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published in: "Orden und Ehrenzeichen - Das Magazine für Sammler und Forscher", Issue 8, August 2000, pages 16-18

As every order also the Order of Albert comes with award documents. § 7 of the order's statutes from December, 31 1850 say: „Jeder der von Uns mit dem Orden Begnadigten erhält ein von Uns gezeichnetes, vom Ordenscanzler contrasigniertes Decret..." ("Everyone who will be awarded with our order receives an award document, that is signed by us, and contra signed by the chancellor of the order..."). The documents are changing their style, as the decorations over the 60 year's of existence and are going to be examined in the following article. First it has to be said that there was a leak of award documents from the time the order was issued, so that this article is not totally completed.
The documents have all the same size of ~35 x 22 cm and have a double sheet. Only the cover page is be written on. The whole document can be divided into 10 parts, that are looking in general similar (Look at picture 1).

(1) Head: „Wir (Name of King), von Gottes Gnaden König von Sachsen etc. etc. etc. haben uns bewogen gefunden,..." (We (Name of King), by Good's grace king of Saxony etc. etc. etc. are pleased to,...").
(2) Cut: This space is left for the name of the recipient and his function. Awarding to civil persons includes besides the name, occupation and residence, to military persons this space show's rank, position and unit.
(3) Grade of Order: Here you find the the exact grade of the order. After this was handwritten for a long time, round 1900, pre-printed types are appearing.
(4) Text: This part is connected to the grade of the order and is always the same: „...zu verleihen. Zu dessen Urkund ist das gegenwärtige Dekret ausgefertigt, von Uns eigenhändig unterzeichnet und mit Unserem königlichen Siegel versehen worden."("...to award. This for this document is issued, signed by us and be attached with our king's seal.").
(5) Date: Sometimes handwritten, sometimes printed part, that always starts with: „Dresden, am ..." ("Dresden, the...")
(6) Seal: You will find the so called seal, "Blindprägesiegel", at the lower left corner of the award document. It consists of the king's coat of arms that is surrounded by an inscription, that changes its style over the years. You find about six different seals during the existence of the Order between 1850 and 1918.

The first seal used under the King Friedrich August II. existed until 1854. (Picture under construction)

The second type has been used until 1873. The measurements are 7,5 cm in diameter and shows the coat of arms surrounded by the following inscription: „Johann von Gottes Gnaden König von Sachsen & C. & C. & C." ("Johann by goods grace King of Saxony & C. & C. & C."). surrounded by the crown of rue and a 0,2 cm wide rim.

With the change of the ruler in 1873, Albert became king, a new seal was made and changed its style again. After a design of Professor Hähnel the metal engraver Max Bardulek made the seal to December, 09 1873. It shows now the a style that includes two lions holding the coat of arms. The surrounding inscription now is: „Albert von Gottes Gnaden König von Sachsen & C: & C: & C:" ("Albert by goods grace King of Saxony & C: & C: & C:") and is surrounded by the crown of rue and a 0,1 cm wide rim. It measures 6,9 cm in diameter.

The finally style was issued by order from June, 7 1889 belonging to the majesties seal (VOBl Sachsen 1889, S.47ff) and was in use until the end of world war one. The design was made by Professor Donadini and made by the king's mint in Dresden. April, 4 1891 it was ready to be used. The, the coat of arms, surrounding inscription was then, starting with the, then ruling, king's name: "...von Gottes Gnaden König von Sachsen ETC: ETC:" ("... by goods grace King of Saxony ETC: ETC:"), (the seal of Friedrich August III. includes one additional „ETC:"). The seals for King Georg, july, 7 1902, and King Friedrich August III., November, 25 1904 were also made by the mint. They measures 7,6 cm in diameter.

(7-9) Signatures: Following the rules of the orders statues at position (7) the king, (8) the chancellor of the order and at position (9) the secretary of the order signed the document.

1. King's signatures :

1.a	Friedrich August II. (until 1854)
1.b	Johann (until 1873)
1.c	Albert (until 1902)
1.d	Georg (until 1904)
1.e	Friedrich August III. (until 1918)

2. Chancellor's signatures:

3.a	Heinrich Anton von Zeschau, Excell. Staatsminister a.D. und Minister des königlichen Hauses.
3.b	Dr. Johann Paul Freiherr von Falkenstein, Vorsitzender Staatsminister und Minister des Cultus und des öffentlichen Unterrichts.
3.c	Georg Friedrich Alfred Graf von Fabrice, Excell., Staatsminister.
3.d	Julius Hans von Thümmel, Excell., Staatsminister.
3.e	Dr. Jur. Heinrich Rudolf Schurig, Excell., Staatsminister.
3.f	Karl Paul Edler von der Planitz, Excell., Staatsminister, General der Infanterie.
3.g	Dr. Jur. Et phill. Kurt Damm Paul von Seydewitz, Excell., Staatsminister, Minister des Cultus und des königlichen Hauses.
3.h	Dr. Viktor Alexander von Otto, Excell., Staatsminister, Minister der Justiz.
3.i	Max Clemens Lothar Freiherr von Hausen, Excell., Staatsminister, Minister des Krieges, Generaloberst.
3.j	Dr. Paul Arthur Nagel, Excell., Staatsminister, Minister der Justiz.

3. Secretary's signatures:

2.a	Albert Zenker, Geh. Hofrat und Ministerialrat im Ministerium des königlichen Hauses.
2.b	Wilhelm Immanuel Bär, Geh. Hofrat und Ministerialrat im Ministerium des königlichen Hauses.
2.c	Richard von Baumann, Geh. Hofrat und Ministerialrat im Ministerium des königlichen Hauses.

„The award documents have been signed until 1907 by the king and grand master of the order personally. April 9, 1907 king Friedrich August III. gave the order, that awarding to foreigners have to be "signed" with a signature stamp. January 7, 1915 Friedrich August III ordered the signature stamp also for awarding to citizens, if the military rank was below a captain's."[1]

(10) Index: Until approximately 1894 here was the following printed text: „Dekret über die Verleihung..." ("Document belonging to the awarding of..."), followed by the handwritten information's about rank of the awarded order, position and name of the recipient. Until 1902 only the word „Dekret." is print to this position.

"After 1911 the documents weren't send in their special green folder, but in and normal envelope. This lead to a yearly cost reduction from about 937 mark. Another result of is was, that lots of people started complaining about the fact that the documents were slightly damaged. The ministry of internal affairs asked the orders chancellery to change it but was declined."[2]

Award documents given after a king died had a black rim.

The documents from the issue time of the order have been written by hand totally.

Even so the basic style of the award documents didn't change over the years, there are a lot of smaller details in printing witch varies. After examine hundreds of documents 14 different types have been obtained.

[1] "Die Orden des Königreiches Sachsen", D.Weber, P.Arnold, P. Keil; S.228
[2] "Die Orden des Königreiches Sachsen", D.Weber, P.Arnold, P. Keil; S.229