The Order of Virtuti Militari (Latin for ‘For Military Valour’) is Poland’s highest military decoration for heroism and courage in the face of the enemy. The Order of Virtuti Militari was originally established during the tempestuous times of the Targowica Confederation and the Russo-Polish war in defence of the Constitution of 3 May. The Polish victory at the Battle of Zieleńce, on 18 June 1792, accelerated the introduction of the award that had been designed for military deeds and the first Orders were awarded only seven days after the Battle had taken place. They had the temporary form of a medallion made of gold (for Generals and Officers) or silver (for non-commissioned officers and ordinary soldiers). Although King Stanisław August established the new order its actual creator is believed to have been Prince Józef Poniatowski on whose initiative, two months after the Battle of Zieleńce, a statute was created for the establishment of a new Order of Virtuti Militari, which was to have five classes; the badges of the first three classes were to be in the form of the cross that we know today. The statute for the Order was never implemented due to the King joining the Targowica Confederation. However, those officers (86 of them) who had been awarded the decorations recast them into the crosses envisaged in the statue and described in the patents that had been issued for them. The Cross of the Order of Virtuti Militari in the collections of the Royal Castle in Warsaw is an example of a recast of this type, most probably made in 1792 or 1793. In November 1793 the Grodno Sejm briefly restored the order, in response to which, in January 1794, Catherine the Great made it illegal. The Tsarina’s proclamation not only invalidated the order but also commanded that—under threat of severe punishment—the existing decorations be returned. This is why these earliest badges of the order are now very rare and, therefore, all the more valuable.