Two Gold Awards To Danish Naval Commander Bluhme Who Severed With The French

Denmark: Order of Dannebrog, 3rd Class Knight, Christian IX (1863-1906) (Gold with red and white enamels, weighing 19.2 grams inclusive of its ribbon, hallmarked on the ring, cypher of Christian IX, 27.5 mm x 58.8 mm, on original five-sided folded ribbon); and France: Order of the Legion of Honour, Officer, 2nd Empire (1852-1870) (Gold with blue, green, red and white enamels, weighing 24.7 grams inclusive of its ribbon, hallmarked on the tip of the ribbon, 40.3 mm x 62 mm inclusive of its crown suspension, sewn in place to its five-sided folded ribbon with large rosette, in its hardshelled case of issue, marked "LEGION D'HONNEUR, OFFICIER" on the lid). Intact enamels, better than extremely fine. Accompanied by a Photograph of Bluhme in his Naval Uniform Wearing Both Awards on His Left Breast (black and white, gloss finish, stamped "DET KONGEUGE BIBLIOTEK KOBENHAVN" (The Royal Library Copenhagen) on the reverse, 114 mm x 175 mm); along with assorted research papers.

Footnote: Emil Bluhme was born on March 31, 1833 in Store Heddinge, Denmark, the son of Privy Councilor Christian Albrecht (1794-1866) and Rasmine Wandel (1813-1865). He was admitted as a Naval Cadet and served from 1848-1850, participating in the blockade of the Elbe in 1848 and the blockade of the Kiel Fjord in 1849 while still a Cadet. Bluhme was named a Lieutenant in 1852 and served with the French military forces from 1856 to 1859, participating on the raid at Bagindien in 1858-1859 (later French Indochina, also referred to as Cochinchina = modern day Vietnam). In 1858, the French government of Napoleon III, with the help of Spanish troops arriving from the Philippines (a Spanish colony at the time), decided to take over the southern part of Vietnam. The Vietnamese government was forced to cede the provinces Biên Hòa, Gia Định and Định Tường to France in June 1862. These territories, which were then called by the French lower Cochinchina (Basse-Cochinchine) became a colony called Cochinchina. After returning to Denmark and serving on the home front, he was sent to Greenland on a surveying expedition from 1863 to 1864 and published a report about his findings. He also served with the Danish Navy in tours to North America, the Caribbean and Brazil. In 1865, he was named Co-Editor of the Journal of Naval Life, a position he was to hold until 1867 and married Louise Charlotte Rosalie Schutte on September 26, 1866. Bluhme was promoted to Captain in 1868 and to Commander in 1902. In his civil life, he was named President of the newly formed Nibe-Løgstør Agricultural Society in 1870, where he would serve until 1895 and was a member of the Board of the United Jutland Agricultural Societies from 1875 to 1892. Bluhme was a member of the Aalborg County Council from 1880 to 1889, but lost his seat for political reasons. After unsuccessfully running three times for the Danish Parliament between 1876 and 1881, he was finally elected on his fourth attempt in 1884. He retired from public life in 1909. For several years, he was a member of the Danish Peace Society Board and participated in several inter-parliamentary conferences. He was named to the Board of the Great Northern Telegraph Company in 1908. Emil Bluhme died on November 29, 1926 in Copenhagen, Denmark, at the age of 93.