Netherlands, Kingdom. A Royal Order Of Holland, Grand Cross Star, C.1880

(Orde van Holland). Established by Louis Napoleon Bonaparte, King of Holland, in 1806. Abolished in 1811. Type III (1806-1807). Of high quality manufacture, a superb napoleonic era decoration referred to as a later Bacqueville manufacture, consisting of a beaded eight-pointed multiple-rayed convex star in silver, the obverse exhibiting a detailed superposed crowned Dutch lion swimming on brave waves, surrounded by Order’s motto DOE WEL EN ZIE NIET OM (Unity Makes Strength), the reverse with principal pin assembly flanked by dual stays, marked under pin BOZ, measuring 87.73 mm (w) x 88.85 mm (h), presenting minor toned silver, otherwise a rare item in extremely good condition.

Footnote: The Order of the Union was originally established by Louis Napoleon Bonaparte when he became the hereditary and constitutional King of Holland in 1806. The Order underwent a number of name and design changes in its short 5-year lifespan. The first Order (Type I), the Grand Order of the Union, was founded on December 12, 1806, along with a sister order, the Order of Merit (Type II). No insignias were made for the Grand Order of the Union. These Orders were reunited as the Royal Order of Holland (Type III) only a short time later on February 13, 1807. The King’s brother, Emperor Napoleon I of France, did not approve of the Order, and it was altered again in February 1808. This new Order, the Order of the Union (Type IV), introduced Collars and Breast Stars, but it was finally superseded by Napoleon’s Order of the Reunion in 1811.The original Order’s decorations (Type III) are highly scarce and they belong mainly to museums, selected collectors and royal families. Sometimes collector’s copies and later manufacture (mainly French from the second half of the 19th century) are encountered in the market.