Order of Good Hope Decoration

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Neck Badge of the Order of Good Hope Decoration - Commander or Grand Officer– Knighthood Order

This is the 1st bulky type with proper enamel and old type South African Coat of Arms and silk ribbon.  The later versions were thinner with poorly painted enamel. Post 1994 the coat of arms was changed.

Very few were awarded at this level.  Complete with full-length neck ribbon.  This cost £2000in the day to make.  Each ribbon had to be hand fitted to create the V shape.

It is either the Commander Grade or Grand Officer. 

The Order of Good Hope or Order of the Cape of Good Hope has been a knighthood order of the Republic of South Africa.

The Order of Good Hope was founded in 1973 by the republican government of South Africa to grant those who have distinguished themselves in the promotion of the international relationships and to have sensibilised the general interest towards South Africa and was abolished in 2002.

President Nelson Mandela had announced his intention to reform the Order. The new South African government saw the Order as a relic of apartheid, above all because of the insignia considered too European (the rays, the colours, the anchor and the Latin motto of the Order. Also, the insignia was costing the government around ZAR11,000 in 1994 (£2000 in 1994) per initiate. In its place was created the Order of the Companions of O. R. Tambo.

Awarded to foreign citizens (and, from 1980 to 1988, to South Africans too), for promoting international relations with the increasingly isolated apartheid state. The order was originally divided into five classes:

Grand Collar – for heads of state only.

Grand Cross – for heads of government, ministers of state, judges, presidents of legislatures, secretaries of state, ambassadors, commanders-in-chief, and others.

Grand Officer – for legislators, envoys, senior military officers, and others.

Commander – for chargés d'affaires, consuls-general, colonels, and others.

Officer – for consuls, lower-ranking military officers, and others.

The order was reorganised in 1988:

Grand Cross – for excellent meritorious service (heads of state and, in special cases, heads of government).

Grand Officer – for outstanding meritorious service (heads of government, ministers of state, judges, presidents of legislatures, secretaries of state, ambassadors, commanders-in-chief, and others).

Commander – for exceptionally meritorious service (legislators, envoys, senior military officers, and others).

Officer – for meritorious service (chargés d'affaires, consuls-general, colonels, and others).

Member – for exceptional service (consuls, lower-ranking military officers, and others).