BELGIUM - ORDER OF LEOPOLD - PLAQUE OF GRAND OFFICER...
BELGIUM - ORDER OF LEOPOLD - PLAQUE OF GRAND OFFICER (CIVIL DISTINCTION), PRESUMED TO BELONG TO DA'UD EFFENDI MOLKO, FIRST "DRAGOMAN" TRANSLATOR OF THE IMPERIAL DIVAN.
Made of silver, with the arms of the cross worked with diamond-shaped points, interspersed with smooth rays. Enameled gold center with a vermeil border. Gold lion motif (slight damage to one paw)
Reverse with a hinged clasp and two hooks, bearing the maker’s mark of Wolfers in Brussels.
93 mm. Gross weight: 105.34 g.
Very good condition.
Provenance: Da’ud Effendi Molko, then by descent
Biography:
Da’ud Effendi Molko (sometimes also referred to as Mollo or Molho).
Chief translator at the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Da’ud was born in Thessaloniki in 1845. Coming from a modest background, his family moved to Constantinople while he was still a child, and he attended elementary school at the Camondo Institute. He entered the service of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs at the age of 18, rose to the position of chief translator during the reign of Sultan Abd al-Aziz, and retained that position when Abd al-Hamid II ascended the throne.
Da’ud was awarded the Grand Cordon of the Order of the Nishan-i-Osmaniye, the Nishan-i-Medjidiye, and the Nishan-i-Imtiaz, as well as the Persian Order of the Sun and the Lion. He is also a Commander of the Legion of Honor, a recipient of the Order of the Prussian Crown, and a Grand Cross of the Polar Star.
Biography from “Univers israélite,” January 15, 1897.
Expert: Arnaud de Gouvion Saint-Cyr
BELGIUM - ORDER OF LEOPOLD - PLAQUE OF GRAND OFFICER (CIVIL DISTINCTION), PRESUMED TO BELONG TO DA'UD EFFENDI MOLKO, FIRST "DRAGOMAN" TRANSLATOR OF THE IMPERIAL DIVAN.
Made of silver, with the arms of the cross worked with diamond-shaped points, interspersed with smooth rays. Enameled gold center with a vermeil border. Gold lion motif (slight damage to one paw)
Reverse with a hinged clasp and two hooks, bearing the maker’s mark of Wolfers in Brussels.
93 mm. Gross weight: 105.34 g.
Very good condition.
Provenance: Da’ud Effendi Molko, then by descent
Biography:
Da’ud Effendi Molko (sometimes also referred to as Mollo or Molho).
Chief translator at the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Da’ud was born in Thessaloniki in 1845. Coming from a modest background, his family moved to Constantinople while he was still a child, and he attended elementary school at the Camondo Institute. He entered the service of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs at the age of 18, rose to the position of chief translator during the reign of Sultan Abd al-Aziz, and retained that position when Abd al-Hamid II ascended the throne.
Da’ud was awarded the Grand Cordon of the Order of the Nishan-i-Osmaniye, the Nishan-i-Medjidiye, and the Nishan-i-Imtiaz, as well as the Persian Order of the Sun and the Lion. He is also a Commander of the Legion of Honor, a recipient of the Order of the Prussian Crown, and a Grand Cross of the Polar Star.
Biography from “Univers israélite,” January 15, 1897.
Expert: Arnaud de Gouvion Saint-Cyr
