Italy, Kingdom Of The Two Sicilies. A Sacred Military Constantinian Order Of St. George, I Class Grand Cross, C.1915

(Sacro Militare Ordine Costantiniano di San Giorgio). Instituted in 1545. Three-piece construction, insignia in silver gilt with red enamels, the enamels having been repaired overall in the mid-twentieth century, mounted to an eight-pointed star base, each star point with five faceted rays, with a single faceted ray between each point, maker marked "CRAVANZOLA SUCCi. RAVIOLO & GARDINO ROMA" on the reverse cartouche, measuring 85 mm (w) x 85.5 mm (h), vertical pinback, near very fine.

Footnote: The Sacred Military Constantinian Order of Saint George, also historically referred to as the Imperial Constantinian Order of Saint George and the Order of the Constantinian Angelic Knights of Saint George, is a dynastic order of knighthood of the House of Bourbon-Two Sicilies. Currently, the grand magistry of the order is disputed among the two claimants to the headship of the former reigning House of Bourbon-Two Sicilies as heirs of the House of Farnese, namely Prince Pedro and Prince Carlo. The order was confirmed as a religious-military order in a 1718 papal bull owing to a notable success in liberating Christians in the Peloponnese. Alongside the Sovereign Military Order of Malta it is the sole international Catholic Order which still has this status today. Although it is not an order of chivalry under patronage of the Holy See, membership is restricted to practising Catholics. Though the order is alleged to have been founded in its original form by Constantine the Great in Antiquity and then restored under later Byzantine emperors, the actual origin of the order can be traced to the sixteenth century, when it was founded by an Albanian family by the name Angelo Flavio Comneno. Though this family, extinct in 1698, claimed to be connected to the Byzantine Komnenos and Angelos dynasties, such a familial connection cannot be proven. The order being connected to the Byzantine Empire is fantasy as chivalric orders were completely unknown in the Byzantine world and as such, much of the alleged history of the order was invented much later. Outside the generally recognized line of grand masters from its origin in the sixteenth century to the present day, there have been many people claiming to be grand masters who have been forgers and title-seekers hoping to gain support for invented lines of descent from ancient and medieval nobility.