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Stefan Thanks for posting this new image of the reverse of one of your postcards. As you may know - but others may find interesting - correspondents were originally forbidden from writing anything other than the address on the back of postcards. Internet sources seem to agree that, in 1902, Great Britain was the first to allow a message on the reverse of a postcard, provided it didn't interfere with the address. To accommodate this requirement, postcards were printed with divided backs, like yours. Hence we can date it to be post-1902. I'm not sure this helps much with your original query, though :-(

​For interest, I am posting here a reproduction of a Vanity Fair caricature as mentioned by Mervyn, that of the Earl of Denbigh, who was Commanding Officer and latterly Colonel-Commandant of the HAC from 1893 to 1933. In this illustration, Denbigh is wearing the uniform of the then-senior sub-unit, the Horse Artillery (as opposed to the Guards uniform of the infantry battalions of the HAC). From this, we can see that Stefan's caricature captures the spirit of the HAC rather than attempting veracity. Some of the infelicities include the lack of rows of lace (in Royal Horse Artillery style) on the tunic, the wearing of the sword belt over rather than under the tunic and the presence of a cockade on the front of the busby where none should be. The lace on the sleeve and the 'lines' are not quite right, either. All of that having been said, it doesn't detract from the attractiveness of the card.

Stefan Thanks for posting these interesting cards for us to see. Like Mervyn, I haven't come across this series before. Can you post the reverse of one of them as it can often provide useful information, including dating evidence (as I am sure you already knew). Also, do they have series numbers which might help us?

Thanks, Paul.

​Do you have any thoughts, Paul, as to why it was issued on a normal ribbon rather than a bow? What was the general practice for awards to women, please?

​Thanks for expanding further on the content of volume one, Patrick. As you suggest, these volumes are a must for anyone interested on British medals and the Great War. One (or three, really) for the Christmas list!

​Patrick Thanks for bringing this series, which is new to me, to our attention. It looks like one I 'need' - the first volume, at any rate - as well. It seems to me that Volume II is the appropriate volume for Kevin to acquire, if the blurb here is correct, http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/THE-GREAT-WAR-MEDAL-COLLECTORS-COMPANION-VOLUME-II-BY-HOWARD-WILLIAMSON/311341069885

Luscious! Well done, Iver and Rogi, for allowing this reunion to happen and thank you, Rogi, for allowing us to see these wonderful images of your prizes. I look forward to the story continuing.

I have two thoughts, BJOW. The first is that his birth certificate might cast some light on the problem. The second is that a lot can happen in the five years from 1871 to his joining up in 1876. Might he have been apprenticed to a craftsman working in Spitalfields and then, when he was 19, decided to break his apprenticeship and join the army?

Your suggestion, if I am interpreting it correctly, that it should be a generic Humanitarian medal, rather than one which is specific to Ebola, is one I entirely agree with, Mervyn. It could then be awarded in future, similar situations without having to come up with a new medal each time. One of the problems with issuing new medals all the time is that it is increasingly difficult to come up with elegantly designed ribbons - as, I would suggest, recent medals demonstrate

Thank you for taking the trouble to transcribe this list, Paja. You have created a great resource for non-Serbian speaking researchers who, for the most part, wouldn't have had access to the original book.

Thanks Glenn. In the light of your post, my googling suggests that this practice dates back to the Napoleonic wars. I wonder what the story behind it is?

Great photos, Joe and thanks for the back story, everyone else. I wonder why he might have left his last sleeve buttons undone? Was this a military tradition for any units? As this is a portrait photograph I am discounting sloppiness so I suppose it might have been his 'signature', to show that he was a 'roll up his sleeves and getting on with it' kind of guy. Has anyone any thoughts?

By the tentative look on his face ("have they noticed?"), I think he realised the moment he put his new litewka on but, with ten minutes before the parade, there was no time to do anything about it Good spot, GdC26!

As Utopis said, some very beautiful items and interesting to see so many variations of the 'basic' theme (as illustrated in Elmar's posting, #20 above). Thanks for continuing to post them

An exquisite piece, Elmar. Do you know who it was awarded to?

I have no idea as to the overcoat but I think, in the tailcoat, we may be seeing an earlier version of the uniform on the right of the image, below, which Tennants the auctioneers describe as, Source: http://www.tennants.co.uk/Catalogue/Lots/151759.aspx

Good find, Markgraf! On 3 September, 1916, the New York Times ran a story about him, entitled "Baron George Washington Fighting for Austria; Collateral Descendant of the First President of U.S., an Officer of the Austrian Lancers", which explains his descent. It is available, as a .pdf, here, http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9805E3D91439E233A25750C0A96F9C946796D6CF

Basil Arthur Naden WOODS - and quite a character he was, too! http://navymuseum.co.nz/medals/index.php/78-display-numbers/204-0705

So, perhaps, totemic and/or Islamic in origin. Very interest.

An impeccable and irrefutable source! - thanks. I am not quite sure why the Somov coat - which btw looks vaguely Polish, to me - is on the dexter side when it comes from the husband. I guess the answer is that his wife significantly outranks him. Anyway, apologies for going off topic.

What a fantastic story - thanks for posting it, Nick! We know that the dexter coat of the two shields accollé in post #34 (and below) is that of the Naryshkin family but do we know anything about the coat (or coats, actually) on the sinister side of this marshalling, please?

Paul Further to what Kvart has written, I am seeing similarities between what your man is wearing and the Finnish M36 tunic, as illustrated in the attached photos Sources: http://www.mosinnagant.net/finland/FinnishTunicsectionrevised.asp http://www.speercollection.com/Military/Axis/Uniform/Finnish%20M36%20tunic/

Lars There appears to be a date or a short inscription in the bottom scroll. Can you read it and let us know what it says, please?

Freiherr Not a British hussar uniform, which always had six rows of lace for the regiments in the regular army. I think it is the uniform of one of the (Russian) Guard Hussar regiments. Here is a picture of Prince Jaime de Borbon who served in one of them, the Grodno Hussars, for comparison.