Hanover, Waterloo Medal and Service Medals, Plate XXXIX, Wood Engraving, 1844

This original antique wood engraving, colored by hand, shows Hanoverian medals. At upper left (6) is a silver medal with its lettering inside a laurel wreath, hanging from a pale blue ribbon on a bar. At upper right (7) is a silver medal with five lines of lettering on a red ribbon edged in pale blue. In the center (8) is a gold cross with flared arms and a numeral at its middle, on a red ribbon edged in pale blue. At the foot (9) a silver medal is shown from both sides on a long red ribbon edged in pale blue: the face has a trophy of a cuirass with flags and crossed arms above a laurel spray, and the reverse a laureate head in profile to the right with a date below.

The running head at upper left reads "HANOVRE" (Hanover) and the plate number at upper right "XXXIX."; the items are numbered 6 to 9. Medal 6 reads "VERDIENST UMS VATERLAND" (merit for the fatherland). Medal 7 reads "FÜR SECHSZEHN JÄHRIGE TREUE DIENSTE." (for sixteen years of faithful service). Cross 8 carries "XXV". Medal 9 reads "HANNOVERSCHER TAPFERKEIT." (to Hanoverian bravery) with "WATERLOO" and "JUN. XVIII", and on the reverse "GEORG. PRINZ. REGENT." (George, Prince Regent) and "1815".

The plate comes from Ordres de Chevalerie et Marques d'Honneur, published by Auguste Wahlen in Brussels by the Librairie Historique-Artistique, rue de Schaerbeek, 12, in 1844; the half title reads Histoire, costumes, décorations de tous les ordres de chevalerie, et marques d'honneur. Auguste Wahlen was the pen name of the Belgian writer Jean-François-Nicolas Loumyer (1801 to 1875), and the title page lists his own knighthoods in the orders of Prussia, Sweden, Spain, Portugal, Turkey, Hanover, Greece, the Roman States, Saxe-Coburg and Brazil. The illustrations are relief prints, wood engravings colored by hand with watercolor.

The Waterloo medal gives the plate a clear interest for collectors of the 1815 campaign.

This is an original antique print, not a modern reproduction. This item is sold unframed.