The first of two collars of the Order of the White Eagle was commissioned by Stanisław August for the coronation ceremony as the insignia of the Grand Master of the Order. Originally, it consisted of 22 links (24 at present), twelve of which depicted an eagle, while the remaining ones showed images of the Virgin Mary and Marian anagrams (6 each); it also used to have a cross studded with diamonds. The ordo coronandi lists the collar as one of the “pontifical objects for Our Lord" which were laid out on the console tables in the Old Audience Chamber before the coronation. Together with the other ceremonial accoutrements, it was put on by the king elect “with the help of the Chamberlain of the Crown" during the dressing ceremony. After the King’s arrival at the cathedral, before he took off the coronation mantle for the anointing ceremony, the collar was placed on a tray, to be worn again after the King’s had been anointed and had put his mantle back on. The monarch wore it during the girding of the sword, the coronation and when being enthroned, as well as later, when he proceeded to the Castle, wearing the so-called Spanish robes. Stanisław August undoubtedly wore the collar when, as Grand Master of the Order, he awarded it to the first three Knights of the Order to be given the honour by the King: Adam Czartoryski, Michał Poniatowski and the Russian envoy, Nikolai Repnin. The collar was crafted by the Warsaw jeweller and goldsmith, Joachim Friedrich Jacobson, who later became a regular supplier of the King. An elder in the Evangelical Church of the Augsburg Confession, he was not a member of the guild but was a very successful artist, whose popularity with the most distinguished Polish noblemen helped him accumulate significant wealth, including two town houses in Leszno near Warsaw. His service to Stanisław August was later continued by his two sons: Joachim Friedrich II and... The design for the collar was based on August III’s collar as depicted, for example, on the Bene Merentibus medal. The former monarch’s monogram on the links was replaced, however, with a Marian anagram. It may be assumed that it was designed by Ephraim Schröger, who designed the pontifical consoles, the first royal seals and possibly also the King’s throne and ceremonial sword. The collar was depicted in Krzysztof Werner’s coronation portrait of Stanisław August and in the sketches for this portrait which show details of the coronation robes and the furniture made for the occasion. The King later replaced it with a more splendid diamond collar as shown in the coronation portrait by Marcello Bacciarelli painted between 1769–71. This new diamond collar was also crafted by Joachim Friedrich Jacobson I. The item is listed under 10 August 1766 on the collective bill for pieces commissioned by the King from 1765, and priced at 2377 ducats. On 26 February 1790, during a session of the Great Sejm, the King donated for public causes “ornaments and jewels amounting to half a million [ducats]"; this grand gesture was intended to encourage deputies to support military taxation as well as to show his (the King’s) personal generosity. The enamelled collar, however, was removed from the list of donated items probably, among other reasons, on account of its low value. The King took the collar, which was indispensable during the Order awarding ceremony, to Grodno, and later, after his abdication, to St. Petersburg, where he resided (in the Marble Palace) until his death in 1798. After his death, following Paul I’s order of March 1799, the collar was sent to the Kremlin Armoury and was returned to the Warsaw Castle under the Treaty of Riga on 13 April 1922 (Royal Castle Archives, Inwentarze i rachunki [inventories and bills] 32, p. 504). Until the outbreak of World War II, the collar was exhibited in the Throne Room, but it was also worn by the Grand Master as the insignium of the Order of the White Eagle. It was evacuated to Romania, together with the president’s chancellery, then to France—most probably to Paris and Aubisson—and later to Canada (Halifax; 12 July 1940); it was stored in a bank safe deposit box in Ottawa until 2 March 1945; was returned to Poland on 2 February 1959; housed in the National Museum in Warsaw until 14 June 1984, then at the Royal Castle.