We found 566841 price guide item(s) matching your search
There are 566841 lots that match your search criteria. Subscribe now to get instant access to the full price guide service.
Click here to subscribe- List
- Grid
-
566841 item(s)/page
Lot 78
Austria, Gold Medal of Honour for English Cavalrymen, 1794 (Ehrenmedaille für Englische Kavalleristen), as awarded by the young Holy Roman Emperor Francis II in recognition of his personal rescue by eight Officers of the 15th Light Dragoons at the Battle of Villers-en-Cauchies on 24 April 1794, by Johann Nepomuk Würth; obv., IMP. CAES. FRANCISCVS. II. P. F. AVG., bust of Emperor Francis II right, signed i.n. wirt. f. below truncation, rev., FORTI. BRITANNO. IN. EXERCITV. FOED. AD. CAMERACVM. XXIV. 24. APR. MDCCXCIV., crossed laurel sprays below, diameter 60mm, height (including suspension ring) 70mm, weight 136.75g (Montenuovo no.2296; Forrer, Biographical Dictionary of Medallists, Vol. 6, pp. 569-70, illustrated), fitted with a finely-made gold split-ring loop for suspension from a gold chain, a couple of rim knocks and with contact wear, generally very fine, extremely rare Only nine examples were struck on the instructions of the Holy Roman Emperor Francis II (later to become Emperor Francis I of Austria and also known as the ‘Doppelkaiser’). The medal was created as a gallantry award and reward to the eight British Cavalry Officers of the 15th Light Dragoons who took part at the Battle of Villers-en-Cauchies and who rescued Francis from capture by the French, with one specimen being retained for the Imperial Cabinet of Vienna. The action, against greatly superior numbers, was later likened to that of ‘the renowned Black Prince at the hard fought battles of Cressy and Poictiers [sic]’, and the eight recipients to be honoured were: Lieut.-Col. William Aylett (in command), Captains Robert Pocklington and Edward Michael Ryan, Lieutenants Thomas Granby Calcraft, William Keir (as he was known at the time) and Charles Burrell Blount, and Cornets Edward Gerald Butler and Robert Thomas Wilson. All eight were also awarded the Military Order of Maria Theresa in 1800; see the following lot. The medals, weighing 40 ducats, were originally presented with substantial gold suspension chains for wearing. How many of the eight still survive is unknown but it is recorded that those to Cornet Butler and Captain Pocklington (ex Whitaker Collection) appeared in commerce in 1967 and 1968 respectively. Awarded to Major-General Sir William Keir Grant K.C.B., G.C.H., 6th Dragoon Guards, late 15th Light Dragoons, who became Colonel of the Royal Scots Greys. William Keir (later Keir Grant) was one of just eight Officers of the 15th Light Dragoons to receive the spectacular gold Ehrenmedaille für Englische Kavalleriste, expressly awarded by the Holy Roman Emperor, Francis II, for gallantry in saving him personally from capture by French forces at the Battle of Villers-en-Cauchies (which is variously spelled in historical records), near Cambrai, in 1794. As it so happened, Keir Grant was later to become the recipient of an equally rare honour – the Collar and insignia of the Order of the Lion and Sun of Persia - for commanding a major British military expedition to the ‘Pirate Coast’ on the south-eastern Persian Gulf. Having roundly defeated the enemy and pacified the pirate stronghold of Ras al-Khaimah, Keir Grant succeeded in securing an agreement with a number of important tribal leaders, leading to an historic Peace Treaty of 1820 which heralded local truces and the foundation of the Trucial Sheikhdoms as well as the abolition of the Slave Trade in the area. Modifications to the Treaty and a full revision many decades later, in 1892, contributed to an enhanced British presence in the Southern Gulf and important new relationships with the Trucial Sheikhdoms. A loose British Protectorate was to last until the gaining of their independence on 2 December 1970, in turn leading to the creation of the United Arab Emirates.
Lot 84
Iran, Persian Empire, The Royal Persian Order of the Lion and the Sun, an early Collar Chain and Collar Badge, of Persian manufacture, Tehran, 1820-30, in gold and enamels; the Collar comprising 24 alternating links in the form of decorated star-framed oval lions couchant right, with sun rising behind (12, each 61 mm width), and crossed pairs of bows and quiver of arrows, with shamshir type sword across (12, each 73 mm width), with simple hook fastener and eye for the suspension of the badge, all 24 links plainly enamelled on their reverses also and the lion links with oval gold backing pieces (of which 3 are now missing), some enamel loss and repair to several links but a spectacular early Collar of exceptional and delicate workmanship; with circular Collar Badge, of hollow construction, in gold with blue and green translucent enamels, finely-worked lion couchant in high relief right before radiant sun [this now with plain centre, probably formerly enamelled with a sun-face], with hook-and-ring suspension for attachment to the Collar, the reverse in plain gold, 70.5mm (including suspension) x 54mm, good very fine, an early Collar and Badge of magnificent craftsmanship, style and detail, excessively rare (2). Awarded by the Shah of Persia to Lieutenant-General Sir William Keir Grant, K.C.B., K.C.H. and Knight of the Imperial Austrian Military Order of Maria Theresa ‘in consideration of his distinguished Services in The Persian Gulf’, following his successful suppression of piracy the Persian Gulf and the signing of the Treaty of 1820. While the precise date of the award has not been traced it was acknowledged by William IV under a Royal Licence dated 24 October 1831 (for further details see Carlisle, N., A Concise Account Of The Several Foreign Orders Of Knighthood…, London, 1839, reprinted by the Naval and Military Press). Awarded to Major-General Sir William Keir Grant K.C.B., G.C.H., 6th Dragoon Guards, late 15th Light Dragoons, who became Colonel of the Royal Scots Greys. William Keir (later Keir Grant) was one of just eight Officers of the 15th Light Dragoons to receive the spectacular gold Ehrenmedaille für Englische Kavalleriste, expressly awarded by the Holy Roman Emperor, Francis II, for gallantry in saving him personally from capture by French forces at the Battle of Villers-en-Cauchies (which is variously spelled in historical records), near Cambrai, in 1794. As it so happened, Keir Grant was later to become the recipient of an equally rare honour – the Collar and insignia of the Order of the Lion and Sun of Persia - for commanding a major British military expedition to the ‘Pirate Coast’ on the south-eastern Persian Gulf. Having roundly defeated the enemy and pacified the pirate stronghold of Ras al-Khaimah, Keir Grant succeeded in securing an agreement with a number of important tribal leaders, leading to an historic Peace Treaty of 1820 which heralded local truces and the foundation of the Trucial Sheikhdoms as well as the abolition of the Slave Trade in the area. Modifications to the Treaty and a full revision many decades later, in 1892, contributed to an enhanced British presence in the Southern Gulf and important new relationships with the Trucial Sheikhdoms. A loose British Protectorate was to last until the gaining of their independence on 2 December 1970, in turn leading to the creation of the United Arab Emirates.
Loading...-
566841 item(s)/page