Medal "In memory of the 50th anniversary of the patronage of Emperor Franz Joseph in the Life Guards Kexholm Regiment"

Dark bronze, stamped. A rare medal in good condition for an object made of earth. According to D.I. Peters, the total number of medals awarded is 100 silver and 40 bronze. The front one. side: Portrait of His Majesty in the uniform of the regiment, surrounded by the inscription: "Franz Joseph 1 Imp. Austria. Cor. Bohemian. etc. and Apostolic Cor. Hungarian.". The flip side: There is an inscription between the branches of an oak and a laurel tree: "L.-Gv. To the Emperor of Austria's Kexholm regiment from the Chief 1848-1898". The Vienna Mint. Without the medallist's signature. The diameter is 35 mm. Medals were worn on a black and yellow ribbon. Guarantee of authenticity.

December 28, 1898, marked the 50th anniversary of Franz Josef 1's patronage of L.-guards. The Kexholm regiment. On the eve of this date, the Austrian emperor established special commemorative medals on a black and yellow ribbon - silver for officers and bronze for lower ranks. On December 26, the Emperor's envoy, the Austrian adjutant Prince Dietrichstein of Nikolsburg, arrived in Warsaw. On December 27, at the Lozenkovsky Palace, he met with all the officers of the L.-guards. The Kexholm Regiment. After the end of the official presentation, Prince Dietrichstein said: "Gentlemen! His Imperial Royal Majesty, my August Sovereign, has entrusted me with the task of delivering the letter. His greetings to the Kexholm regiment, His Majesty's gifts to the regiment, and jubilee medals." Then he personally presented all the officers and officials with commemorative silver medals. The awards were awarded to: regimental commander Major General Prince D.L. Argutinsky - Dolgorukov, 6 colonels, 61 chief officers, 3 doctors, regimental priest Sadikov, bandmaster Alekseev, gunsmith Ilmar and clerk Yarotsky - a total of 75 people. After that, Prince Dietrichstein went out into the lobby, where 30 sergeants and non-commissioned officers of the regiment were gathered. They were awarded bronze medals of the same design.

Immediately after the award, the idea arose to make the jubilee medals forever the property of the regiment, so that as officers and soldiers with these medals declined, they would be transferred to other ranks at the discretion of their superiors. On February 23, 1899, Nicholas II superimposed a resolution on the corresponding omnipotent note: "I fully approve of this idea." Franz Joseph also supported this idea. But wanting the officers and lower ranks who had already received medals to keep them for the rest of their lives, he deigned to add another 100 silver and 40 bronze medals so that they would be issued to officers and non-commissioned officers only for the duration of their stay in the regiment.

In 1899, Lieutenant B.V. Atsamovich developed the "Regulations on the regimental jubilee Chef's medals of 1898 of the Life Guards of the Kexholm Emperor of the Austrian Regiment", approved by the regimental commander, Major General Prince D.L.Argutinsky-Dolgorukov. Since that time, silver medals have been awarded to all officers joining the regiment. The bronze medals were distributed as follows: in the Company of His Majesty the Emperor of Austria, the sergeant major and all platoon non-commissioned officers had 5; in the remaining companies, 2 each (for a sergeant major and one platoon non-commissioned officer) had only 30; the sergeant major of a non-combat company, the senior musician, the regimental clerk, the staff bugler and the regimental drummer. Thus, the total number of L.-gw. The Kexholm regiment was awarded 175 silver and 70 bronze chef's jubilee medals (Zeikhauz Magazine No. 4, 2002).