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Framed and on the wall
Frame and rooms are illustrations of how the piece could look; it is sold unframed unless the description says otherwise.
Hanover, King's German Legion Medal, Plate XL, Wood Engraving, 1844
£250
$330 · €295
Original print, not a reproduction.
Ships worldwide from the Netherlands, flat, insured and tracked. 14-day returns.
- Date
- 1844
- Technique
- Wood Engraving
- Coloring
- Hand colored
- Condition
- Good. Light wear to the bottom left and top left corners. Age toning, darker at the edges; handling soiling along the edges and scattered foxing in the margins. Printed image clean.
- Collection
- Uniforms & regiments
- Era
- 1816 to 1899, Empire and industry
- Stock no.
- BG-13055-46
What the condition grades mean
- Excellent
- Bright and clean, with no faults worth mentioning.
- Very good
- Only light signs of age, such as faint toning.
- Good
- Normal signs of age for a sheet of this period: toning, some foxing, small marks or neat old repairs.
- Fair
- Clear faults such as staining, tears or repairs, priced to match.
Every fault we see is written in the condition note, and the whole sheet is shown uncropped in the photos.
This original antique wood engraving, colored by hand, shows insignia of Hanover. At the top (11) a badge hangs from a gold crown on a broad violet ribbon: a blue-enameled cross edged in gold with ball tips and gold lions in the angles, its white center showing Saint George on a white horse slaying a green dragon within a red ring; below it is a round reverse with an interlaced cipher, left uncolored. At left (10) is a breast star of silver and pale blue rays with a beaded ring around the same Saint George center. At right (12) is a bronze medal with a cross, crown and cipher, on a white ribbon edged in yellow, watered in pale blue. At the foot (13) a bronze medal is shown from both sides on the same ribbon: lettering within a laurel wreath, and a cross with a crowned cipher.
The running head at upper left reads "HANOVRE." (Hanover) and the plate number at upper right "XL."; the items are numbered 10 to 13. The red ring of star 10 reads "NUNQUAM RETRORSUM", Latin for "never backward". Medal 12 is dated "1813". Medal 13 reads "KÖNIGLIGH-DEUTSCHE : LEGION" around "TAPFER UND TREU", German for "King's German Legion" and "brave and true".
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 legion medal and the Saint George star sit well together in a display of Napoleonic era insignia.
Condition: Light wear to the bottom left and top left corners. Age toning, darker at the edges; handling soiling along the edges and scattered foxing in the margins. Printed image clean.
This is an original antique print, not a modern reproduction. This item is sold unframed. Any framed or interior images are shown for presentation and inspiration only, unless the listing explicitly states that the item is sold framed.
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