Portugese-Made Badges and Medals of the Order of Orange-Nassu Gary

Volume 53 Number 1 Portugese-made Badges and Medals of the Order of Orange-Nassu Gary M. Hartman, OMSA No. 44871LM 19 n 1890, Willem III, King of the Netherlands and use in the Netherlands. This left the Order of the Dutch I Grand Duke of Luxembourg died. All of his sons Lion as the only remaining Dutch order except for the had predeceased him, so the throne of the Netherlands Military Order of William, which was used strictly as a passed to his ten-year-old daughter Wilhelmina. Be- military award. cause the Salic Law, which prevented the transfer of the throne to a woman was in effect in Luxembourg at In order to rectify the situation, considerable thought the time, Wilhelmina could not inherit the throne of Lux- was given to adding additional classes to the Order of embourg. Therefore, that throne passed to another the Dutch Lion or to presenting this order with more branch of the family. frequency. However, it was felt that to do either would lower its status. Instead, on 4 April 1892, Queen-Regent Because the Order of the Golden Lion of Nassau and Emma, acting in the name of her daughter Queen the Order of the Oak Crown, were Luxembourg or- Wilhelmina, who was only twelve years old, established ders, both were tied to the throne of Luxembourg and the Order of Orange-Nassau (Orde van Oranje- although both had been used in the Netherlands as jun- Nassau) in five classes with three associated medals. ior orders to the Order of the Dutch Lion, Following the For military-related purposes the order can be awarded death of Willem III they were no longer available for with swords but this does not constitute a military division (from left to right) Obverse of a Dutch-made badge with swords, a Dutch-made "civil" badge, and a Portuguese-made "civil" badge, all fourth class (officer). 26 The Journal of the Orders and Medals Society of America distinguished if one knows what to look for. Figure one shows the obverses of (from left to right) a Dutch-made badge of the order with swords, a Dutch-made "civil" badge, and a Portu- guese-made "civil" badge, all of the fourth class (officer). Note the serrated edge of the cross and the central medallion of the Portuguese-made badge. This is positive proof that it was made by Helder and Cunha. Note that the Dutch-made badges have a smooth edge to the central medallion, although the badge on the left does have serrations on the edge of the cross. The metal area between the blue and white ename! sections of the cross also have these serrations, although they do not appear on any of the Portuguese-made pieces in this location. It must be said that some of the very early badges of the order made by van Wielik in the Hague also have these serrations on the edge of the central medallion, but only the Por- tuguese-made pieces have them on both the medallion and the edge of the cross. The other indi- cation of Portuguese manufacture is the flattened appearance of the crown. Unless one is very fa- miliar with these medals, it is necessary to have two pieces next to each other to really see the difference in the crowns. Reverses of th e two "civil" badges sh o wn on th e previous page. The second illustration shows the reverses of the of the order. It is simply awarded "as is," or Met de two "civil" badges shown in figure one. The serrations Swaarden; with swords. In order to prevent what are the same on both sides of the various types. happened with the Order of the Golden Lion of Nassau and the Order of the Oak Crown from happening with Unfortunately it was not possible to get a photograph of this new order at some time in the future, the Statutes the Portuguese-made stars of the order. However, like of the Order of Orange-Nassau clearly state that it is the other classes mentioned, they are also quite easy to irrevocably tied to the Dutch Crown. spot. Most (but not all) have the Helder and Cunha hallmark centered on the reverse. In addition, only the On 10 May 1940 the Germans invaded the Netherlands. Portuguese-made stars of the order have the serrated The Dutch Army was overwhelmed in less than two edge to the central medallion on the star. weeks and the Queen (Wilhelmina, now age sixty) and government fled to the United Kingdom, setting up a The medals are a bit more interesting. The official size government-in-exile in London. In order for the gov- of the Medals of the Order of Orange-Nassau has al- ernment-in-exile to continue awarding Dutch orders, it ways been twenty-eight millimeters in diameter, but for was necessary to have all the Dutch orders manufac- some reason the pieces made in Portugal are larger. tured anew as neither stocks of badges or dies came to Figure three shows a regulation twenty-eight millimeter London with the government-in-exile. The orders for medal and two WWII-made pieces, the center one be- manufacturing went to several firms, and all orders for ing 29.5 millimeters and the one on the right 31.6 milli- the Or.der of Orange-Nassau went to the firm of Helder meters. This author has been told by some Dutch col- and Cunha in Lisbon, Portugal. Fortunately all of the lectors that the 31.6 millimeter size medals were made badges, stars, and medals of the Order of Orange- in the United Kingdom, but this cannot be confirmed. Nassau produced by Helder and Cunha can be Several factors lead this author to conclude that all the 27 Volume 53 Number 1 oversized pieces were manufactured in Portugal. First, The cases provided by Helder and Cunha are identical there are no records to indicate that any of these med- to those made in the Netherlands except for the crest als were ever ordered from a British source, although on the inside of the lid. Of course the fact that a badge given the scarcity of records on the subject that is hardly or medal is in a Helder and Cunha does not necessarily conclusive in and of itself. Second, the Museum of the mean that it was actually manufactured by Helder and Chancery of the Dutch Orders has wartime medals of Cunha as the medal and case could have been switched the Order of Orange-Nassau in its collection that are in at some point in time. a variety of additional sizes. Finally though, all of the medals in the various large sizes that the author has These were not the only errors on wartime-made Dutch examined have the same flattened crown as the Portu- awards. The ~vartime badges and stars of the Order of guese-made badges of the order. the Dutch Lion were made by C. F. Cartman in Stockholm, Sweden. Unlike most other European or- After the war the medals were again manufactured in ders, the badge of the lowest class of the Order of the the Netherlands in the proper size and, except for a Dutch Lion, that of Knight, is not in silver but in the few pieces saved for the museum collection, the Orders same gilt finish as the two higher classes. The Mu- Chancery had the existing stocks of the oversize medals seum of the Chancery of the Dutch Orders has in its destroyed. Dutch wartime recipients of the medals were collection two Knight’s badges of the Order of the Dutch forbidden to wear the oversize ones and had to have Lion in silver. Both are in cases with C. F. Carlman’s them replaced by medals of the proper size. As a result, crest on the inside. While they look like any other case these wartime pieces are rather scarce. Surprisingly, used for Knight’s badges, the embossed crown on the the scarcity of these wartime pieces has not enhanced top is in silver, not gold. It isn’t known if these are their value on the Dutch collectors market. rejected pre-production trial pieces or if the entire order was originally made wrong and only these two (from left to righO Obverse of a Dutch-made medal and two WWlI-era Portugese made pieces. 28 .

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