Service Star (Congo)

{{short description|Civil decoration in the Congo Free State}}

File:Service_Star,_Congo_Free_State,_1889.PNG

The Service Star (French Étoile de service) was a civil decoration in the Congo Free State (and later the Belgian Congo) created by a decree of the king-sovereign, Leopold II, on 16 January 1889. It was given to those non-natives who faithfully and honorably completed a term of service in the Congo.{{citation |author=J.-B. Allart |title=Le Congo en 1890 |journal=Bulletin de la Société royale de géographie d'Anvers |volume=14 |year=1889 |page=334}}. It was the second decoration in terms of precedence after the Order of the African Star, introduced seventeen days earlier.{{citation |title=Croix et médailles congolaises |journal=Le Congo illustré |volume=2 |year=1893 |page=24}}.

The award consisted of a five-sided silver star 30 millimetres in diameter. On one side, in the centre, was a smaller five-sided gold star, while on the other was the Free State motto, Travail et progrès (work and progress). It came with a blue ribbon with horizontal silver bars attached to indicate the number of terms of service in the Congo. Vice-Governor General Paul Costermans, for example, wore the star with four bars.{{citation |author=A. Engels |chapter=Costermans (Paul Marie Adolphe) |title=Biographie Coloniale Belge |chapter-url=http://www.kaowarsom.be/en/notices_COSTERMANS_Paul_Marie_Adolphe |publisher=Institut royal colonial belge |volume=1 |year=1948 |pages=268–71}}.