Saxony, Civil Merit Order Star, Cross and Medals, Plate LXXIV, 1844

This is an original antique wood engraving, colored by hand, showing insignia of the Saxon Civil Merit Order. At top left is a silver star of pointed rays with a white center lettered in German inside a green laurel wreath and a ring of gold beads. At top right hangs the badge on a white watered ribbon with green edge stripes: a white cross with gold edges and green leaves between the arms, its center showing the crowned Saxon arms within a lettered ring, with a small white reverse disc lettered within a wreath below. At bottom left is a silver medal with the king's head in profile, and at bottom right a gold medal lettered inside a laurel wreath, both hung on the same white and green ribbon.

The running head reads "SAXE-ROYALE." (Royal Saxony) and the plate number "LXXIV." The items are numbered 6 to 9. The star reads "FUR VEDIENST UND TREUE", printed without the R in Verdienst, the reverse disc reads "FUR VERDIENST UND TREUE" and medal 9 "FÜR VERDIENST UND TREÜE" (for merit and loyalty). The badge center is ringed with "FR.AUG.K.V.S.D.7.JUNY 1815" (Frederick Augustus, King of Saxony, 7 June 1815), and medal 8 is lettered in German with the king's name and the same date (Frederick Augustus, King of Saxony, 7 June 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; its 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 plates are relief prints, wood engravings colored by hand with watercolor.

The insignia are set out with generous space on a cream ground, and the plate works well framed on its own or hung with other plates from the same book.

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