Order of the Legion of Honour in Gold, Commander Cross, c. 1865

[Komtur]

Collecting decorations of physicians, I was stumbling over this attractive decoration Order of the Legion of Honour in Gold, Commander Cross, c. 1865.

 

But I wonder, if the person Louis Defrainge mentioned on the top of the case lived between 1876 and 1946, how could he have been awarded a commander of the 2nd empire?

 

How could this ensemble be explained?

 

Experts of this order, please enlighten me!

 

Thanks in advande,

Komtur.

[Graf]

On 10/05/2024 at 05:06, Komtur said:

Collecting decorations of physicians, I was stumbling over this attractive decoration Order of the Legion of Honour in Gold, Commander Cross, c. 1865.

 

But I wonder, if the person Louis Defrainge mentioned on the top of the case lived between 1876 and 1946, how could he have been awarded a commander of the 2nd empire?

 

How could this ensemble be explained?

 

Experts of this order, please enlighten me!

 

Thanks in advande,

Komtur.

It not the first time this Dealer makes a very unusual claims

It is impossible someone to be awarded before even he is born

Also the box is not from Second Empire It is very  bad mix and match  job

The Commander is nice, however it did not belong to that person neither to that box Also the maker on the box , in my opinion was not one from the Second Empire period

I assume that Louis Defrainge was awarded the Commander Cross of the LOH, but this could be the Third Republic Period, since he was very active in the beginning of last Century

 

[Komtur]

Thanks a lot!

 

In between I could find his award dates in this online source. He got the commander of the Legion of Honour on 12th of June in 1931.

 

As written on it, the box (and something in there) was given to Dr. Defraigne from SES ELEVES, SES AMIS. So if it was a commander cross of the Legion of Honour fitting in there, it is unlikely his officially awarded decoration. Perhaps and nowadays of unknown reasons HIS FOLLOWERS and HIS FRIENDS presented him in 1931 a restored 2nd Empire decoration as a gift? Unfortunately it will be quite impossible, to find out something about such a eventuality.

 

Regards, Komtur.

[Graf]

11 hours ago, Komtur said:

Thanks a lot!

 

In between I could find his award dates in this online source. He got the commander of the Legion of Honour on 12th of June in 1931.

 

As written on it, the box (and something in there) was given to Dr. Defraigne from SES ELEVES, SES AMIS. So if it was a commander cross of the Legion of Honour fitting in there, it is unlikely his officially awarded decoration. Perhaps and nowadays of unknown reasons HIS FOLLOWERS and HIS FRIENDS presented him in 1931 a restored 2nd Empire decoration as a gift? Unfortunately it will be quite impossible, to find out something about such a eventuality.

 

Regards, Komtur.

Nice research !00% tthe Second Empire Cross was not given as a gift That was not the practice and it was against the rules

It was a common practice a luxury Cross in Gold  or with Diamonds to be given as a gift from people that wanted to show respect to the awarded person During this period most of the officially awarded the Commander Crosses were Silver gilded ones (vermail) Very unlikely that

Edited May 25 by Graf

[Komtur]

Many thanks for the addition of these fine luxury examples.I am with you, it is very more likely, that something like that or a decoration in gold was initially in the box for Dr. Defraigne.

 

Is it possible to estimate the date of production of the probably wrong matched commander cross in Dr. Defraignes box?

 

Regards, Komtur.

[Graf]

Exact date will be impossible to specify, however the period will be 1852 1869 -Second Empire

It was wrong by the Dealer  to speculate - c.1865, although it is within the right Period as above

The maker mark on the ribbon ring is Ouizille Lemoine - the main French Maker of Second Empire LOH

There is a  French whole mark on the bottom of the cross -"eagle head" for gold -mainly 18 carat

Both marks are correct for that period

[Komtur]

Thanks for that extensive answer. That helps a lot!

[Graf]

On 26/05/2024 at 03:37, Komtur said:

Thanks for that extensive answer. That helps a lot!

Welcome

 

 

Cheers