Badge of the Royal Order of the Union of Minister I.J.A. (Alexander) Gogel

Decorations and medals, 1806-1813. King Louis Napoleon instituted two national orders: the Order of Merit, with the motto 'do well and do not look back', and the Order of the Union, with the motto 'luctor et emergo'. A year later the two orders were merged to form the Royal Order of Holland, renamed the Royal Order of the Union after 1808. Instead of the king's head, the medal showed a bundle of arrows. When the Netherlands was annexed by France in 1810, Emperor Napoleon introduced the Order of Reunion to replace the Order of the Union. These decorations were originally awarded to I.J.A. Gogel, who served for many years as minister of finance.