Red Eagles

[Chris Liontas]

man those are fantastic!!


Now I am an Imperial nOObie right now. What was the Red Eagle awarded for? Since it was an award, I am assuming it was for some service rather than a specific action. Was it the Kaiser that awarded them to Germany, or was this a specific Prussian award?

When did they start being awarded?

how much do they cost on today's market?


Thanks again guys!

[Tim Tezer]

Chris,

So many questions - so little space. In brief, the Red Eagle Order was a Prussian award descended from the state of Brandenburg, which used the Red Eagle as its heralic symbol. Brandenburg passed into Prussian control in the late 18th Century. The Prussian Kingdom dominated the German Empire, so during the years from 1871 to 1918, the Red Eagle Order was still a Prussian award, but could also be said to be a German award. It went through numerous different versions and changes.

The best references I can suggest are William Hamelman's translation of the statutes of the award, entitled "Of Red Eagles and Royal Crowns", which is out of print but probably not that hard to find, and "Die Orden und Ehrenzeichen des Konigreichs Preussen" by Klenau and Sauerwald, published in German by Graf Klenau in 1998. It is probably widely available from most German dealers' sites, and although it has very little text, it contains incredible actual size photos of many variants, as well as price guides for all classes and variants of all Prussian awards.

Here is my contribution to the photos. This is a 11st class with swords, said to have been awarded to only 91 recipients. I believe this piece is a private purchase example because the cross-hatched grips on the swords are not typical of the Red Eagle or any other Prussian awards (but commonly found on Saxon awards).

[Chris Liontas]

That is an absolutely fantastic piece!! Thank you so much for shareing. The Red Eagle 1st is by far my most favorite award--the worksmaship is beautiful. Thank you also for giving me the information to learn about these award. I really appreciate it!

[Christian L]

very nice one!
do you know to whom it belong?
christian

[Brian S]

Tamerlane,

Yours is silver? When were the oaks awarded?

[gregM]

WOW!!
My main interest is in the EK and it's variations but I have to
say that is a great looking award--way cool

[Tim Tezer]

Mine is actually silver-gilt, but the gilding was very obviously thin and most of it has worn away.

I'll have to look up the oakleaves and see when they started awarding them. More on that later.

Tamerlane

[Tim Tezer]

In response to the question about the oakleaves, they were instituted in 1810 to indicate that the wearer had previosly recieved a lower class of the order, i.e. a 2nd class with oakleaves indicated that the recipient had previously held the 3rd class.

After the 4th class was added, the questions must have come up whether the oakleaves could be awarded to a recipient of the 3rd class who had previously held the 4th, but instead, a bow device was added to the 3rd class ribbon to indicate a previous award of the 4th class. Confusing? Yes! But the fact remains that the oakleaves were only used on the 2nd class, 1st class and Grand Cross.

Unfortunately, I don't know who mine belonged to, but I would be interested to see a list of recipients of the 1st class with swords. Is there such a list?

Tim

[Brian S]

Thanks Tim. I'm sure Rick or Daniel have a list!

[Daniel Krause]

Will have a look who got the RAO1X without oakleaves.

I suppose either a non-Prussian or a Prussian who skipped a class and so could not get the oaks.

Best regards

Daniel

[Tim Tezer]

Non-Prussian is a definite possibility, as I think the style of swords may indicate a non-Prussian maker. For some reason I keep getting Saxon stuck in my head, but I don't know where I got that.

Tim