OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF

THE ORDERS AND MEDALS SOCIETY OF AMERICA

PRESIDENT

JAMES R. WILKINSON

PLANTATION, FLORIDA

VOL. 22 APRIL 1971 NO. 4

TIIE ORDER OF TIlE SULTAN OF COHORES

THE MYSTERY OF THE "ORDER OF THE SULTAN" RESOLVED

In hie book "Notes on the Decorations and Medals of the French Colonies end P~otectorates" (New York 1928), Harrold E. Gillingham described and pictured a decoration~ in form of a trefoil~ enamelled in blue~ white and red,under the denomination : "Order of the Sultan" and attributed it to the "Comores Islands".

Ha said it was founded by the sultan SAID ABDALLAH~ before 1860. If this was true, the decoration was properly from the Anjouan island (one of the Comores islands) whose the ruler was sultan Said Abdellah in this time.

Bu~ Despite numerous tentativee I never succeeded to identify such one in these islands. Some years ego~ whilst on duty in Madageecar~ I had the oppoz~unity to go to the Comores Islands. Neither my enqueriea about this subject nor my z~la- tions with some V.I.P. of the islands were successful end I did not get positive answers. The~e was no remembrance of such a decoration end I got a certainty that it was not originated from the Comores Islands.

A friend of oums, d.W.PETERSON~ was more advised w~n he wmote ~o me tha~ for his opinion ~his decoration might come from an ancien~ State of Ind,.

Recently I was lucky in ge~ing a lot of old photog~phs and doc~en~s abou~ all so~s of crosses and medals. Among them I found a pho~o~ avems and of ~his deco~tion~ with e short no~ice about i~.

I~ was in~eres~ing, ~he writing on ~he reverse (see enlarging of ~he photo) giving the identification searched during such a grea~ numbem pf yeams.

Description :

The piece is made of silver : avers : the arms are enamelled in blue (left), white (abo~e), red (right); @he center is golded with ±he head of Maharadjah RANGIT SINGH, all the rest of the decoration is silver; reverse : the arms are enamelled like the avers and the writing reeds so :

left : Mauteran and muZtan above : Kashmir right : Attok va Peshawar

In the center~ enamelled turquoiae blue, the gold writing is : Maharadjah : Rang. Singh : Bagadur : Ruler of Penjab.

UnfortunatelW nothing is said on the notice about the ribbon of thie deco. ration~ perhaps it might be blue~ white, red. Perhaps too the susoension was a chain.

NOTA.

- On the avers the head is of the greatest and Zaet King Sick of Penjab, Maharadjah Rangit Singh~ named by British "Lion of Penjab" who died on the 27 of June 1839

(or 1834)

- At~ok is a place along the river of the same name, flowin~ down from the noz~b of penjab to Karachi

- Peshawar is well known fmom the collectors of bars on the british medaZs - The eegle~ with oustreched wings~ sitting on a scimitar, would mean that ~he

piece has not been manufactured in Penjeb, but.in Europa..

Obverse aspec~

Reverse aspec~