Finnish General Major Paul Kraatz (1863-1926)
Our August 2017 Auction (Wed-Fri 30.8.-1.9.) is filled with Russian and Finnish Militaria. What makes this splendid collection even more interesting is it’s fascinating provenance. These objects, belonging to the collections of the Finnish General Major Paul Kraatz (1863-1926) tell a great story about Finnish and Russian military history.
Lot 2152: Order of St. Anna, 1st class, provenance Paul Kraatz.
The Order of Saint Anna (Russian: Орден Святой Анны) was established as a Holstein ducal and then Russian imperial order of chivalry established by Karl Friedrich, Duke of Holstein-Gottorp, on 14 February 1735, in honor of his wife Anna Petrovna, daughter of Peter the Great of Russia. The motto of the Order is “Amantibus Justitiam, Pietatem, Fidem” (“To those who love justice, piety, and fidelity”).
Lot 2152, Order of St. Anna, 1st class will be sold in our upcoming August 2017 Auction. The center of the insignia is unfortunately missing.
Lot 2152, Order of St. Anna, 1st class
Lots 2150 & 2151: Cross of the Polish Order of Saint Stanislaus, provenance Paul Kraatz.
The Order of Saint Stanislaus was a Polish order of knighthood founded in 1765 by King Stanisław August Poniatowski of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. It remained under the Kingdom of Poland between 1765 and 1831, and was incorporated under the Russian Empire from 1831 to 1917, until the Russian revolution.
Today, there are two recognized orders that claim descent from the original Order of Saint Stanislaus: the Russian dynastic Order of Saint Stanislaus (Imperial House of Romanov), awarded by the head of the House of Romanov as former sovereigns of the Russian Empire, and the Polish Order of Polonia Restituta, a governmental order of merit awarded by the President of Poland and considered by some as a type of successor.
There are actually two crosses of the Polish Order of Saint Stanislaus in our upcoming Auction next week, lots 2150 and 2151.
Cross of the Polish Order of Saint Stanislaus, provenance Paul Kraatz.
Lot 2153: Russian Empire jeton in memory of the travels of Emperor Nikolay the II, provenance Paul Kraatz.
Nikolay Alexandrovich Romanov, the eldest of the sons of Emperor Alexander III and Empress Maria Feodorovna, was born May 6, 1868 in Tsarskoye Selo. Between 1890 and 1891 Nikolay visited many Russian provinces in the Far East, including Greece, Egypt, India, China and Austria-Hungary.
The jeton of lot 2153 belonged to the late Finnish General Major Paul Kraatz, who worked as a mechanic on a Russian armored cruiser called Pamjat Azova, at the time of the travels made by Nikolay the II:nd. Nikolay was on the Pamjat Azova whilst traveling from Triestes to Egypt.
Lot 2153: Russian Empire jeton in memory of the travels of Emperor Nikolay the II.
Lots 2137 & 2138: Jeton of the Red Cross Depot of Empress Alexandra, provenance Paul Kraatz.
Alexandra Feodorovna (1872 – 1918) the Empress of Russia (as the spouse of Nikolay II, the last ruler of the Russian Empire) originally known as Princess Alix of Hesse and by Rhine, founded the Depot of Empress Alexandra to honor the ones who had donated medicines, uniforms etc to the Russian army. The empress also wanted to honor those who had served well in field hospitals and military trains.
There are a few different jetons given out by the empress. Lot 2138 is a jeton made to commemorate the 1904-1905 Russo-Japanese War. It is a Bronze-gilt, two piece construction, with a chain. Lot 2137 in the other hand was given
out between 1914-1916.
General Major Paul Kraatz (1863-1926)
Paul Nikolai Alexander Kraatz (1863-1926) was a Finnish senator and a engineer, who served as a General Major in the The Imperial Russian Army. During his years in service, he worked on several cruisers owned by the Army. He was given many honorary mentions and insignia by the Emperor and Empress of Russia. Later in his career, in 1909 Kraatz was promoted to General Major, and he left his work as a engineer and moved on to the Finnish Senate.
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