Wessel Gordon

And a few minutes later I received my John Chard Decoration (11786). Things are coming along quite nicely

i just received my De Wet Decoration (Full size and Miniature) and it's marked ''3153'' so another original set.

JohanH The only ones I can say with complete certainty are original are the following: 1. Pro Merito Medal (1613) 2. John Chard Decoration (13526) 3. Military Merit Medal (16415) 4. De Wet Medal (19595) 5. Unitas Medal (25844) 6. Southern Africa Medal (50393) 7. General Service Medal (131397) 8. Pro Partia Medal (210966) As for the rest: the Congressional Medal of Honor, Legion of Merit, Purple Heart, Distinguished Service Order and Cross, Military Cross, Victoria Cross, George Cross and Pour le Merite are all reproductions. Regarding the miniatures I have I can't vouch for any that they are real since they are not numbered. I'm off on a family vacation to Mauritius with the entire family from the 4th of July to the 9th so all my attention is focused on getting ready for it. Once I'm back I'll take some pictures. I'm fully aware all those reproductions in my collection significantly impacts the resale value but I buy medals that I find attractive or have a context in South African Military history. In some cases the original medal are extremely rare or so expensive that I can't possible afford it.

I'm not a military expert but it might be that he for some reason left the RAF for a period during those intervening years and joined again but then again looking at his medals I doubt my own theory. Or for some other reason he reached Squadron Leader rank and didn't progress beyond it but was considered a good enough pilot/soldier to be deployed to trouble spots. As I said I'm not a military expert and would glad be corrected by more knowledgeable members.

So far in my collection I have the following and would like some suggestions about other medals to collect: Medal Size Country ** Bronze Star Standard & Miniature America * Congressional Medal of Honor Standard America * Legion of Merit Standard America National Defense Service Medal Standard America ** Navy Cross Standard & Miniature America * Purple Heart Standard America ** Silver Star Standard & Miniature America * Distinguished Service Cross Standard Britain * Distinguished Service Order Standard Britain George Cross Standard Britain Member of the British Empire Miniature Britain Military Cross Standard & Miniature Britain * Victoria Cross Standard & Miniature Britain Pour le Merite Standard Prussia/Germany Danie Theron Medal Miniature South Africa ** De Wet Decoration Standard & Miniature South Africa De Wet Medal Standard & Miniature South Africa General Service Medal (GSM) Standard & Miniature South Africa Honoris Crux (1975) Miniature South Africa John Chard Medal Standard & Miniature South Africa Military Merit Medal Standard & Miniature South Africa ** Pro Merito Medal (1975) Standard & Miniature South Africa Pro Partia Medal Standard & Miniature South Africa Southern African Medal Standard & Miniature South Africa Unitas Medal Standard & Miniature South Africa * Means I have one of the medal still to arrive ** Means I have both medals in the set still to arrive. Kind regards Wessel Gordon PS: The Medal of Honor is the Air Force Variant.

Thanks Arthur.

If the original text is in either Dutch or Afrikaans I might be able to help you since Afrikaans is my first language and Dutch is similar enough to make it easy to grasp meanings. If you could perhaps post a picture of the postcard so we could read from left to right it will make things a lot easier since the handwriting makes it a bit uncomfortable holding your neck to the side while trying to decipher the text. Kind regards, Wessel Gordon

I received 6 full size medals today that I bought recently and they all have a serial number stamped on either the reverse or rim. Considering the fact that I bought them from at least 3 different sellers there's no conceivable way that they could all have belonged to the same soldier. Is there an online SADF/SANDF site that has comprehensive lists of medal recipients? Kind regards, Wessel Gordon

I just realized that this topic fits better under archives. Can one of the moderators please move it? My apologies for posting under the wrong heading.

Thanks, Gunner. I had a suspicion it was something related to Britain and it's former colonies for their senior medals.

I was busy cataloguing my medal collection when I suddenly wondered if the US allow soldiers the use of post nominal letters for any of their medals/orders. I'm referring to among others the British medals such as Victoria Cross (VC), George Cross (GC) and the South African Honoris Crux 1975 (HC) etc. I have a National Defense Service Medal and I'm waiting for my order of a Legion of Merit and Purple Heart.

I received 6 full size medals today that I bought recently and they all have a serial number stamped on either the reverse or rim. Considering the fact that I bought them from at least 3 different sellers there's no conceivable way that they could all have belonged to the same soldier. Is there an online SADF/SANDF site that has comprehensive lists of medal recipients? Kind regards, Wessel Gordon

Hi everyone I have the following miniature medal set collection which includes a Unitas medal but nowhere can I find where it fits in the order of wear 1. Honoris Crux (1975) 2. Pro Merito Medal (1975) - Ordered but yet to receive 3. Danie Theron Medal - Ordered but yet to receive 4. Military Merit Medal 5. Pro Partia Medal 6. Southern Africa Medal 7. General Service Medal (GSM) 8. John Chard Medal 9. De Wet Medal And finally the Unitas Medal.Nowhere in the order of wear between 1952 and 1994 does the Unitas appear and in the list from 1994 to present the Unitas Medal is third lowest before the Closure Commemoration Medal and the Medal for Faithful Service. My gut feeling tells me the Unitas Medal belong between the John Chard Medal and the De Wet Medal but I could be wrong. As you can see I decided to focus my collection on the period of roughly 1945/1952 to 1994. Any suggestions would be highly appreciated. Wessel Gordon

I've come across a book by Taffrail about SADF medals etc on BidorBuy but the seller was honest enough to display pictures of damage to the book. Some pages either have huge holes in them or are so stuck together it would basically only be good enough to start a fire. I'll keep on looking, though.

Is this book available in e-book form or hard copy only?

Thank you, Meghan.

With the exception of a few foreign medals that caught my eye and that I bought I decided to focus my collection on South African Medals (specifically post WW2). Is there a book or research site that someone can recommend?

It's been awhile since I've posted and in the mean time I bought a series of 7 miniatures so here is a complete list of my medals: Full Size: 1. George Cross (UK) 2. National Defense Service Medal (US) 3, Pro Partia Medal (South Africa) 4. Pour le Merit (Prussia/Germany) also known as the Blue Max Miniatures: 1. Victoria Cross (UK) 2. Military Cross (UK) 3. MBE (UK) 4. Honoris Crux 1975 (South Africa) 5. Military Merit Medal (South Africa) 6. Pro Partia Medal (South Africa) 7. Southern Africa Medal (South Africa) 8. General Service Medal (South Africa) 9. Unitas Medal (South Africa) 10. John Chard Medal (South Africa) 11. de Wet Medal (South Africa) I also had to replace an order for the following due to a parcel that got lost in the postal black hole (oops, I mean system) US Legion of Merit Medal US Purple Heart UK Distinguished Service Cross

Gavinmedals, I approached Dewald Nel with my inquiry and he could not promise results for the reasons you stated above. I am just curious and if I never find out who the medal originally belonged to I won't lose any sleep over it.

I'm the first one to admit I'm a novice medal collector/enthusiast so please correct me if I'm wrong but this helmet seems to be in exceptionally good condition for something that's reputedly a century old.

Laurentius, Does the same principle apply to an American soldier? I've seen some generals and other high-ranking officers that have a ribbon bar that looks like it could be quite heavy and always wondered if their branch of service or the officer involved paid for it. Wessel

Bayern, Does that mean if war broke out a general holding the first rank automatically gets promoted to Generalfeldmarshall? Or did it happen that that specific officer was just promoted to GFM for the duration of hostilities? I've done quite a bit of reading about the Second World War and noticed that officers got temporary promotions to higher ranks and once the war is over they revert to their pre-war rank.

Besides the well-fed and relaxed attitude if you look closely at the images they seem very sharp and detailed, perhaps not what one would expect of cameras at that time. You also have to consider the roughly 70 years originals would have been around and would have appeared more aged.

Could it perhaps be a medallion from a botanical society? The motif on the obverse and the word ''rose'' on the reverse seems to point to that.

Is it permissible to copy another's website link here of the kind of magnifier I am interested in?