Sweden, Orders of the Polar Star and of Vasa, Plate LXXX, Wood Engraving, 1844

This is an original antique wood engraving, colored by hand, showing insignia of the Swedish Orders of the Polar Star and of Vasa. At top left is a silver breast star in the form of a cross with a five-pointed star at its center. Below, at left, hangs the crowned badge on a black watered ribbon: a white cross with gold edges and crowns between the arms, its blue center bearing a gold star within a lettered ring, the badge of the Order of the Polar Star. Between them is a collar section of two crowned blue letters and a white star on gold chain. At top right is a silver cross with ball tips, a crown and central device between ornaments in its angles. At lower right, on a green watered ribbon, is the gold oval badge of the Order of Vasa: a gold sheaf of wheat on white, framed by a red lettered band and a gold rim with a scroll at the foot.

The running head reads "SUÈDE." (Sweden) and the plate number "LXXX." The items are numbered 7 to 11. The blue center of badge 8 carries a Latin legend, of which "...CIT OCCASUM" is legible. The red band of badge 11 reads "USIAF DEN TREDIE INSTIKTARE MDCCLXXII", printed without the initial G of Gustaf (Gustav the Third, founder, 1772).

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.