Spain, Fascist State. An Order of Civil Merit, Commander, c.1950
Item #EU14965
Price:
$675
(Orden del Mérito Civil, Comandante). Type II (1942-1975). Instituted in 1926. Badge: in silver gilt with blue, white and green enamels, measuring 48.3 mm (w) x 71.5 (h), on its full-length neck ribbon; and Breast Star: in silver gilt with blue and white enamels, measuring 73.5 mm (w) x 76 mm (h), ornate vertical pinback flanked by dual stays. Intact enamels, extremely fine.
Footnote: The Order of Civil Merit was established by King Alfonso XIII of Spain, by Royal Decree on June 25, 1926, after the proposition of the President of the Council of Ministers, General D. Miguel Primo de Rivera (1870-1930). Its first regulations was published next May 25, 1927. It was created to reward civic virtues of the functionaries in service for the State, the Provinces and Municipalities, as well as extraordinary services performed by Spanish citizens for the good of Nation, and could possibly be awarded, moreover, to foreign citizens by courtesy or reciprocity. The Provisional Government of the Republic, by decree of July 24, 1931, abolished this order and other orders of the State, except that of Isabel the Catholic, and wanted to replace them with the creation of the Order of the Republic. The Order was restored under the Franco regime, by Decree of November 7, 1942. Today, the order recognizes "the civic virtue of officers in the service of the Nation, as well as extraordinary service by Spanish and foreign citizens for the benefit of Spain."