Farkas

Gents…

Seems best to, just in case we can… cheers both, tony 🍻

Hi Gents… from Wikipedia “The Second Anglo-Afghan War“ (Dari: جنگ دوم افغان و انگلیس ) (Pashto: د افغان-انګرېز دويمه جګړه ) was a military conflict fought between the British Raj and the Emirate of Afghanistan from 1878 to 1880, when the latter was ruled by Sher Ali Khan of the Barakzai dynasty, the son of former EmirDost Mohammad Khan. The war was part of the Great Game between the British and Russian empires.” Britain wanted Afghanistan to act as a buffer between India and Russia. It was achieved. “The campaign ended in September 1880 when the British decisively defeated Ayub Khan outside Kandahar. Abdur Rahman Khan, now the sole ruler, created the buffer the British wanted between the Raj and the Russian Empire, British and Indian soldiers then withdrew from Afghanistan” The reason I mention this is… Britain & it’s allies lost nearly 10,000 men in this conflict with Afghanistan. - 1,850 in battle - 8,000 to disease I find it incredible that this war despite spanning 2-3 years & being fought on enemy land, only produced 10k losses. I find it doubly so however that 4 in 5 of those men lost were lost to disease. It took another 20 years for the lessons learned in this and subsequent campaigns to force noticeable change in the Army. Finally though, in 1898 , after continued difficulties recruiting Doctors/Surgeons to serve overseas, the Royal Army Medical Corps was signed into being by Queen Victoria giving Medical Officers the same entitlements/status as Army Officers, previously they didn’t even receive campaign medals. Cheer tony 🍻

Hi, I just wanted to add a little to the advice Pete gave… 👍 If this is your first purchase then it’s a nice mix of badges to start to build a collection on. On face value, they are a variety of ages and cavalry badge designs look good in my opinion. The challenge is knowing whether they are from the period or a reproduction or restrike made in the years since. As with Pete, I’m not the man to pick which is which, in my case I couldn’t with any confidence. To assess how well you did is tricky because for now you have to assume they are all relatively modern, so… It really depends how much you paid. If you paid 30 quid or so, you had a good price regardless. If you paid much more you are relying on some being original period made items. Just a last point you may or may not be aware of… The design of the Crowns on badges changed with the death of the Monarch. Queen Victoria died in 1902. Her crown was this one. 1902 -1952 was a period of 4 Kings. Kings crowns below. 1952 onward was Queen Elizabeth II. & her crown looked like this below. also from 1952 , Anodised Aluminium was introduced for making badges and buttons. Replacing the use of brass, it is known as ‘staybrite’ and , the use of one or other, will also help you narrow down the period of manufacture. Cheers tony 🍻 pS if you want to post clearer pictures of any individually on here , go for it…

Mike! What a place 🍻🍻 Apart from loving the pool table,that goes without saying, I really like the way you have framed and displayed those QSA and various groups. I might have to try it myself 🧐 cheers tony 🍻 PS Do you have a dog? Thats all that’s missing in my opinion.

Hi Gents, I contacted the seller and he was kind enough to answer my questions.., I’m happy with that 😊 At 22 quid for 15 in this case I only needed a few to be legit. There are others I’d bought previously that I was sure were all reproductions because they were only about a quid each and looked new. There were many British/Indian badges and I was ok with new reproductions. Vintage restrikes and some legit ones is a nice surprise & fine with me. Cerrs tony 🍻

Bearskin too… how could you have resisted 😊 Some lovely stuff on the cave walls as well i notice… cheers tony 🍻

That’s okay Igor, I need opinions, 👍 I guess you mean terrible quality repro? tony 🍻 PS Steve thought it was terrible quality but correct and of the period…

Hi Pete, you know I don’t doubt you’re right 👍 I’m just throwing this out there because I’d like to share my thoughts… I was looking at the picture as pre or early Ww1, so I had assumed those were QSA, KSA &/or IGSM. Assuming they are indeed the ww1 medals then the conclusion must be that LMG,s GrtGFather did not serve in any capacity, home or away, during ww1. I believe he’d at least have the BWM for a war contribution as a civilian. & If so NO ww1 medal roll to find him on. tony 🍻

What’s his full name LMG? I can find out a bit more for you I’m sure… If you prefer, you can DM me his name, no problem either way 👍 tony 🍻

Thanks Carlo, that’s a nice one too, the others went for plain letters. & it’s great to get another addition to the GMIC list. thanks again cheers 🍻 tony

hi LMG, The 3 uniformed are all Royal Army Medical Corps (RAMC). I’m sure the circular Red Cross insignia is uniquely theirs (within the army) as opposed to an armband (with Red Cross) which I believe would indicate men assigned from within units to be stretcher bearers (& medics too maybe?) in that unit. 👉 The chap on the right as we look at it is a private and has no medal ribbons. His patch can be seen to be stiff still so new on that uniform 👇 👉 The chap in the middle is a corporal (2stripes) and already has several medals so has at least a few years of service behind him.👇 👉 The fella on the left…he also has several medals and noticeably his RC insignia is instead on his lower sleeve and looks to me to have a crown above it maybe. I’d be tempted to say that indicates a senior NCO, Senior Sergeant but I’m not 100% sure off the top of my head, on that maybe someone can help us out here? 👇 So is one of them someone you ‘know’ or a relative? Either way it’s a nice photo especially as they are smiling and appear happy to be in it. cheers tony 🍻 Ps just seen again what you said about the Private, this may well be him not long after recruitment.., this looks like a stiff new patch to me 👍

👀 Somewhere it waits 🤞 tony 🍻 ps just to prove I’ve been looking.., I bought these the other day 🤷‍♂️

Hi new world, just got it today, it looks a little different in the flesh so to speak.., More of a cream colour. 👍. cheers tony 🍻 Ps although this one version is white looking

Another very interesting read, thanks Archie 🍻