Grand-croix insignia, believed to have belonged to Napoleon III

In 1979, the Prince and Princess Napoleon donated to the French state seventeen cases, eleven lined with moiré and blue silk velvet, and six in moiré and red silk velvet. The first eleven belonged to Napoleon III, while the other six belonged to the Prince Imperial. These cases, which themselves were once stored in three mahogany and leather chests – today in private collection – contained an exceptional set of decorations.
 
The case (known as the “Légion d'Honneur case”) – taken from chest number one – once contained a crest, a grand-croix insignia, a Légion d'Honneur croix de chevalier insignia and a military medal studded with diamonds, all commissioned and paid for out of the emperor's personal allowance. Napoleon III wore the crest and the grand-croix at the beginning of the Franco-Prussian war, but what happened to them afterwards is less certain. In 2008, Ambassador Antonio Benedetto Spada handed over to the Musée de la Légion d'Honneur a Légion d'Honneur grand-croix insignia – believed to have belonged to Napoleon III – which matches the dimensions of one of the case's compartments. It cannot be said with any great certainty, however, that this item held by the museum is the one that sat in the emperor's case. A lack of archival sources, in particular offering any precise description of the emperor's jewels, means that care must be taken when discussing this item's provenance.
 
What can be said with certainty is that during his reign, Napoleon III had two sets of diamond-studded state jewels: those found in the case described above (date of manufacture unknown), and another set, known as the Crown jewels, created by Ouizille-Lemoine prior to the Universal Exhibition of 1855. In preparation for the occasion, Napoleon had a certain number of jewels belonging to the Crown – including the crest and the Légion d'Honneur grand-croix insignia worn during the periods of monarchic rule preceding his reign – unset. On 12 March, he handed over the unset jewels to Lemoine, who finished resetting them on 24 April and billed the emperor for his work on 26 June. The crest contains 673 brilliants; the grand-croix 284 brilliants, 28 emeralds and 11 rubies; the Croix de chevalier insignia 116 brilliants, 98 rosettes, 42 emeralds and 4 rubies; and the military medal 321 brilliants and 36 rosettes.
 
These decorations survived the events of 1870 and 1871, thanks in no small part to the bravery of Maréchal Vaillant, grand maréchal du Palais. Put on public display in 1878 and 1884, they were unset and the stones sold at auction in 1887 at the behest of the State.
 
Laurence Wodey (tr. H.D.W.)
Assistant curator at the Musée de la Légion d'Honneur
 
Original French text from Ecrins impériaux, splendeurs diplomatiques du Second Empire, HM éditions, 2011, pp. 100-101
 
February 2011