Order of Saint Vladimir breast star (and other awards) of Marshal of France Gabriel-Jean-Joseph, 1st Count of Molitor

French-made breast star.

Silver, gold, gilt, enamel.
Size 86 mm.
Weight 68.3 g.

Engraved "Beaugeois / Rue de la Paix / N° 2". See also https://asiamedals.info/threads/ord...te-ferron-de-la-ferronnays.25850/#post-356083

 

Gabriel-Jean-Joseph, 1st Count of Molitor (7 March 1770 – 28 July 1849) was born in Hayingen in Lorraine. Upon the outbreak of the French Revolution, Molitor joined the French revolutionary armies as a captain in a battalion of militia. In 1793 he was given command of a brigade and served under Hoche under whom he fought at Kaiserslautern and Wissembourg. In 1795, Molitor was severely wounded in the Battle of Mainz. In 1799, Molitor was sent to Switzerland where he fought under André Masséna against an Austro-Russian force led by Alexander Suvorov. In 1800, he fought in the Army of the Rhine under Moreau.

Molitor was promoted to the rank of général de division in 1801. He was sent with Massena to Italy in 1805, where he served at Vago and Caldiero. In 1806 he took part in the relief of Republic of Ragusa. In 1807, Molitor was transferred to the German theatre of operations, where he served against the Swedes around Stralsund. He was then made governor of Pommern and was granted a comital title by Napoleon. In 1809 he was given command of a division in Massena's IV Corps and he saw action in the battles of Aspern and Wagram. In 1810 he was sent to occupy the cities of the Hanseatic League, from 1811 to 1813 he served in Holland, in the campaign of 1814 he served under MacDonald.

After the abdication of Napoleon, Molitor made his submission to the Bourbons who made him Inspector-General of the infantry. Upon the return of the emperor from Elba, Molitor joined him during the Hundred Days, for which he was stripped of his functions after Napoleon's defeat. He was awarded with 1st Class of the Order of Saint Vladimir in 1824. In 1818, Molitor was restored to grace and in 1823 he commanded the II Corps which was sent to Spain. The same year he was made a Marshal of France as well as a Peer. From 1827, he served as secretary to the Chamber of Peers. After the July Revolution, Molitor was allowed to keep all his functions and he later served as Governor of Les Invalides and as Grand Chancellor of the Legion d'Honneur. He died in 1849 in Paris. A statue of Molitor was later erected in Nancy.​

 

Order of Charles III breast star made by the Beaugeois (Grand cross was awarded to Molitor in October 1823).

Silver, gold, gilt, enamel.
Size 79 mm.
Weight 59.5 g.
Sash width 106 mm.

 

Very rare Grand Cross of the Baden Karl Friedrich Order of Military Merit https://asiamedals.info/threads/bad...militaer-karl-friedrich-verdienstorden.26697/ According to Nimmergut "Deutsche Orden Und Ehrenzeichen bis 1945, Zentralstelle für wissenschaftliche Ordenskundende", München 1977, Vol. 1. only fifteen examples of the Grand Cross were awarded before 1830. Grand cross was awarded to Molitor in 1812.
​

Gold, silver, enamel.
Height of the cross to the hinge 66 mm.
Height of the hinge to the top of the crown 40 mm.
Diameter of the suspension ring 25 mm.
Total height 115 mm.
Total width 61 mm.
Width of the sash 100 mm.
Weight 62 g.

Round center representing a griffin of the kingdom of Baden armed with a sword and a shield, ready for battle in silver.
Ribbon bearing the inscription "Für Badens Ehre"/"For Baden's Honor".

Same cross under different light and after cleaning.

 

Breast star

Silver.
Size 81 mm.
Weight 38.99 g.
Fastening with the Biennais type spring.
Almost certainly made by Paris workshop of Coudray.

 

Reduced knight's star of the Order of the Reunion, Kingdom of Holland. The Order of the Reunion /Ordre de la Réunion/ was an order of merit of the First French Empire, set up to be awarded to Frenchmen and foreigners to reward services in the civil service, magistracy and army, particularly those from areas newly annexed to France, such as the Kingdom of Holland. It was established in 1811 and abolished in 1815.

Gold, enamel.
Height 33 mm.
Width 18 mm.
Ring diameter 11 mm.

In front of the throne is the Capitoline Wolf suckling Romulus and Remus. The throne is also surrounded by symbols of the lands annexed by France – a Florentine lily, a Dutch lion with a sheaf of nine arrows (symbol of the old Dutch Republic) supporting the throne, a Piedmontese coat of arms and two tridents symbolizing the ports of Hamburg and Genoa. On the surrounding circlet is "Tout Pour L’Empire/All for the Empire".​

On the blue circle "A Jamais/Forever".

 

Breast star of the Order of the Reunion (2nd model that was introduced in April 1813), Kingdom of Holland.

Silver.
Size 84 mm.
Weight 53.7 g.

Coudray
Rue du Roule No. 17
à Paris
Fabrique Croix
De Tous Les
Ordres

 

Decoration of the Lily /Décoration du Lys/.

From the end of 1813, Napoleon's armies were fighting on their own soil, culminating in the Six Days' Campaign. Napoleon ended his reign with a series of Pyrrhic victories which could not save the Empire, and he abdicated on 5 April 1814. In a Paris occupied by the forces of the Coalition, the National Guard ensured public order by wearing a white cockade, abandoning the Revolutionary tricolour cockade, and it was on this corps that the returning Bourbons chose to found their power, rather than the Imperial armies and their officers, which they judged still to be too unreliable. King Louis XVIII arrived in Paris on 3 May with his brother Charles de Bourbon, Comte d’Artois, the future Charles X. It was then that little medals with the image of the new king and fleurs de lys, on white ribbons, began to circulate to reassure and appease the Paris population.
One of the comte d'Artois's orders of the day, on 26 April 1814, created the Décoration du Lys for the garde nationale of Paris as "a perpetual sign of the services it has rendered, whether in fighting for their homes and, charged alone on the night of 30 March with ensuring Paris's guard and safety, preserving the king's capital for the king and the goods, lives and honour of so many families, or - when occupying posts beside those of the troops of the line - it rendered them an example of devotion and sacrifice, or when - despite this painful service - it acted as the maison militaire du Roi and granted the royal family the satisfaction of, for their guard, not being surrounded by the French."
By an order of the day on 9 May 1814, king Louis XVIII approved the creation of the Décoration du Lys, extending it to all the gardes nationales of France. It was awarded to the national guards after they took the following oath - "I swear fidelity to God, and to the King, forever" The granting of the Décoration du Lys induced the grant of an official patent.
Assuring the loyalty of the social elite to the new monarchy thanks to this simple honour, the award of the Décoration du Lys would be extended again and again, quickly starting to be awarded in all France's regions then royal officials granted them successively to generals, ministers, prefects, and finally even mayors. It was banned during the Hundred Days, then reinstated on the Second Restoration, only to be suppressed once and for all by an ordinance of Louis Philippe I on 10 February 1831.

Fleur de lys in silver (introduced by Ordinance of 26 April 1814).​

Height 21 mm.
Width 13 mm.

 

Pair of epaulettes of Marshal Molitor, July Monarchy. Marshal Molitor was appointed Marshal of France on October 8, 1823.​

Body 180 mm long until the turn, 191 mm long with the turn, 71 mm wide.
Shield length 118 mm, width 140 mm with the turntable on both sides.
Bangs height 74 mm.
Button diameter 16 mm.

Body embroidered with curls and gold sequins. The body is embroidered with a design featuring a stick braid in the shape of a V bordered by a scalloped framing rod on black velvet. They are both finished with a shield decorated with seven silver stars (diameter 14 mm), and the badge of the marshals in gold and blue enamel representing two crossed sticks, each decorated with fourteen gold stars, finished with a white enamel scroll and a gold ball at each end, they are linked together by a scarlet and white enamel ribbon (height 21 mm, width 39 mm). Two strong silver-plated brass clips are placed underneath, intended to engage in two small gussets sewn onto the uniform (this is a luxury finish rarely encountered on this type of epaulet). On the lining of the crest of one of the epaulets is sewn a small gusset in black velvet.
The bangs are in large matte twists, called "big broth" or "spinach seed". The outline is composed of three tournantes: a big one in matte bourdon and shiny thread rolled alternately on a cotton core; a second one, inside, in small twisted matte milanaise, mixed with another simple shiny one; a third one, of the same work, is applied under the big one, at the birth of the fringe.
Uniform button 1830, half-domed, gilded with burnished and matte, stamped and embossed with two marshal sticks spangled, crossed, surrounded by a crown of oak leaves and laurel. It is fixed at the top of the body of epaulette.​

 

Breast star of the Order of the Legion of Honor, July Monarchy (Molitor was awarded with the Grand Cross on January 31, 1815).

Silver, gilt, enamel.
Diameter 99 mm
Weight 94.6 g.

 

Breast star of the Order of the Legion of Honor, Restoration period.

Silver, gilt, enamel.
Diameter 79 mm
Weight 38.4 g.

 

Breast star of the Order of the Holy Spirit, Restoration (General Molitor was appointed Chevalier on June 3, 1827).

Silver.
Size 81 mm.
Weight 67.8 g.

 

Miniature of the Order of the Iron Crown, type 1816 (General Molitor was awarded with Iron Crown order in 1806).

Silver, enamel.
Height 32 mm, width 15 mm.

 

Sash for Grand Cross of the Order of the Ernestine House.

Width 105 mm.

 

Sash for the Grand Cross of the Order of the Ernestine House.

Width 105 mm.

 

Personal seal of General Gabriel Molitor.

Silver, walnut handle.
Handle height. 77 mm.
Stele height 24 mm, width 19 mm.

 

Combined ribbon for the miniatures.
Legion of Honor order, order of the Iron Crown, order of the Reunion, order of military merit Karl Friedrich, Baden.
Length 400 mm, width 40 mm.