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Grand Crosses are always fascinating. Not just due
to their enormous size, but also for the craftsmanship.
Yet they are normally not to rare since everybody with a
title and being up in the royal hierarchy was almost entitled
to get one. We do know most of the number of awards for
several German imperial Grand crosses and will find out
pretty fast that the total number always goes into the
thousands.
Some exceptions apply when applications are awarded
to or with a grand cross. Take the Philips Order for
example. I did not dare to count all grand crosses ever
being awarded, but found out rather quickly while
looking through the Hessian orders list from 1914 that
there were only 18 Grand Crosses with Crown awarded up
that date:
| Date |
Name |
Title |
|
Civilians
- Hessians
|
| 27-Feb-1901 |
Gnauth,
Teodor, Dr. jur. Und Dr.=Ing. |
Minister
der Finanzen a.D. in Mühlheim a. Rh. |
|
Civilians
- non-Hessians
|
| 24-May-1888 |
Radolin,
H. Fürst von, Kgl. Preuß. Wirkl. Geheimrat und
Oberst=Truchseß, Kais. Deutscher Botschafter a.D. |
|
| 24-May-1888 |
Eulenberg,
Aug. Graf zu |
Kgl.
Preuß. Oberhof= und Hausmarschall,
Oberzeremonienmeister, General á. l. s. der Armee |
| 26-Jan-1893 |
Wedel,
Wilh. v. |
Kgl.
Preuß. Staatsminister und ehmal. Minister des Kgl.
Hauses |
| 6-Oct-1909 |
Soden,
Julius Frhr. v. |
Kabinettschef
Sr. Maj. des Königs von Württemberg,
Staatsminister a.D. |
| 1-May-1912 |
Breitenbach,
Paul von |
Kgl.
Preuß. Staatsminister und Minister der öffentl.
Arbeiten in Berlin |
| 13-May-1913 |
Moy,
Karl Graf v. |
Kgl.
Bayer. Gesandter und bevollmächtigter Minister am
Großh. Hofe |
|
Military
Personnel
|
| 2-Jul-1894 |
Treitschke,
Leo v. |
Kgl.
Sächs. General der Inf., Generaladjutant |
| 21-Sep-1899 |
Lindequist,
Oskar v. |
Kgl.
Preuß. Generaloberst, Generaladjutant Sr. Maj.
Des Kaisers und Königs |
| 18-Sep-1903 |
Tirpitz,
Alfred v. |
Admiral,
Staatssekretär des Reichsmarineamts, Kgl. Preuß.
Staatsminister |
| 8-Sep-1905 |
Einem,
gen. v. Rothmaler, Carl v. |
General
der Kav., kommandierender General des VII.
Armeekorps |
| 8-Sep-1905 |
Eichhorn,
Hermann v. |
Generaloberst,
Generalinspekteur der 7. Armee=Inspektion in
Saarbrücken |
| 25-Aug-1906 |
Scholl,
Friedr. v. |
Kgl.
Preuß. Generaloberst, Generaladjutant Sr. Maj.
Des Kaisers und Königs, Kommandeur der
Leibgendarmarie, Generalkapitän der Schloß= und
Leibgarde |
| 20-Aug-1907 |
Voigt,
Ernst v. |
General
der Inf. z.D. |
| 17-Sep-1909 |
Hoiningen,
gen. Huene, Ernst Frhr. v. |
Kgl.
Preuß. General der Inf. und kommandierender
General des XIV. Armeekorps |
| 19-Mar-1910 |
Goßler,
Konrad v. |
Kgl.
Preuß. General der Inf. a.D. |
| 23-Aug-1911 |
Heeringen,
Josias von |
Kgl.
Preuß. General der Inf., General=Inspekteur der
II.Armee=Inspektion |
| 15-Sep-1912 |
Schlieffen,
Graf von Limbrecht |
General
der Kav. |
This also means that there may have been a total of
only 20 to 25 awarded. Yet to make matters even worse
one could be awarded the crown to the Grand Cross in the
event the person did already hold this award or one
would receive the Grand Cross with Crown.
One might wonder what the difference might be, but we
need to remember the scroogyness of the Hessians. Why
would they remake a whole cross for the event the crown
would be added to the Grand Cross. As a matter of fact a
crown was crafted separately and then added to the cross
as shown next. Indeed only a minimal labor expense.
For those receiving the package deal and especially
those early awards a Grand Cross with crown was made as
shown in following picture:
the next picture shows the details of this very fine
high quality mounting:
Similar on a commander cross:
To emphasize on the difference to the
mounting of the knight crosses with crown, here the high
resolution picture:
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