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Auction: 22002 - Orders, Decorations and Medals
Lot: 315

Yemen, Kingdom, Order of the Kingdom of Yemen, Star, 68mm, silver, silver-gilt and enamel, nearly extremely fine

The Yemen had been an Ottoman Province with a Turkish Pasha as Governor General in the capital Sana'a from about 1538-1630 and again from 1872-1918. With the defeat of the Ottomans by the Allied Powers and their withdrawal from the Arabian Peninsula the Imam of Yemen Al Muttawakkil Yahya Hamid Ed Din (1904-1948) was recognised by the Treaty of Sevres in 1921 with the secular title of King. Upon his assassination in 1948 his son Al Nassir Ahmed Hamid Ed Din succeeded him. Imam Ahmed died on 18 September 1962 to be succeeded by his son Al Mansur Li Din Illah Mohammed Al Badr Hamid Ed Din. Imam Badr only a week later on the 26 September was overthrown by a coup. Following the ensuing Civil War, which only concluded in 1970, the Yemen Arab Republic came into being and more recently in 1990 the Y.A.R. merged with the People's Democratic Republic of Yemen, the successors to British rule in the South, to become the Republic of Yemen.

Following correspondence and discussions with Mr. F.T. Bichay of Maison Tewfik Bichay of Cairo, it became apparent that no decorations were ever manufactured for the Kingdom of Yemen. Prior to the Revolution the Imams presented ceremonial daggers and these would have had gold hilts and precious stone insets. However in 1956 inquiries were made as to the institution of a Royal Yemeni Order. Later in May 1962 this was pursued and Mr. Bichay was approached in Cairo by the Yemeni Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mohammed Al Badr, the heir to the Yemeni throne, and asked to design and produce samples of an order. Ultimately two final designs were submitted and one chosen. In early September these samples were presented to the heir of the Yemeni throne for forwarding to the Imam, who had already accepted the design, and who would name the Order. However with the sudden death of Imam Ahmed and the subsequent Revolution the order was never instituted or manufactured.

The following two Lots have been manufactured in recent times by Fattorini and are based on the concepts and from the original proposals.

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Sold for
£550

Starting price
£380