A Group of a Miniature Order & Decoration Bar, along with a British Royal Cross Plate, Officer’s grade, c.1815. A unique and very special group of awards for Officers of the King's German Legion (1803-1816), issued for services rendered during the Napoleonic Wars. The medalbar consists of four attached decorations, with their original ribbons across the bar, the reverse presents a typical horizontal Prussian pinback, measuring 66.60 mm (x) x 13.67 mm (h). From left to right, the bar is composed of:
1. A fine Hanoverian Royal Guelphic Order, Military Division, miniature Knight, in Gold and enamels, measuring 15.18 mm (w) x 28.79 mm (h), plain reverse, presenting cleaning residues along the cross.
2. A miniature British Waterloo Medal in silver, measuring 15.60 mm in diameter, dated June 18, 1815, toned silver, extremely fine.
3. A miniature Prussian Long Service Decoration for 25 years, Officer grade, in Gold, measuring 15.12 mm (w) x 18.93 mm (h), presenting slightly cleaning residues on both obverse and reverse, extremely fine.
4. A Hanoverian Medal for King's German Legion in Gold, measuring 15.70 mm in diameter, light contact, extremely fine.
The bar is accompanied by a finely made Cross Belt Plate of the Brititsh Royal Family, Officer’s grade, George III’s reign, featuring a central Gold medallion with a superposed crowned ornamented cypher of George the Great, surrounded by a ring of silver pearls, as well as by a finely scaled patterns in silver, circumscribed by a hand-chased floral patterns also in silver, the reverse with two parallel bars, measuring 52.49 mm (w) x 75.79 mm (h), with removed crown, minor toned silver, otherwise extremely fine.
Footnote: The King's German Legion was a British Army unit of mostly expatriate German personnel during the Napoleonic period. The Legion was formed within months of the dissolution of the Electorate of Hanover in 1803 and constituted as a mixed corps by the end of 1803. Although the Legion never fought autonomously, it played a vital role in several campaigns, most notably the Walcheren Campaign, the Peninsular War, and the Hundred Days. The Legion was disbanded in 1816. Several of the units were incorporated into the army of the Kingdom of Hanover, and became later a part of the Imperial German Army after unification in 1871.