An interesting article from BT about the Order of the Elephant:
Nu vil Margrethe have Mærsks Elefantorden tilbage - Danmark | www.bt.dk
The late Mærks McKinney Møller was one of the extremely few ordinary Danes who recieved that order. (No wonder, according to one article his entire empire amounted to about one fith of the Danish GNP. Not sure if it's true but is sounds plausible).
Anyway, upon the death of a recipient of one of the orders, like the Order of the Elephant, it must be returned to Ordenskapitlet = the Chapter of the Orders. Which administrate the various orders. The chairman is Prince Joachim. QMII is as Monarch Ordensherre = Lord of the Order.
Now, Mærsk McKinney Møller is to be buried today and there are no particular rules in regards to the order adorning his casket. The Order can be placed on the casket or displayed next to, or not shown at all.
In a few days it will be expected that the Order of the Elephant will be returned. If that does not happen within say a couple of months or so, a reminder will be send out.
Should the order not be returned or should it have become lost or been stolen, the recipient will be expected to reimburse the order. The amount varies according to the age of the order, but it will typically be around 100.000 DKK = 17.770 $, or 13.442 €.
Equvalent to the cost of making a new order from Georg Jensen.
That also applies to lesser orders.
There are around 100 Orders of the Elephants, some are in storage, others are in for repairs.
The elephant is of massive gold adorned with white enamel and diamonds.
The star to the order is made from sliver with a cross made from pearls.
An ordinary Knights Cross has a value of 1.700 DKK and a Knights Cross of the First Degree has a value of 15.000 DKK.
Here is the converter I used:
http://www.xe.com/