/kelisli/8843698381), and of that same 2^nd Class breast star and neck badge in another image on the same flickr photostream (https://www.flickr.com/photos/kelisli/8844318688/), but failed to notice the anomalous engraving on the arms. Other than these 2 examples, I have not seen another photo of any Order of Ismail regalia with this kind of engraving on those gold floral patterns. Comparing the January 2020 Fritz Rudolf Künker GmbH & Co. KG photo, I thought this might be a chimera mix of some genuine, but potentially unassociated, elements with the seemingly anomalously engraved arms of the gold and enamel star. Either this represents a genuine variant of the Lattes execution of the Order of Ismail, or a wily workshop fabricating odd pieces for sale to an unsuspecting market. Because I have only seen 2 such examples in my research, I am unsure which scenario is more likely. On all other examples I have seen, this engraved decoration conforms with the general style shown in the examples starting as the 4^th photos below for the all breast stars, sash badges, neck badges, and breast badges in all classes of the Order of Ismail. When I reviewed other examples, I did see some variation in how this engraving was executed across other genuine examples of Lattes-made pieces. As shown below, the more common form of engraving on Lattes Order of Ismail regalia is essentially the same as that used for the Tewfik Bichay examples and even the recent monarchy-in-exile ELM-made breast stars (I have not yet found photos of sash or neck badges that ELM might have made). The only significant difference I have seen in execution of this engraving of unquestionably genuine Order of Ismail regalia is the apparent lack of any engraving on the gold floral elements on a few illustrations of pieces made by Fahmy Tewfik Bichay (i.e., on Owain’s 3^rd class neck badge example that can be seen in the 4^th photo he illustrated in his post of 5 April, 2018 on this thread; and possibly on a set made by Fahmy Tewfik Bichay from a Sixbid.com auction of November 2012 shown in the 2^nd-to-last photo of my post of 11 January, 2019, however that photo is not high-enough resolution to confirm a lack of engraving; I discussed this lack of engraving in my post of 21 April, 2018 in this thread). Perhaps this has made me overly suspicious, but I also think there may also be some anomalies in the form of the “LATT…” letters on the reverse compared with most illustrations I have seen of the LATTES maker’s hallmark. However, a few additional aspects of the obverse design, detailed below, also are outliers among a few illustrated auction examples of Lattes-made Grand Cordon and Grand Officer breast stars of the Order of Ismail. 

Very high-resolution image of the obverse of the Fritz Rudolf Künker Auction 331, Lot 1074 example, identified as a Grand Cordon breast star, that has completely anomalous engraving pattern on the gold floral decorations of the 5 gold & enamel arms of the star. This image can be zoomed to see this more clearly. The form of this engraving can be contrasted with the other examples illustrated below (that I have previously posted on this thread) for comparison. If I use the superior arm of the star for reference (although the light angle makes aspects of the left upper arm’s engraving clearer), the lowermost central stem portion exhibits a double line outlining the margins only at the superior portion. On all other examples, this portion of the design has a single engraved line extending from the inferior portion of this element to the superior portion, and that engraving is broader at the superior end. While the engraving on the lateral arms extending to each side of this portion of the design is similar with other examples, they originate higher on the central stem (touching each of the double lines on the central portion. They also show a more curled termination at the lateral end of each of these elements. It also is apparent that these laterals are thicker than seen on the examples I illustrate below, having almost the same width along their entire length. In contrast, those shown below, have the engraving originating near the inferior portion of the central design element. The Pinterest example below does show a tighter curl at the lateral margins, but the Bukowski and eMedals examples do not. It also is apparent that these “tendrils” are thinner at their origin and expand at their terminations (however, the ELM example shown below does not have this graceful expansion, and the Tewfik Bichay example has a less pronounced terminal expansion than the Lattes examples). The most obvious other difference, and this pertains to all of the engraving on the Künker example, is the much greater shallowness of all of the engraved lines compared with every other example I have seen. The lozenge superior to this element, where the 2 central flowers originate, is broader than seen in the photos below, and is concave, rather than engraved, the stems of the 2 central flowers have engraved lines, which are completely absent in the other Lattes examples, Tewfik Bichay, and ELM photos shown below. The engraving of the 2 central flowers is completely different than seen on the examples below. The 2 Lattes and one ELM examples have 3 simple engraved marks expanding from their inferior origin extending to each lateral margin and one engraved line running to the superior end of the medial petal portion of the design. The Tewfik Bichay example below only exhibits 3 engraved lines within these 2 blossoms. In contrast, the 3 simple, deeply engraved lines are elaborated in the Künker example with additional curls and outlines of the terminal petals. The 2 tendrils supporting the superior distal blossom are more similar in the Künker example to the others shown below, but lack the delicacy seen in the Lattes example below. They are more similar to the form in the Tewfik Bichay and ELM examples, but have broader engraving in the more distal portion than any examples seen below. The terminal blossoms’ engraving is completely unlike the simple 7 wedge marks on the Lattes engraving and the slightly different form of the engraved marks of the ELM piece. The Tewfik Bichay engraving has a longer central engraved line that is stylistically slightly distinct from the others. The number and placement of the gold dot fruits in the wreath are different than all of the other examples illustrated below. The red enamel portion of the wreath bindings are thinner than seen in the first 3 Lattes examples below, and resemble those in the illustration of the 4^th Lattes example from an eMedals auction. Also, there are differences in the calligraphic inscription of “Ismail” on the central boss compared with the first 3 Lattes examples below. While slightly different than the calligraphy on the eMedals example, this offering from the Künker auction also has an additional mark near the margin of the central boss in the ~7:00 position, compared to the calligraphy of the first 3 Lattes breast stars shown below. There is some chipping damaged to the  highest relief portions of the enamel of this central medallion. The several anomalies in this piece may suggest a chimera of some original components rather than an outright fabricated imitation.

This is a moderately high-resolution image of a similarly engraving example of the Order of Ismail breast star. This comes from a flickr image on Hassan Kamal-Kelisi Morali’s flickr site and is identified as measuring 70 mm in diameter, and weighing 81.25 g. The dimension identifies the size as that of a 2^nd Class Grand Officer breast star (https://www.flickr.com/photos/kelisli/8843698381). He provides a partial link to the La Galerie Numismatique website (the source of the measurement and weight), however the link no longer works (but see the text for next image below about the LA Galerie Numismatique listing with this image). There also looks to be damage to the enamel of the central medallion’s so that I though it might be the same example, but it appear to have different damage. Additionally, on closer inspection there are other differences between the design elements on the above January 2020 Künker example of a Grand Cordon sized breast star and this Grand Officer Class piece. The central medallion of this image from flickr lacks the addition mark on the inscription “Ismail” near the margin in the 7:00 position seen on the above Künker breast star. There also are differences between the number and placement of the gold dot fruits in the wreath, and in the form of the red-enameled bands binding the wreath compared with the Künker piece. There also appears to be wear to some of the enamel on the leaves in the wreath that is not apparent in the Künker photo. The photo angle seems to be slightly angled from the viewer’s right in the first photo of the Künker example is. The flickr breast star above does looks as though it has a slight offset between the base embellishment and the star, most apparent to the viewer’s right of the superior arm of the gold and enameled star. The camera angle on this image seems to be perpendicular to the breast star. 

Above is another photo (of moderate resolution) of the same 2^nd Class Grand Officer breast star and what is probably the associated neck badge (showing the same style from another image on Hassan Kamal-Kelisi Morali’s flickr photostream (https://www.flickr.com/photos/kelisli/8844318688/). It can be zoomed slightly, but does not provide as clear detail as seen in the flickr image of just the breast star image above. This is also from a La Galerie Numismatique auction listing. Hassan Kamal-Kelisi Morali identifies it as made by Lattes. This also shows the associated neck badge, that exhibits the same style of engraving on the gold floral elements on the gold and enamel arms of the star. This particular image is a very common photo of the Order of Ismail to encounter on internet searches, but I have never before noticed the engraving differences compared with most examples on auction sites. I included this photo as the 6^th illustration in my post of 6 December, 2017 for comparison of  the design of full-sized pieces ( in hindsight, misguidedly) with a few genuine and unusual miniatures of the Order of Ismail on the “Miniatures of the Middle East & Arab World” thread begun by Owain (oamotme) on 6 December, 2017 in the Middle East & Arab States” section here on GMIC.I also included this same image as the 2^nd  photo in my post of 13 December, 2018 outlining the 4 classes of the Order of Ismail. While there is a chance that this is a variant form of the Order made by J. Lattes, it is not the best example to characterize the desing of the 2ndClass Grand Officer neck badge and breast star of the Order.I was able to search and found the La Galerie Numismatique auction listings archived on the Liveauctioneers website (https://www.liveauctioneers.com/search/?keyword=Order%20of%20Ismail&page=1&pageSize=24&sort=-relevance&status=archive) that include 3 listings for this set (Lot 0185 of 3 March 2013; Lot 0442 of 23 June, 2013; & Lot 0300 of 20 September, 2013). The auction description provides the measurement of the neck badge as 60 mm and its weight as 48.6 g. The breast star is 70 mm in diameter and weighs 81.25 g, and is identified as a Grand Officer set. Two additional photos in each of these listings provide an image of the neck badge and ribbon (showing in better detail the same kind of engraving better than in the image above) and an image of the reverse of both the neck badge and breast star showing the Lattes manufacturer’s marks on each, but is not of high-enough resolution to distinguish any of the 3 Egyptian hallmarks (below the Lattes mark on the neck badge and to the right of the catch of the tunic pin on the breast star). I cannot yet download these photos, but will keep trying. Interestingly, all three lots from March, June, and September were passed and remained un-purchased. Did collectors have doubts about the authenticity of this set? 

High-resolution image of the obverse of a 2^nd Class Grand Officer breast star that I initially encountered on a Pinterest board of (https://www.pinterest.com/offsite/?token=628-525&url=https%3A%2F%2Fi.pinimg.com%2Foriginals%2F61%2F61%2Fd1%2F6161d133bc0d01101e125d81f8dc7e27.png&pin=7881368074139698&client_tracking_params=CwABAAAAEDQzNTc1MzU5NzQxNjkzODUA~0&aux_data=%7B%7D) that I previously included as the 2^nd photo in my post of 21 April, 2018. I selected this example because it can be zoomed for comparison with the engraving on the Künker and La Galerie Numismatique examples above. There was no information about the manufacturer or date hallmark on this breast star associated with the Pinterest image of the breast star and neck badge of this set. However, I located the auction listing for this image archived on the acsearch.com website (https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=1430371) from a Stack’s Bowers Galleries auction from November of 2012. I posted this image as the 2^nd photo in my post of 19 October, 2019 along with the auction information that provided dimensions confirming it is the 2^nd Class of the Order of Ismail, that it was made by Lattes, and identifying of the date hallmark as “C” indicating manufacture in 1928-1929 (although no photos of the reverse were provided).  Although the engraving is simpler than the more elaborate detailing of the flowers in the January 2020 Künker and La Galerie Numismatique auction examples, the form of the engraving is more elegant in its overall effect. Also note that some of the examples shown below here have slight variation in the number and placement of the gold dots representing fruit, and the red & gold bindings on the wreath framing the central gold & enamel boss with the calligraphic inscription “Ismail”.

A high-resolution image of a 2^nd Class Grand Officer breast star made by Lattes from an April 2017 auction by Bukowskis, archived on their website (https://www.bukowskis.com/en/lots/906508-the-order-of-ismail-nischan-al-ismail-22k-gold-and-silver-lattes-in-kairo-1928-1929-weight-ca-81-g#). This photo can be zoomed to compare with the Künker and other examples shown here. I previously included this photo as the 1^st image in my post of 2 November, 2018 on this thread. The gold fruit dots in the wreath and the red-enamel binding of the wreath  match the Pinterest/Stack’s Bowers Galleries example precisely. Although the reverse of this piece is not illustrated in the auction listing, that description identifies the date as 1928-1929. 

Ah, here again is the very damaged 2^nd Class Grand Officer breast badge from La Galerie Numismatique (https://www.coins-la-galerie-numismatique.com/auction-33-day-1/order-ismail) that was awarded to Dr. Giovanni Quirico, physician to King Fuad I. I have previously illustrated other images of this battered example in its case as the 4^th photo in my post of 14 November, 2017 (and again as the 2^nd -to-last [23^rd] photo in my post of 19 October, 2019 in a discussion of variation in cases for the Order of Ismail), the brevet envelope as the 5^th photo and the brevet in the 6^th photo of that same 14 November post on this thread. I posted this photo as the 14^th image in my post of 11 January, 2019 addressing hallmarks. The 16^th image in that post shows the “Z” date hallmark on the silver tunic pin of this piece, indicating a date of 1924-1925 (the same as the date hallmarks on the neck badge of this cased set). This can be zoomed for comparison with the other examples in this post, showing damage to the enamel and other elements of the star. I am sorry to illustrate this abused example again, but the high-resolution image also illustrates some interesting differences within Lattes-made examples. Note that the stems of the central 2 flowers exhibit engraving on their stems not seen in the above 2 Lattes examples. Additionally, there is a 5^th engraving mark on the central 2 blossom elements that effectively outlines the central petal of the 3 terminal margins of the flower. Neither of these engraving elements are present in any other of the high-resolution images I have seen of the Order of Ismail breast stars made by Lattes (nor by Tewfik Bichay). The most distal flowers on the arms of Dr. Quirico's breast star exhibits only 5 rather than 7 engraving marks. The gold fruits in the wreath and the red-enameled bindings of the wreath are however the same as in the above 2 examples. Because the sample of photos available with reliable dates (photos clearly showing the date hallmarks) is relatively small, I also do not know if the revisions to this Order made in 1922 and 1926 might have affected any aspects of the execution of designs. My suspicion for most of these relatively minor differences shown here among a small number of Lattes examples is that they are likely to represent workshop differences reflecting die replacements and in staff skills more than any intentional re-design. 

A moderately high resolution image of a 1^st Class Grand Cordon breast star made by Lattes from a pre-2016 auction archived on the eMedals website (https://www.emedals.com/order-of-ismail-1915-w01271). This photo can be zoomed, but does not provide the same detail as the above photos. I previously posted this as the 1^st image in my initial post of 7 November, 2017, and again as the 1^st photo of my post of 13 November, 2017 on this thread. I did not provide any information about this breast star in those posts. However, I included images of the reverse and hallmark data about this breast star in the 28^th - 30^th image of my post of 11 January 2019. The date hallmarks on this piece are “F”, indicating a manufacturing/assay date of 1931-1932. The engraving on this piece, while following the pattern of the above 3 Lattes designs, appears less gracefully executed, it may be shallower, and has a less flowing calligraphic feel. However, it is more elegant than the workmanship on the Tewfik Bichay example illustrated below. This example shows some differences in the placement and number of gold dot fruits in the wreath compared with the above Lattes examples. The width of the red-enameled bindings of the wreath are thinner than those shown in the Lattes pieces above as well, but those elements are more even in their execution than the thinner windings of the Künker example in the 1^st photo above or the Tewfik Bichay example shown below. There are a few differences in the calligraphy of the central inscription of “Ismail”, note especially the additional mark near the margin of the central boss in the ~7:00 position that also appears on the Künker example (and in the Tewfik Bichay example below). This breast star is more recent than the other 3 Lattes examples shown above, and may reflect changes in dies and staff compared with those earlier pieces. 

High-resolution photo of a 1^st Class Grand Cordon set of the Order of Ismail made by Tewfik Bichay. This picture can be zoomed for greater detail. This image is cropped from a photo I illustrated as the only image in my post of 30 April, 2018 on this thread and the uncropped original shows the obverse and reverse of both the sash badge and breast star of this set. This comes from fall 2014 auction by Künker Münzauktionen und Goldhandel (https://www.kuenker.de/en/archiv/stueck/58396). I illustrated a cropped version of that image showing only the reverse of the sash badge and breast star as the 4^thto last image in my post of 11 January, 2019 discussing hallmarks. I also included a cropped image of the obverse of the sash badge as the 3^rdto last photo in that same post. The Arabic letter date hallmark on the right side of the reverse of the crown suspension device is the most legible, however, even in zoomed views, the date hallmarks shown on the reverse of the pieces are unclear to me. The auction description suggests an Arabic letter hallmark that would indicate 1946-1947. My best inference from viewing the image is that it may indicate an assay date of 1949-1951(?). I cannot read the silver or gold date hallmarks present in the photo of the reverse of this breast star. The auction description states that it is the letter “D” hallmark, indicating an assay date of 1929-1930, and would indicte that this is not an actual set of sash badge and breast star. The gold floral patterns on the arms of the gold & enamel star are less gracefully executed than the Lattes examples. The same is true of the engraving on the gold floral designs on the arms of the star. The placement of the gold dot fruits in the wreath is different than any of the Lattes breast stars shown above (including the eMedals example that is different from the first 3 illustrated Lattes breast stars). The red-enameled bindings of the wreath are thinner than the first 3 Lattes examples, less regular than on the eMedals Lattes breast star, and more closely resemble the workmanship on the January 2020 Künker auction example. The calligraphy on the central boss also has the additional mark (at ~7:00 near the frame of the central medallion) on the calligraphic inscription of “Ismail” as seen on the eMedals Lattes breast star and the January 2020 Künker example. 

Photo of an ELM version of probably the 1^st Class Grand Cordon monarchy-in-exile modern version of the Order of Ismail breast star. This image can be zoomed for some additional detail. The ELM version shows the adherence to the form of engraving seen in every example except the initial Künker and La Galerie Numismatique breast stars. This comes from a former version of the ELM website (https://instarix.com/p/1449052170103257288_4325996166#) but this image is no longer part of their advertisement. I expect several differences in execution on such a modern medal, however it is useful in emphasizing how anomalous engraving on the January 2020 Künker auction example and the set from La Galerie Numismatique shown in the first photos may be. Obviously, the design for this medal adhered to the most common form of that engraving and this may suggest that is the official design and the unusual form on the examples at the top of this post is either a very uncommon variant or a perhaps a rogue impersonation. Although to my eye not as finely executed,  I won’t go through all the design distinctions from pre-1952 pieces, it is an inelegant copy of a beautiful award. However, note that the wreath is markedly less 3-D in not having leaves with relief underneath the enamel, the gold dot fruits in the wreath and the bands on the wreath also are flush with the rounded ring that mimics the form of a wreath without the dynamic presentation of that design element, and it lacks the delicate movement implied by the width variation in portions of the floral design’s tendril or leaf components. The finials at the ends of each arm of the gold star obviously have a more robust gold casting with a smaller amount of enamel (almost certainly more durable than the original design and construction by Lattes and his successors).  

Images provided on the January 2020 auction listing showing the hallmarks on the reverse of the Künker example. Again, I may be reading more into the form of the “LATTES” maker’s mark because of the odd engraving on this piece, however the first 4 letters appear to possibly be more regular than most I have seen, especially in comparison with the last 2 letters. The “…ES” show irregularity in their form comparable to seen in many of these marks. However, the “LATT…” letters do not (the crosses onto "T"s look like separate elements rather than as integrated components of even a slightly worn punch). Perhaps it is my paranoia, but in comparison with the last 2 images of Lattes maker's hallmarks below, the "...ES" appear more sculpted so as to appear worn than actually showing some of the irregularity. Certainly some of the Lattes marks have crisp letters (see the reverse of the 4^th Class knight badge shown below), however the combination of some letters that look to have a “worn” form and those that are sharp merits additional scrutiny. Punches that are used for multiple marking of jewelry pieces in a workshop often develop irregularities, and detection of unusually regular letters, or inconsistent wear across the entire set, in makers’ names is a common way to identify suspect imitations. There are no apparent anomalies in the 3 silver hallmarks shown on the right. Again, this Künker breast star may be a bonified, but very uncommon, variation in the Lattes-designed Order of Ismail regalia. However, why then are there only 2 examples that I have found so far circulating in the auction world that can be sampled through online listings? Why did the 2^nd Class Grand Officer set I illustrated above from La Galerie Numismatique remain unsold over 3 listings? Why do Tewfik Bichay and the ELM examples all employ a form of the engraving on these floral design elements that is consistent with the other Lattes pieces I illustrated in the 4^th - 7^th photos shown above? If there is monkey business about the construction of this piece, I feel that the facetted and rayed silver embellishment is authentic and the date hallmark in the January 2020 Künker would indicate the work of Maison Lattes. The anomalies in the obverse design elements of this piece (and the La Galerie Numismatique set of Grand Officer regalia) compared to other Lattes examples are hard to reconcile. If not the work of Lattes, I would suspect the central medallion portions to be later components made by Tewfik Bichay, Fahmy Tewfik Bichay, or another manufacturer that I have never seen. If the “LATTES” hallmark on the reverse boss of the January 2020 Künker piece is not genuine, it would suggest trying to manufacture a mark consistent with the date hallmark on the rayed & facetted embellishment and potentially represent an older version of such a breast star (of course, an isolated authentic Lattes reverse boss to the central medallion could also have been combined in this way). There is something seriously hinky about the obverse gold and enamel star arms that leads me to suspect a chimeral creation mimicking a valuable 1923-1924 Grand Cordon breast star. In this case. The presence of 2 such examples seems insufficient to postulate good evidence for a variant in the Order of Ismail design of the engraving by Lattes. But the scarce appearance of 2 pieces with this anomalous engraving may suggest efforts by a workshop to combine some genuine but not valuable bits & pieces into saleable items. It may be ironic, that internet borrowing has selected the 3^rd photo of the Grand Officer set as one of the most commonly duplicated examples used to illustrate the design of the Order of Ismail. 

Reverse of a 4^th Class Knight chest badge of the Order of Ismail showing the Lattes mark with even and crisp letters. What is different about this compared with the mark on the January 2020 Künker example is that all the letters are of similar definition, suggesting a relatively new punch. This comes from an October 2017 eMedals auction (https://www.emedals.com/egypt-a-french-made-order-of-ismail-officer-by-lattes). I illustrated an un-cropped version of this photo as the 21^st  photo in my post of 11 January, 2018 on this thread. 

Lattes maker’s hallmark on the reverse of the same 2^ndClass Grand Officer Order of Ismail breast star as shown above from the April 2017 Bukowskis auction (https://www.bukowskis.com/en/lots/906508-the-order-of-ismail-nischan-al-ismail-22k-gold-and-silver-lattes-in-kairo-1928-1929-weight-ca-81-g#). Note that all the letters exhibit similar size and possible deformation from use of the punch. I have confined myself here to a couple examples of consistent wear across LATTES marks on the silver reverse of pieces relevant to the January 2020 Künker mark. However, several illustrations I have included on this thread of the gold Lattes marks on sash badges (1^st Class) and neck badges (2^nd & 3^rd Classes) also illustrate the more common association of consistent letter morphology across al letters in the mark. I have avoided including some of those gold hallmarks here because 18 carat gold is softer than 900 silver and may respond slightly differently to marking and wear of the maker’s punch. 

Lattes maker's hallmark on 4^th Class Knight Order of Ismail from a December, 2015 auction by Thies Auction that is archived on the invaluable.com website (https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot/egypt-order-of-ismail-knight-s-badge-269-c-2744c6ab2c). I just recently posted this image as the 2^nd photo on my post of 15 January, 2020 here on this thread. This also shows the more comparably similar size and imperfections in the punched mark. Also of interest, the "...ES" appear very similar to those on the January 2020 Künker Lattes mark; however, the irregularity of the "E" in this example is opposite to the appearance of that letter on the Künker piece. I may be imagining this, after all both "E' and "S" are often difficult letters to create and often show irregularities on a range of jewelers' hallmarks. 

 

Edited February 2, 2020 by Rusty Greaves

[Rusty Greaves]

While chasing down the La Galerie Numismatique image of the strangely engraved 2^nd Class Grand Officer Order of Ismail that I included as the 2^nd and 3^rd photos in my most recent post, I came across the image below that also is archived on the same liveauctioneers.com website. As discussed in my recent post of January 15, 2020 here addressing the form of the decorative bows for the Grand Cordon sash,  I want to include this image as another example of the form of the bow configuration.

Moderate-resolution photo of a cased Grand Cordon Order of Ismail from a May 2010 auction (Lot 0113) of La Galerie Numismatique that is archived on the liveauctioneers.com website (https://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/7368616_113-order-of-ismail). This catalog page set of images shows a cased sash and sash badge for an offering that lacks the breast star for this set. The medal bed is missing showing some detail of the push release mechanism in the case (as seen in the 4^th photo of my 21 October, 2019 post on this thread). The auction description provides minimal information other than confirming that J. Lattes is the manufacturer of this sash and sash badge, obvious from what is visible of the interior case lid. The auction listing notes the presence of gold hallmarks, but provides no information about those marks. The case lid shows the cipher of King Fuad I that only helps to situate the date of this piece to sometime between post-1922 (when it appears that King Fuad I's cipher changed from that used in the sultanate, as seen in my discussion of case form variation in examples of the Order of the Nile in the first post of 21 October, 2019) until 1936. The above image shows the two decorative sash bows that have pinking of their margins above a lower single bow that is hemmed. The few photos I have been able to find of sashes for the Grand Cordon Class Order of Ismail that clearly show how the bow is tied generally show this form of the decorative bow with two bows that have pinked margins overlying a single basal bow that has a hemmed edge (the 5^th - 6^th photos of the 15 January post), for a total of 3 bows. The only photo that shows a different configuration of this combination is the example in the 7^th photo of my 15 January post that shows an example from December 2017 auction by Spink & Son, Auction that has two bows with hemmed edges below the two pinked bows (for a total of 4 bows). The Eisenhower example in the 4^th photo of that post also has 3 bows, although none have pinked edges. That also appears to be the configuration of the  complete cased set from the April 2018 auction by La Galerie Numismatique that is shown in the 2^nd photo of the 15 January post. As seen for most of the sashes for the Grand Cordon of this order, the ends of the above La Galerie Numismatique example's sash also show pinking. 

Edited February 2, 2020 by Rusty Greaves

[Rusty Greaves]

Below are the additional images of the 2^nd Class Order of Ismail from the three La Galerie Numismatique auction offering that remained unsold from the March, June, and September 2013 auctions, archived on the liveauctioneers.com website (https://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/15928155_order-of-ismail). These are the 2 photos that accompanied the image of he neck badge and breast star I included as the 3^rdimage in my recent post of 1 February above. 

Image of the obverse of the neck badge of this La Galerie Numismatique set, again showing the anomalous/unique form of engraving on the gold and blue enameled arms of the star. As with the picture of the complete set, this image is a very popularly downloaded online image used to represent the design of the Order of Ismail. The even lighting of this photo shows the engraving in very good detail. The image can be zoomed a bit. Only the arms of the star with the different engraving raise the question about whether this may be a genuine variant form of the Order of Ismail. However, some elements of the central medallion appear to be inconsistent with several other  Lattes made neck badges and sash badges. For example, this piece has a different  pattern of the gold dot fruits and the red-enameled bands of the wreath are thinner and less evenly executed with all other photos of neck badges I have seen for Lattes made Order of Ismail regalia. The crown suspension device is the same as on other Lattes badges. The margin of one Egyptian gold hallmark can be seen on the right side link of the superior arm of the star to the crown suspension device, as is present in photos of all other Lattes sash badges and neck badges of this Order. I am now looking at some other minor variation in engraving on sash and neck badges and  will post a more systematic comparison in the future.

Image of the reverse of the neck badge and breast star of this same set. Although this photo can be zoomed a small amount, the detail is not good enough to read the gold hallmarks of the neck badge or the silver hallmarks on the breast star. As noted in my previous post about this set, it does show the location of these hallmarks. The low level of details in this photo provide no reason to suspect that there is anything odd about the reverse boss of the central medallion of the neck badge showing the Lattes maker’s mark and gold hallmarks or the facetted and rayed embellishment and reverse boss of the central medallion of the breast star. Additionally, the reverse of the arms of the gold star visible in the image of the neck badge and breast star don’t show anything that appears odd. 

 

Above is the very high-resolution image of the reverse of the reverse of the same Grand Cordon example of the Order of Ismail whose obverse is shown in the 1^st photo of my post of 31 January above showing the January 30, 2020 auction listing on the Fritz Rudolf Künker GmbH & Co. KG website, Auction 331, Lot 1704 (https://www.kuenker.de/en/auktionen/stueck/251846). The complete set of Egyptian silver hallmarks I described in the 31 January post can readily be read if this image is zoomed. The reverse of the gold arms of the star show a significant number of scratches principally in one direction on the 2:00, 5:00, and 7:00 arms and in 2 directions on the arm in the 10:00 and 12:00 positions. These arms appear to be flat on their reverse side. The best images of the reverse of these arms on unquestionably genuine examples come from eMedals excellent photographic documentation of auction pieces and hallmarks showing some preferred orientation of scratches, but not as in this Künker example. There are many fewer scratches and more random scratches. Additionally, several high-quality images from eMedals listings clearly show that the arms are slightly concave, unlike this January 2020 Künker piece (see below). 

Reverse of one of the arms of the gold star of a Grand Cordon Class breast star of the Order of Ismail from a pre-2016 eMedals auction showing the slightly concave form of the reverse of this arm, in contrast with the Künker example above (https://www.emedals.com/order-of-ismail-1915-w01271). It also shows the lack of the kind of scratches seen on the Künker Grand Cordon breast star. The "F" hallmark identifies a manufacturing/assay date of 1931-1932. I previously included this photo as the 5th-to-last image in my post of 11 January, 2019 in a discussion of hallmarks (and incorrectly captioned it as a Grand Officer Class breast star).

Edited February 2, 2020 by Rusty Greaves

[922F]

Rusty,  Have you found evidence or suggestion that some British recipients obtained sashes in the British style [January 15 post above] at/on their own initiative?