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published in: "Orden und Ehrenzeichen -
Das Magazine für Sammler und
Forscher", Issue 8, August 2000, pages 16-18
As every order also the Order of
Albert comes with award documents. § 7 of the order's
statutes from December, 31 1850 say: „Jeder der von
Uns mit dem Orden Begnadigten erhält ein von Uns
gezeichnetes, vom Ordenscanzler contrasigniertes
Decret..." ("Everyone who will be awarded with our
order receives an award document, that is signed by
us, and contra signed by the chancellor of the
order..."). The documents are changing their
style, as the decorations over the 60 year's of
existence and are going to be examined in the
following article. First it has to be said that there
was a leak of award documents from the time the order
was issued, so that this article is not totally
completed.
The documents have all the same size of ~35 x 22 cm
and have a double sheet. Only the cover page is be
written on. The whole document can be divided into 10
parts, that are looking in general similar (Look at
picture 1).
(1) Head: „Wir
(Name of King), von Gottes Gnaden König von Sachsen etc.
etc. etc. haben uns bewogen gefunden,..." (We (Name
of King), by Good's grace king of Saxony etc. etc. etc.
are pleased to,...").
(2) Cut: This space is left for the name of the
recipient and his function. Awarding to civil persons
includes besides the name, occupation and residence, to
military persons this space show's rank, position and
unit.
(3) Grade of Order: Here you find the the exact
grade of the order. After this was handwritten for a
long time, round 1900, pre-printed types are appearing.
(4) Text: This part is connected to the grade of
the order and is always the same: „...zu verleihen. Zu
dessen Urkund ist das gegenwärtige Dekret ausgefertigt,
von Uns eigenhändig unterzeichnet und mit Unserem
königlichen Siegel versehen worden."("...to award.
This for this document is issued, signed by us and be
attached with our king's seal.").
(5) Date: Sometimes handwritten, sometimes
printed part, that always starts with: „Dresden, am
..." ("Dresden, the...")
(6) Seal: You will find the so called seal, "Blindprägesiegel",
at the lower left corner of the award document. It
consists of the king's coat of arms that is surrounded
by an inscription, that changes its style over the
years. You find about six different seals during the
existence of the Order between 1850 and 1918.
The first seal used under the King
Friedrich August II. existed until 1854.
(Picture under construction)
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The second
type has been used until 1873. The measurements are
7,5 cm in diameter and shows the coat of arms
surrounded by the following inscription: „Johann von
Gottes Gnaden König von Sachsen & C. & C. & C."
("Johann by goods grace King of Saxony & C. & C. &
C."). surrounded by the crown of rue and a 0,2
cm wide rim. |
| With the change of the ruler
in 1873, Albert became king, a new seal was made and
changed its style again. After a design of Professor
Hähnel the metal engraver Max Bardulek made the seal
to December, 09 1873. It shows now the a style that
includes two lions holding the coat of arms. The
surrounding inscription now is: „Albert von Gottes
Gnaden König von Sachsen & C: & C: & C:" ("Albert
by goods grace King of Saxony & C: & C: & C:")
and is surrounded by the crown of rue and a 0,1 cm
wide rim. It measures 6,9 cm in diameter. |
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The finally style was issued
by order from June, 7 1889 belonging to the
majesties seal (VOBl Sachsen 1889, S.47ff) and was
in use until the end of world war one. The design
was made by Professor Donadini and made by the
king's mint in Dresden. April, 4 1891 it was ready
to be used. The, the coat of arms, surrounding
inscription was then, starting with the, then
ruling, king's name: "...von Gottes Gnaden König
von Sachsen ETC: ETC:" ("... by goods grace King
of Saxony ETC: ETC:"), (the seal of Friedrich
August III. includes one additional „ETC:"). The
seals for King Georg, july, 7 1902, and King
Friedrich August III., November, 25 1904 were also
made by the mint. They measures 7,6 cm in diameter.
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(7-9) Signatures: Following
the rules of the orders statues at position (7)
the king, (8) the chancellor of the order and at
position (9) the secretary of the order signed
the document.
1. King's signatures :
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1.a
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Friedrich August II.
(until 1854)
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1.b
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Johann
(until 1873)
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1.c
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Albert
(until 1902)
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1.d
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Georg
(until 1904)
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1.e
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Friedrich August III.
(until 1918)
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2. Chancellor's signatures:
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3.a
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Heinrich Anton von Zeschau,
Excell. Staatsminister a.D. und Minister des
königlichen Hauses.
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3.b
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Dr. Johann Paul Freiherr von
Falkenstein,
Vorsitzender Staatsminister und Minister des Cultus
und des öffentlichen Unterrichts.
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3.c
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Georg Friedrich Alfred Graf
von Fabrice,
Excell., Staatsminister.
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3.d
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Julius Hans von Thümmel,
Excell., Staatsminister.
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3.e
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Dr. Jur. Heinrich Rudolf
Schurig,
Excell., Staatsminister.
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3.f
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Karl Paul Edler von der
Planitz,
Excell., Staatsminister, General der Infanterie.
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3.g
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Dr. Jur. Et phill. Kurt Damm
Paul von Seydewitz,
Excell., Staatsminister, Minister des Cultus und des
königlichen Hauses.
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3.h
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Dr. Viktor Alexander von Otto,
Excell.,
Staatsminister, Minister der Justiz.
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3.i
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Max Clemens Lothar Freiherr
von Hausen,
Excell., Staatsminister, Minister des Krieges,
Generaloberst.
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3.j
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Dr. Paul Arthur Nagel,
Excell., Staatsminister, Minister der Justiz.
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3. Secretary's signatures:
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2.a
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Albert Zenker,
Geh. Hofrat und Ministerialrat im Ministerium des
königlichen Hauses.
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2.b
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Wilhelm Immanuel Bär,
Geh. Hofrat und Ministerialrat im Ministerium des
königlichen Hauses.
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2.c
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Richard von Baumann,
Geh. Hofrat und Ministerialrat im Ministerium des
königlichen Hauses.
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„The award documents have been
signed until 1907 by the king and grand master of the
order personally. April 9, 1907 king Friedrich August
III. gave the order, that awarding to foreigners have to
be "signed" with a signature stamp. January 7, 1915
Friedrich August III ordered the signature stamp also
for awarding to citizens, if the military rank was below
a captain's."[1]
(10) Index: Until
approximately 1894 here was the following printed text:
„Dekret über die Verleihung..." ("Document belonging
to the awarding of..."), followed by the handwritten
information's about rank of the awarded order, position
and name of the recipient. Until 1902 only the word „Dekret."
is print to this position.
"After 1911 the documents weren't
send in their special green folder, but in and normal
envelope. This lead to a yearly cost reduction from
about 937 mark. Another result of is was, that lots of
people started complaining about the fact that the
documents were slightly damaged. The ministry of
internal affairs asked the orders chancellery to change
it but was declined."[2]
Award documents given after a king
died had a black rim.
The documents from the issue time
of the order have been written by hand totally.
Even so the basic style of the
award documents didn't change over the years, there are
a lot of smaller details in printing witch varies. After
examine hundreds of documents 14 different types have
been obtained.
[1]
"Die Orden des Königreiches
Sachsen", D.Weber, P.Arnold, P. Keil; S.228
[2] "Die Orden des Königreiches
Sachsen", D.Weber, P.Arnold, P. Keil; S.229
© A. Schulze Ising, II/99
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