AUSTRIA
The Imperial Austrian Order of the Iron Crown
An early 3rd Class (Knight’s) badge: 41x24 mm, finely chiselled, gilt silver double eagle, the claws holding the sword and the orb, the breast and the back superimposed with deep-blue enameled, golden shields with the imperial cipher “F” to the obverse and the date “1815” to the reverse; the whole, resting on the gilt silver “Lombardy” crown with red and green enamelled “gems” (some loss to the green enamel); hinged, upper crown and grooved ribbon ring; original ribbon.
A beautiful and very rare piece, dating to the 1816 – 1825 period, most possibly of French manufacture, not to be mixed with the so-called “Ordre de Rémplacement”, created in 1815 as a substitute of the ceased, Napoleonic awards of the “Ordine della Corona Ferrea / Ordre de la Couronne de Fer”; almost extremely fine condition. II

Estimate: EUR 4000 - 8000