 Society of the Cincinnati. Tiffany style gold eagle, ca. 1885-1900. Gold and enamel with remnant of white and blue silk ribbon. 46.0 x 32.0 mm. Myers 47. About as made. Unmarked, but in the distinctive Tiffany style, with crest on eagle's head and small 'A' in SERVARE. The Society of the Cincinnati was founded in 1783 as an hereditary society whose membership was to be restricted to commissioned Continental officers on active duty at the end of the Revolutionary War, to those who had seen three years or more active military service during the war, and to those who had been released from service during hostilities as supernumeraries. Direct male heirs of members were eligible to succeed to their fathers' memberships. Later, French naval officers of captain's and higher rank and army officers of colonel's rank and higher were also allowed membership. A badge of membership was proposed in 1783, the eagle, which would later become one of the most coveted of all society badges. The best single book on the Society of the Cincinnati badges, their history and types, is Minor Myers, Jr.'s The Insignia of the Society of the Cincinnati (Washington, D.C.: The Society of the Cincinnati, 1998).
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