Statesmen

Pre-WWI and WWI medals to Wm. Frank RATTIGAN , British diplomat whose sexual indiscretions as Ambassador to Rumania (with the Princess) led to the premature end to an otherwise promising career. Author of Diversions of a Diplomat (incl.). His son Terrence was the major playwrite whose hits included The Winslow Boy

Important Soviet military & political I.D. booklets, etc., to Marshall Andrei YEREMENKO , whose key services in defeat of Hitler in WWII included holding and counterattacking the Nazis in the vicinity of Stalingrad (with Khrushchev as his Political Officer); said to have invented systematic military use of the Molotov Cocktail (in anti-tank role). He wrote numerous books (incl.) about the Soviet war effort

Award documents (mostly from Alexander II) giving major Czarist Russian (incl. Polish) orders, such as the Order of St. Alexander Nevsky, to Prince Hermann PUCKLER-MUSKAU , an influential Romantic literary and cultural figure (friend of Heine , etc.) famous for landscaping innovation, for defiance of traditional mores, eg. vs. divorce and adultery, (see recent book Contemplating Adultery) and for his hit book about travel in Britain, Tour of a German Prince, which was touted by the likes of Goethe (first published 1832, reprinted often thereafter under various titles). Incl. are these books, and biogs. of Puckler

British WWI valor etc. medals and presentation cigarette case, to Ltc. G.E . HAWES , whose post-war social life included his hosting of Churchill and Woodrow Wilson, and whose scandalous sexual behavior ruined his daughter-in-law's courtship with Prince of Wales Edward VIII . George VI's veto of this romance was not forgiven by Edward, who later got revenge by marrying Wallis Simpson . Hawes and his wife, "the Red Duchess" (of Sutherland) entertained the top figures of the day, eg. Clemenceau & Churchill, at their apartment in Paris. His gay dalliances led the Duchess to divorce him, but she still cared enough for him to introduce his book of letters (to and from a comrade) Elegant Extracts (incl.).

All three of the British war medals awarded to Sir William Howard RUSSELL , 19th century reporter, one of the major names in the history of human communication. His fame began with his expose of the British equivalent of Watergate , the breakdown of the medical supply system which led to thousands of unnecessary deaths from cholera in the Crimean War; Russell's stories in the London Times led to the fall of the British Prime Minister, and to the career in the Crimea of Florence Nightengale. For this he would be thereafter known as the first and greatest war correspondent, but actually he was the first regular foreign correspondent of any sort. Before the U.S. Civil war he was given the Times' U.S. beat, and Lincoln began their meeting together by quipping that the Times was the greatest power on earth, save possibly the Mississippi. He was a leading, if not lone, opponent of colonialism in Victorian times. Subject of numerous biographies (incl.); portrayed in movie Charge of the Light Brigade

British medals of Sir Edward HENRY , widely considered the most important 20th Century Commissioner of Scotland Yard . His method of fingerprint classification is still the basis of modern law enforcement methods around most of the world. Incl are books by and about Henry & fingerprinting.

Various European awards, 1914-1964, (none Nazi) to Rittmeister Adolf Victor von KOERBER , who trained Turkish pilots, and wrote books on such subjects as the air war in WWI (some incl.), then joined the Nazi Party and edited a book of Hitler's speeches. Before Hitler came to power, Koerber turned against Nazism, towards National Liberalism, and was in the army's anti-Hitler conspiracy from its beginning in 1938. After the failed 1944 attempt to assassinate Hitler, Koerber was sent to a concentration camp, where his scheduled execution happened never to be carried out. After liberation he resumed his journalistic efforts, particularly on behalf of European unity, in various Western countries

Italy, Order of the Crown, 3rd Class, gold and enamel, awarded (w/ two 1940 diplomas, one rolled into impressive presentation tube) to Portuguese Admiral (later President) Americo TOMAS , who was overthrown in a Leftist coup in 1974, but who was well-enough regarded that, years later, he was let back into the country to retire in comfort.

Ottoman Turkish Gold & silver Imtiaz Medals, (in special velvet presentation case from Sultan Abdul Hamid) dated 1896, awarded to British journalist Sidney WHITMAN , who wrote for the New York Herald, and whose career stemmed from his friendship with Bismarck 's son, leading to audiences with the retired Iron Chancellor, resulting in many books & articles (some incl.) about Germany, Bismarck, and Eastern Europe . Whitman's coverage of the clashes between the Turks and the Armenians was deemed unusually fair (for a Western reporter) by the Sultan, as described in Whitman's book Turkish Memories

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Three presentation keys, and a gold medal, to Viscount Sir John SIMON , who, during the most dramatic years of the 20th Century (spanning the World Wars) held virtually every major U.K. cabinet position save for Prime Minister; his career culminated in him becoming Lord High Chancellor in Churchill's WWII government. (He was thus responsible for the efficient functioning and independence of the courts, and was thus also the presiding officer of the House of Lords, and the head of the judiciary in England and Wales.)