KURFÜRSTENTUM HESSEN-KASSEL - ORDEN VOM EISERNEN HELM
Order's Breast Badge on the "German Cross", 1814.
Iron with silver mount. Awarded example without maker's mark.
The hinge and fittings of the helmet applied in silver.
Much worn, awarded original example of the last type.
Two absolutely identical types of this order exist, differing only in the much oversized maker's mark of the Kassel jeweller Kompff on the reverse, which is completely inappropriate for an order decoration.
The reason for the existence of these two variants has not yet been scientifically proven.
A regent such as Elector Wilhelm I, who was deeply attached to the absolutist concept of power, could not have liked the version with the oversized Kompff stamp.
It is therefore very conceivable and probable that the design was changed for this reason.
The decoration on the German Cross for the liberation of Germany from Napoleon's rule was awarded only 68 times, the decoration on the Brabant Cross for the liberation of Electoral Hesse: 79 awards.
The Order is one of the rarest German military decorations of the Napoleonic Wars and only a few badges are known in private collections.
The iconography of the decoration, which on the one hand reflects the insignia of the Teutonic Knights and on the other hand of course the Prussian Iron Cross, give this order a symbolism that is particularly significant.
Furthermore, the choice of iron as the material for the Order's badge is reminiscent of chivalry par excellence.
HuS 668; Heyden 251; OEK 995; Karsten Klingbeil/ Andreas Thies. Orders 1700-2000, Volume I., No. 959 - 960.
Very fine, extremely rare and much worn original.