Brian Wolfe

Hi 1314 and Paul,

I would never have though about officers being called back into service for the Jubilee cerimonies but it makes perfect sense.

Regards

Brian

the best thing to do is not to bid on items from this seller. Maybe he will understand. I know I'm dreaming .

Christophe

Hi Christophe,

I wish that would work, however, the item would sell anyway except the seller would not make as much. I hope he will listen to the members and relist the group as one.

A year or more ago I was in an antiques store and the dealer was selling some military documents all named to one recipient. He had broken them up and when I said that I thought he should have kept them together he got very nasty and suggested it was his business and he would make as much profit as possible. Well, he did, as I purhcased every one. I will never realize my money back even if I were to keep them for 50 years. They are not documents that I would have normally purchased but they remain together and that was my point of purchasing the lot. You would have thought he could have given me some sort of discount as I purchased the lot but no; once again greed won out.

Regards

Brian

Old Dr. Dick was a Party member (of course) and during the Nazi time was director of libraries in Fankfurt and surrounding areas.

As an expert on valuable books he was on the committee which was responsible for confiscating and administrating valuable property from Jews. (There were art, Book, and a few other specialist).

He would decide what was valuable enough to confiscate and sell outside of Germany.

He was also a prime mover in excluding Jews from public libraries in the area.

Does everyone wearing medals deserve respect? In my opinion.... negative. Some are indeed inglorious basterds.....

Chris,

I believe you pointed out in another post that not every veteran is a hero; some are just bastards. I think your question is a loaded one and from the lack of respondents I'd say no one wants to start something that could end in the thread being locked. How do you NOT go political on such a question?

Are we not allowed to spell "bastard" correctly on the forum or is your spelling a reference to that ridiculous Tarinteno movie? I know I can't write (censored),(censored)or (censored)as they would be politically incorrect.

REgards

Brian

dear brian i will be going to the national archives one day next week and I will look up the date for when PC Fairbrass was dismissed in the police orders for you. Sometimes it gives the reason why he was dismissed from the police. If you have got any more officers, I may have some info on them, such as warrant numbers and movement between divisions and promotions. Let me know if you need any further help although I cannot guarantee getting any results. Paul.

That would be great Paul, thank you very much.

The only other Metropolitian Police Medal I have is the 1887 Jubilee with the 1897 clasp to PC B.(Bernard) Bowen A DIVN.

I know his first name as it is on his Special Constabulary LSGC Medal. If you could find out if there is any information on him as will it would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks again,

Regards

Brian

Many thanks 1314, I could never have hoped to find out this much information about PC. Fairbrass.

Regards

Brian

Hello and welcome,

Very nice postcards, they were sure made to stir up pride in the HJ.

Regards

Brian

It is sad to see what greed will lead a person to do.

The medal groups of Independent India (1947 onwards) suffer the same fate all of the time. Of course one can understand it a bit more considering the average income in India; however, I would hazard to say this is just a matter of maximizing profit at the cost of history. It is just disgusting.

Regards

Brian

Here are the revers sides of the above two medallions.

These are usually inexpensive additions to a collection yet they represent historic events and well worthy of collecting.

Regards

Brian

Here's a couple I have to add to this thread that were given out by the City of East London, which I believe is on the Indian Ocean coast of South Africa. The George VI Coronation medallion was shown above but I wanted to also show the reverse as well as the Queen Elizabeth Coronation issue.

The missing hanger on the Eliz.II would have probably been the same as on the GEO.VI issue considering the similarity between the two medallions.

Regards

Brian

hi brian you officer is cornelius fairbrass warrant number is 62076 i have the police orders print out for fairbrass name.all i can find on him is on the 06/08/1891 pc.c.fairbrass p division to ps.c.fairbrass g division. and here come the good bit about him on the 17/06/1895 ps.c.fairbradss g division dismissed look like he was a bad boy. you got a nice one there mate paul

Hello pikemedals,

Thank you for this information. I would never have found this out living here in Canada. It's an interesting bit of history as well. This would explain why he did not receive the 1897 clasp.

You've made my day.

Regards and cheers

Brian

Hi Chris,

Is this a particular model or was it a matter of waiting until just the right one caught your eye? Im not up on the different patterns of helmets.

This is a nice specimen.

Regards

Brian

Hello Dimer,

I just read your first post and made a comment now you've posted this one and once again you've provided an indispensible reference source. Now I must add a TWM to my collection.

Regards

Brian

Hello Demir,

I missed this post when you entered it back in October. I am very happy that the post was revived; you have provided such a great reference source. Many thanks for this top notch post.

Regards

Brian

Hello Damian,

Is there a chance that you could post photos of this when you are allowed by forum rules to post photos?

I know many members, myself included, would like to see it.

Regards

Brian

The first post I've read this morning and it's outstanding.

Thanks for sharing your collection with us.

Regards

Brian

Hi Mervyn,

You just keep amazing me! What a great tipstaff. I'm also glad to see that I'm not alone in wondering about the history and the people a item may have seen or come in contact with. I can see why you are not interested in parting with this historic artifact.

Thanks for giving the membership a chance to see it.

Regards

Brian

Hi Kevin,

Thanks for the interesting additions to the thread. I would have never thought there was so much material "out there" and I'm glad that the GMIC has allowed this space to gather it all together in one place. The Berkshire brassard without the number is interesting indeed. I wonder which one came first?

This is not a competition as to who has the oldest brassard by the way.

Thanks to all for keeping this thread alive.

Regards

Brian

Hello Damian,

I was looking through my reference books last night and cold not locate the information you are looking for. I was hoping to

welcome you to the GMIC along with the information but it looks like all can can offer for the time being is, "Welcome".

I'll keep looking.

Regards

Brian

Lovely sword Tomas, and the condition of the blade is exceptional. Strange how closely the design follows the British. I suppose because Britain was the leading sea power. However, Sweden has also adopted the fouled anchor. What date do you put on this one ?

I must say it's a pleasure to see some pieces appearing on this sub-forum.

Hello Tomas,

I'm replying on Mervyn's post, I hope that alright, as I want to echo what Mervyn has said. My first thought, upon seeing your sword, was how much it resembled the British naval swords as well. This is the first Swedish naval sword I've seen and it is impressive.

Thnaks for posting it.

Regards

Brian

Hi Tomas,

A very elegant dagger as Mervyn has stated, the cat looks a little sinister though.

Seriously that is a very nice item, thanks for posting it.

Regards

Brian

A very interesting and well written post Mervyn, and one I missed when you first posted it.

Since others seem to have missed it as well I am bringing it back "on line" for others to read.

Regards

Brian

Thankyou for comments everyone. I had spotted the mis-mounting - however, I'm a little undecided as to change them - or not ? Thomas rightly points out there is one school of thought that says leave them.

Our medal Forum is strange - I posted a few weeks ago a quite rare 1877-8 Kaffrarian War medal to the Frontier Armed and Mounted Police - under 60 with this bar date combination. No replies and only about 70 views before it went down the list. This doesn't bother me in the least - but, it does leave doubts as to just how much knowledge there is for these historical old wars and military events. Post WW1 or WW2 and there is immediate interest - perhaps it is that members like the more modern research ?

Hi Mervyn,

I tend to think a group should be left as is thereby preserving it as an artifact complete with the foibles of humanity. To take the group apart and munt them up correct takes the human touch away from the artifact and in a way produces just another one of many groups that are "correct". This point has been has been kick around on the forum before and I believe when the dust settled eveyone agreed it was a matter of taste.

I must admit to having missed your post of the 1877-8 Kaffarian War Medal. Perhaps a good number of the members are like me (poor bastards) and have several "irons" in the fire. There are many evenings when I get home that I have just enough time to skim over the day's posts before I am engrossed in one of my other interests. As far as research is concerned I would rather read about pre-Great War history, the British Empire days are facinating, at least to me. After that, the Great War holds much interest for me. Perhaps one of the problems is that there is a lot in print regarding WWI and WWII and the archives, here in Canada, are open for research into the soldiers serving in the First World War. There's nothing as good as the North West Frontier (India) for great history.

Regards

Brian

Hi Mervyn,

An interesting post and an area of collecting I've never considered...however...

As to the history, it's not something we hear much of here, much like the history of post Independent India.

Thanks for posting the group.

Regards

Brian

Brian - that's a great personal badge to have. What do the initials after Norwich stand for ?

Ian - I fully agree with you - there is a lot of interesting material out there - and of particular collecting value would be some of the early Insurance marks to go on buildings. An important part of our history, since the brigades turning out would only work on a fire if their insurance symbol was displayed.

Unless anyone disagrees, then lets include both Fire and Ambulance. I don't suppose there will be a lot, however, if it gets excessive we can ask Nick to form a new sub-forum.

Hi Mervyn,

TWP = Township.

Regards

Brian

Here's a closer look at the disk.

I believe Windsor Castle is located in Berkshire.

I hope you like my latest offering.

Regards

Brian