(Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur). Instituted 1802 by Napoleon Bonaparte. Type VIII. (1870-1951 Issue). Of French manufacture, an enameled white five-armed cross with ball finials in silver, featuring highly detailed laurel and oak wreath in each quadrant, obverse center featuring a superimposed Mariana’s portrait in Gold, surrounded by an elegant enameled blue ring inscribed REPUBLIQUE FRANCAISE 1870, reverse centerpiece presenting period crossed French flags in Gold with red, white and blue enamels, encircled by an enameled blue border inscribed HONNEUR ET PATRIE (Honour and Fatherland), assay mark of a boar’s head denoting .800 silver fineness and Paris manufacture post 1838, measuring 42.28 mm (w) x 40.54 mm (h), with lost of green enamels on the wreath, cracked white enamels on the arms, with minor lost of blue enamels, and lost of the suspension, on original knight’s ribbon, fair.
Footnote: The National Order of the Legion of Honour is the highest French order of merit for military and civil merits, established in 1802 by Napoléon Bonaparte. The order's motto is "Honneur et Patrie" ("Honour and Fatherland") and its seat is the Palais de la Légion d'Honneur next to the Musée d'Orsay, on the left bank of the River Seine in Paris.