Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

French Republic/1st Empire, an extremely rare and highly important officer’s bell-top shaped shako of the 1st Light Infantry, the body of black cloth on stiffened vellum (?) is 23.5mcm in height, the base being 17.5cm across expanding to 26cm across the top, this of black leather slightly sunken, a black velvet (faded to brown) band 3.2cm around the crown, the base of the body with a 2.8cm black leather bracing band, the front peak of black leather curved and shaped extending to 7cm this with a 0.9cm silver plated metal trim, the shako plate is an extremely large silver plated copper coiled bugle horn approx. 9.5cm across and 7cm high, in the centre on a further black cloth backing a silver plated ‘1’. The chin-scales of silver plated copper are not separate but struck in complete strips, these are then rivetted to a velvet on leather (?) lining, the side ornaments of silver plated copper are 4cm circular and are stamped with the coiled bugle horn. The scales tie up behind a plain leather disc upon this is a circular fluted metal ‘cockade’ this is painted in red white and blue, in the open centre a further disc painted blue with a white painted cockerel, one leg raised and resting on a bee-skip(?), inserted behind the large disc on a double wire stem is a very large near circular woollen tuft 95% green over 5% black, emanating from the top is a red over white silk fringe plume, bound at the base with corded scarlet silk. Internally the majority of the soft leather sweat band remains though somewhat perished and detached, the leather crown has one or two age splits, the cloth body has inevitably lost the original nap and is worn through to the stiffening mainly around the metal cockade, the lower bracing band lacks a small section at the rear, the large bugle horn plate has one tiny split just below the ‘mouth-piece’, the chinscales have some rippling but are not split, all plated areas have commensurate wear £3000-5000

See colour illustration on back cover.