St. George crosses 4 degrees: history and features of coinage

St. George crosses of 4 degrees were established as the highest award, which was awarded to representatives of the lower ranks in the army of the Russian Empire. It was presented only for personal courage displayed on the battlefield. Despite the fact that this award is more than two hundred years old, its current name - the St. George Cross - it did not get right away. It appeared only in 1913 with the approval of the updated regulations on the Order of St. George.

History of occurrence

In mid-February 1807, the Highest Manifesto was published, which instituted the Military Order Badge. It was later renamed the St. George cross. In 1833 under Emperor Nicholas I there arose a need to adopt a new statute of the Order of St. George. It contained several innovations concerning the awards of crosses of soldiers. For example, now the commander-in-chief of the army, as well as the generals of separate corps could present to the award. This simplification of the procedure greatly facilitated the process of awarding itself, and also virtually eliminated all kinds of bureaucratic delays.

The next innovation is a maximum increase in the salaries of soldiers and non-commissioned officers, as well as the right to wear a cross along with the St. George's bow. This difference preceded the emergence of the division of the award into several degrees.

The first awards, which appeared in 1807, were not numbered. This oversight was only begun to be corrected after two years, when they decided to compile lists of all the gentlemen. For this, the awards were temporarily withdrawn and numbered. Therefore, it is precisely known that there were 9937 copies. Thanks to this and now you can find out who was awarded this or that George Cross (4th degree). By the number and type of the font it is easy to determine the period to which the reward relates. In the First World Number of handed crosses exceeded 1 million, so on the reverse of the later medallions on the upper beam is the designation 1 / M.

Short description

St. George's crosses of 4 degrees appeared only in March 1856, when the Order of the Order of St. George was introduced regular changes. Initially, 1 and 2 degrees were made of gold, and the remaining two were made of silver. According to the statute, the award should be consecutive. In addition, for each of the degrees, its own special numbering was developed, and for a visual difference, a bow made of St. George's ribbon was also added.

After numerous awards of soldiers for valiant service in the Turkish war of 1877-1878, the stamps, which were previously used by the mint for coinage, were decided to be renewed. For this, the medalist A. A. Griliches made some changes to the images on the crosses. It was then that these insignia acquired the appearance that survived until the revolution of 1917. Stamp of the St. George on the updated medallions has become much more expressive.

Privilege

The new statute of 1913, among other things, provided for life-long monetary maintenance. So, awarded the St. George cross 4 degrees received 36 rubles, and the first - already 120. At the same time, holders of several awards were paid an increase or a pension as the highest insignia. Knights of St. George's cross 4 degrees, and just awarded this distinction had a number of privileges, for example it was forbidden to apply corporal punishment in relation to them .

Production features

Already in April 1914 there were George Crosses 4 degrees of a new pattern. The mint received orders for them in the autumn of 1913. They were intended for the delivery of military expeditions and border guards. Since July 1914, when the First World War began, the mint began to mint considerably more crosses. To speed up the process, even those medallions that were left with the Japanese war were first used. Only in the first year about 1,500 crosses were sent to the army, more than 3,000 - the second, 26,000 - the third and the largest number of the fourth - 170 thousand copies.

In connection with the sharply increased demand for the St. George crosses made of precious metals and the difficult economic situation in the country in the spring of 1915, it was decided to somewhat reduce the sample of gold used for these purposes, therefore the highest degrees of combat awards were made of a special alloy. In its composition it contained only 60% pure gold.

Beginning in October 1916, expensive metals were completely removed from the alloy used in the manufacture of all Russian awards without exception. Henceforth St. George crosses of 4 degrees have been minted only from nickel and tombak, and on its beams there were letters: BM is white metal, and CMM is yellow. Before the very revolution of 1917, the Provisional Government permitted the awarding of this award to both soldiers and officers, while the laurel branch also had a pinnacle on the ribbon.