Friedrich III

Printed at bottom of card-mount:-
WOVEN IN PURE SILK BY T. STEVENS, COVENTRY.
 
 FRIEDRICH III.
 KAISER VON DEUTSCHLAND
 GESTORBEN DEN 15ten JUNI, 1888.

silk:
21.0cm deep by 14.6cm wide

by Godden:
Frederich III, the eldest son of Prince William of Prussia, the first German emperor, was born in Potsdam on 18 October 1831.
He visited England in 1851 on the occasion of the Great Exhibition; and he married Victoria, the Princess Royal, in London on 25 January 1858.
On the death of his father in March 1888, he succeeded to the German throne but enjoyed a reign of only 99 days before he died on 15 June 1888.

Frederick (or Friedrich) III was first depicted as 'Kronprinz Friedrick Wilhelm', to quote from the woven title on the example shown on the image of the Stevens presentation volume [see so260].

This later silk shows Friedrich III after he had succeeded to the German throne in March 1888. This very rare subject is found on card-mount of type C.

The title FRIEDRICH III was first listed on label 23+27+2 of 1888, but the silk seems to have been made mainly for the continental market. It is included on the Franz Drahne German back-label.
Examples are now very rare.

Other comments:
The image above on the right is mounted in an official Stevens card mount, with Stevens name printed below the silk. It also has an additional printing in German which translate as " DIED THE 15th JUNE, 1888 ".
The image to the left above has the same silk, but only records Friedrich's name.

Godden notes that most of the Friedrich silks were sold in the European market, and also notes that Frank Drahne included the title on the German back label.
Below are two additional images of Friedrick, with exactly the same silk as included above.
The image to the left below is of a German card mount, typical of many other such cards with Stevens silks recorded on this site.
The image to the right below has the Frank Drahne name printed below the silk - in the place where the Stevens name would normally have been:

same woven silk as recorded above, but mounted in a German card mount typical of many other such cards recorded on this site.

same woven silk as recorded above, but with Frank Drahne's name printed below the silk, in the place where the Stevens name would be.

Whilst the two woven silks are identical to the official Stevens mounted silk, the names printed on the card-mount are slightly different. The German mount has the Stevens title " FRIEDRICH III ", whist the Drahne card uses his title " KAISER FRIEDRICH ". It should also be noted that Sprake included an image of a mounted silk, and the title there was " FRIEDRICK III "

The title on Stevens back label first appears on label 23+27+2, of March or April 1888, as Friedrick III.
It remained as that until label 29+38, of 1893, when it changed to Frederick III, at which spelling it remained until back labels were discontinued in 1910.
At no time did the Stevens back label contain the Friedrich III spelling shown on the official Stevens card-mount above.