Trooper_D

Rather than being the boxes in which the original, awarded medals arrived in, might they be the boxes in which a replacement medal bought from a military tailor would be sold in?

Kudos to you, Martin, for fessing up and offering the unwary a salutary lesson! In fairness, it can't be said enough times.

It's the maker's name plaque, Stuka. If you google < haig "london & aldershot" > you will see many other examples.

May we see a photo of the Order's arms, please, as this may give the heraldically-minded a clue?

Dave As Dean said - and thank you also for giving your insights into the complexity of interpreting these rolls

Dear Dave Would you be kind enough to clarify something for me? You have the roll of the Order but you also state that the exact number of awards is unknown. Does this indicate that some genuine awards never made it onto the roll (because of war-time conditions, perhaps?). If not on the roll, how do we judge an award to be 'genuine'? A couple of subsidiary questions, if I may: who maintained the roll and when was the last entry?

What indicates to you that these might be military rather than civiliam, Jurgen, please?

I, for one, would be very interesting to see information about uniforms for this period, MonteSanto, and I am sure that I am not the only one who will look forward to your photos, as and when you have time.

Colt trademark?

Thanks for the clarification. I also wondered about the chevrons but, in the full size version, I can convince myself that I can see that they are three dimensional - in other words, that they are made of braid or similar.

Andy Has the TSF symbol been drawn onto the photo with ink or onto the tunic? Or do we think that it is some kind of crude stitching onto the sleeve of the tunic? I also note that he has 'procured' a British Sam Browne belt from somewhere!

Cazack The official history of the HAC in WW1 - The Honourable Artillery Company in the Great War, edited by Maj. G. Goold Walker (London: Seely, Service & Co, 1930) - indicates that the 2nd Battalion only went to France, as a unit, late in 1916. Before then, it was a feeder for the 1st Battalion, replacing men as needed.

Thank you for that explanation, Enzo. I have a chain configured in this way and I had more or less come to that conclusion, already. I had wanted to try it out in practice but, unfortunately, the button hole on my tailcoat's lapel is too small to allow the round end to pass through it so my understanding will have to stay at the theoretical level, pro tem. What I did conclude from my mostly failed experiment is that the chain would hang almost straight down and that the badges would therefore hang off it rather awkwardly. Perhaps I should seek out some contemporary photographs to see how it would have been, in practice.

A magnificent chain, Enzo! The round end goes in the button hole, of course, but what happens at the end with the rather long and extended plain chain, please?

And he's got the British Military Cross for good measure! Thanks for posting this.

Thank you for this useful clarification of purpose behind this practice, Laurentius.

This is a lovely looking cross, Laurentius. Might we see the reverse, as well, please? Do you know what the purpose of the miniature on the trifold was? If the holder also had the First Class award, would he not only wear that? I hope that you have success in your for pictures from Mericka's book.

For that alone, Enzo - and notwithstanding your other words of wisdom, here - yours is the post of the month, in my opinion

No! What a wonderful wife you have, Stuka

If there is a Mrs/Madame Stuka, was she as excited as you, when you brought this home?

My pleasure - I learnt a lot as well. I agree with you that it does look like 1915. Thanks, Graf ,for your confirmation.

I think that this page helps clear this up, New World: http://www.redcross.org.uk/en/About-us/Who-we-are/Museum-and-archives/Collections/Medals-and-badges wherein it states that "[t]he medal was awarded to members of the British Red Cross units who served in Bulgaria, Greece, Montenegro, Serbia or Turkey during the Turco-Balkan war (1912-1913) or the Balkan Allies war (1913)." Note that the Balkan Allies War was in 1913 not 1915, in which case, being before WW1, a British medic would be a neutral and hence he could be recognised for duties performed in Bulgaria.

Gentlemen The correct colour appears to have been resolved but we haven't addressed Andrei's question as to what material should be used. I am guessing that a course, wool cloth would be correct. Has anyone a better idea?

This extract appears to support that thesis Source: Link to Google Books and this German language web page appears to explain the origins of the family, https://de.wikisource.org/wiki/ADB:Stamford,_Heinrich_Wilhelm_von

You make a very important point, Tifes, which, as collectors, we should always bear in mind when considering the authenticity of medal bars. As you have shown, it is quite possible for a medal bar to be legitimate - and attributable to a named individual, perhaps - yet contain copy medals; the originals having been kept in their boxes in a safe at the owner's home. Perhaps too many bars are dismissed as being 'fakes' because some (or all) of the component medals are obviously copies. I suppose this comes down to what we consider 'authenticity' to mean when we discuss medal bars.